I'm not generalising, I'm speaking from experience and I'm fed up of being led a merry dance by all three.
We are landlords, we are tenants and our middle child is now embarking on the world of work as a rental agent.
Our previous agents in the UK were on the side of the tenants, as in they was frightened of them and blatantly lied to us. Our current UK agent is fantastic.
Our previous tenants in the UK were 'tenants fro hell' our current UK tenants are fantastic.
Our rental agent in South Africa was fantastic for the first property, but on leaving the 2nd property she sided with the landlord.
Our first landlord in South Africa was also fantastic, our second landlord just didn't care about the property but cared enough to deduct cleaning charges for a room that according to the rental agent 'stank of dog' although the rental agent didn't mention that or even wrinkle her nose up during the exit inspection or even challenge the team of cleaners she had recommend to clean the house for the exit inspection who were still on site. The landlord also charged us for garden maintenance and we see he's had the front re landscaped which would explain the high costs. When we complained he also added that he carried out unnecessary repairs to the pool after we moved in and that we owed him R2,800, he failed to acknowledge the amount of money we spent topping up his leaking pool, which never leaked after he paid to have it repaired.
The current house we are in needs a lot of work doing to it, but we knew that when we rented it, we wanted a property near the beach and with character and room for the dog, plus visitors. The agent has disappeared, in fact he disappeared as soon as he got his money and once the relocation firm disappeared we were able to deal directly with the landlady and the house is being sorted slowly.
But I really resent the amount of time I have to spend supervising workmen, we don't speak each others languages, these men turn up unannounced, I'm a women on my own, it's not fair. I have to keep the dog locked away from them, I have to tidy and clean up after them and it costs us money in the form of electricity (currently fixing the air con) water (to fill the pool) my time (someone has to be at home to let them in)
Every time we've rented out our property and every time we've rented a property, I've taken detailed photos of before and after, sent the landlord a list of snags for fixing, or been sent one and in our case as landlords rectified each and every matter asap. As tenants though it appears we always get the rough end of the stick. Although after a long battle we did finally get some money back from our 'tenants from hell'
The house we have rented should've been ready when we moved in, cleaned and the air con working, not 6 weeks down the line.
Now excuse me while I remove a layer of clothing as I need to cover up while the men were in the house and clean up after them.
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