Between a rock and a hard place

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You ever had one of those problems where you're stuck between two opposing factions and you're trying to keep both sides happy? Well that was me. I moved into a detached unit nine days ago and there've been a few problems with it. For one thing I tripped the circuit breaker. Normally I'd just flip it myself except when I tried flipping it off and on again the problem was still there. I called the agent and told them to send the electrician and also that the air conditioner didn't work. It's reverse cycle so I have no heating and cooling and it's the middle of winter. Actually the reason I tripped the breaker was when I was trying to use an ineffective electric heater in the living room then turned on the kettle to fill a hot water bottle. I don't know why but every house I've been in has the living room and kitchen on the same circuit. Anyway, the electrician came and found out the reason me flipping the breaker didn't work was because there was a second hidden fuse box and the breaker I'd tripped was in that one. Now that I know about that I can unflip it myself. So a few days later, today a builder friend of mine says he can help me. He tells me he'll go there with me and speak on my behalf. At first I think it's a little embarrassing bringing someone along but I decide to go with it. He knows about building and since he's about 30 years older than me he's had to deal with more real estate agents than I have.

Cue disaster. We start talking with the maintenance manager and then he starts being unreasonable. He starts making a lot of unreasonable demands and stuff. Maybe I should've spoke up more but I didn't want to weaken my position. He started saying the agent was really dodgy. They were slightly dodgy but not as much as he said. But I didn't want to be too nice to the agency because they were still a bit dodgy. The house has issues but is not, as he claimed, unliveable. I'd rather give them a chance to fix it rather than break the lease as he suggested (later he tells me he was bluffing to put pressure on them, I don't like bluffing because there's always a chance they'll call me on my bluff and then I have the shame of living at my Mum's again plus I have to move my furniture again). Anyway, he kind of acted like a prat. He made unreasonable demands, he spoke in hyperbole a lot, he repeated himself a lot. This guy's smart but he's also an idiot. Part of the reason I let him come along was because I didn't like them not fixing the air conditioner. She said they'd set the wheels in motion but they didn't tell me about it.

He kept on making all these demands and the agent could only that's up to the owner. One time I lived in a place that was owner maintained. That was much simpler. As I said, they were a bit dodgy. One of the main issues we discussed was the shower flooding into the rest of the bathroom and the bedroom. There's a ridge across the shower recess but a lot of water goes into the rest of the bathroom and then it can't flow to the drain because of the ridge. The ridge was intended to keep water in the shower recess but it keeps water out. The shower curtain rail was removed in one of the previous tenancies.

I suggested the ridge be removed and the manager tersely dismissed me. I thought my builder friend would back me up on that but instead he got into an argument with the maintenance manager about what kind of shower curtain they should install when I could care less about that.

Also he demanded they replace the breakers with higher amperage ones. I didn't think this was a big issue. I tripped a breaker once. It happens. He said it was unreasonable that I should to go outside in the rain to reset it but isn't that what everyone else does? I don't think it's so bad that the breakers are 10 amp x 240 volt each (or 2,400 watts each), which is standard for every house I've been in anyway and once they get the air conditioner fixed I won't need to use an electric heater and the air conditioner is on a separate circuit anyway.

In an attempt to reconcile these warring factions I suggested that I could just plug some things into the air conditioner's power point but the manager didn't like that. I won't bother trying to defend her again, I'm sure she's dealt with many disgruntled tenants and she kept her cool and judging by some of the things she said she's has conflict resolution training. But even though she said to the builder she wasn't talking his trade personally she was showing visible signs of stress and there was more tension in her voice. So this make me wonder if she's hard nosed or easily stressed... or both.

They got into a debate about the tenancy laws. The builder expected her the change the laws but I don't think that's within her power. Like I said, unreasonable demands. Anyway, my concern was that although she said she wasn't taking any of it personally if the builder tyraded too much she might take a vindictive attitude in the future. She might dismiss future maintenance problems as trivial and not arrange to have them fixed or she might not want to renew the lease after six months. Or I might get vindication from the anonymous owner who now has to pay for an electrician to inspect for a problem that may not exist. I don't think I really need more than 10 amp per circuit but I kept quite just in case because if I did end up getting higher amp breakers I'd still consider that to be a pretty good bonus. Also the last time the electrician was here he had some concerns about faulty wiring so in a way it would be good to have the same electrician do an inspection.

Anyway, speaking of future maintenance problems I did something pretty dumb, when the maintenance manager asked if there were any other problems I thought about it, couldn't think of any other problems and said ?no?. At this moment I also signed the inspection sheet. When I got home I remembered the toilet is blocked and the shower leaks. Damn it.

People sometimes say I have a bad memory. Really I have a good memory but I don't remember things at the right time. If I miss an appointment people will ask if I forgot it. I say I can still remember making the appointment but I wasn't remembering it at the time I was supposed to be going there. I always remember things after the fact.

Some more unreasonable demands, demanding lower rent until the air conditioner is fixed, I don't think that's needed so long as they fix it in a reasonable time frame. Also he demanded they get someone to pull all the weeds. Last week they said they wanted me to herbicide them myself. I think it's a bit dodgy that the inspection sheet said no weeds and then the same woman (not the maintenance manager) told me to herbicide the weeds. The same woman who did the report saying ?no weeds?. Then again I guess weeds grow quickly. He made a lot of demands but I'd rather they focus on the most important ones instead of lots of other ones. At one point he was complaining about the broken clothes line. It took me a while to convince him that he'd been looking at the neighbours clothes line (we're on the same lot) and that my one was in good nick.

Still, these guys are still slightly dodgy, just less dodgy then he says. The maintenance manager wouldn't answer my question as to whether or not I'd be charged for water damage to the bedroom carpet caused by their leaky shower. Also the report said the towel rail and bog roll holder where clean and in good condition. There is no towel rail or bog roll holder.

Sigh. It's frustrating. Recently I've been trying to stop being a manchild and live like a normal adult and then stuff like this happens and I don't know what to do. Maybe if I can deal with it that will prove that I can live like a normal adult after all.

All this is a part of life. At least you're getting experience in things.

Can't you just call the maintenance people and tell them the toilet's stopped up? That's a health hazard. And it's usually easily solved. All the maintenance people have to do is push a "snake" up the toilet drain. Or maybe all they have to do is put Drano in the drain.

I guess you have lots of electrical gadgets. Maybe buy an surge-protector type thing. That might help with tripping the circuit breaker.

Pain in the butt, I know--but it's part of living alone.

If your friend can get you out of this lease, it would be a good thing. Trust me. I, too, thought my apartment manager was only "slightly" dodgy. It gets WAY worse. Way, way worse. You could be on the hook for all sorts of messed up crap.

Also, your friend is right. There ARE tenant laws. You HAVE to be assertive or people will take advantage of you. If you are going to be a push over, you are going to get used a lot more. Like I said, they may seem only slightly dodgy now, but just wait. Then you will be in real trouble.

If there are problems and it's against tenant law, you ARE legally able to deduct rent. While your friend is being a bit unreasonable, I suspect this is to protect you. He is trying to get you out of a crappy situation. They already took advantage.

Just so you know next time, have a trusted friend come when you sign the lease. He would have been very helpful during an initial inspection. Get EVERYTHING in writing. Don't make excuses for the landlord and apartment manager. The more you do it, the more they will take advantage of you. Trust me on this. My husband did the same thing. Little things turned into big things and a lot of them were technically against tenant law and weren't fixed for a long time.

When in doubt, trust your friend. He is really looking out for you here. By the way, this has nothing to do with your ability to move out on your own. Anyone can run into people like this and have their time spent their ruined. These kinds of people will try to pin money on you, keep your deposits, and eff you over every chance they get.

It should be remembered that the OP is in Australia.

In New York City, you can't legally withhold the rent. You have to pay the rent, make the complaint, then the landlord is supposed to deduct from the rent next month.

It seems I had a lapse of empathy there. LOL. Sometimes I just assume everyone lives where I live. Whops.

Thanks for that. Actually, I thought Australia had some tough tenant laws, too. I distinctly remember reading about this a few weeks ago because I was looking up all sorts of laws and reading them, I got into tenant law, and into different countries, etc. I will now look up actual laws. Where does the OP live in Australia?

Adelaide, which is a large city.

I just read that you can indeed with hold rent, but yeah, usually you always have to make the complaint in writing. If you can't access all of your house/apartment, however, you can legally deduct part of your rent. The same if that apartment is considered uninhabitable. You have to hire a lawyer, though, to make ABSOLUTELY certain you have a legal right to withhold.

For all practical purposes, you can't withhold the rent AT THAT MOMENT.

I just think the guy should just make nice to the maintenance people, have them come over and fix things, then be careful that something else doesn't happen. "Making nice" has worked quite well in my life.

I wanted to add usually this is only for serious problems like severe water damage, flooding, severe electrical problems, no heating, etc. You are supposed to inform them in writing, give them a certain number of days (an emergency like the above is usually only given a few days to fix) and then you can put the rent in an escrow account and not pay until repairs are made. However, it's best to consult a lawyer for that because that can be risky.

The other way is usually to pay your rent and then get an abatement from the court. This is usually safer. However, if your apartment is that messed up and uninhabitable, I would actually consider withholding rent depending on what it is. BUT, this is in Australia like you said. I was mainly speaking about lack of heating in this circumstance, but it was fixed. However, there may be a very bad electrical problem that is dangerous and causing everything to happen. This has happened to me before.

I will try and look up information on Adelaide and see if your friend has any justification. Still, if your friend manages to scare them and they cut the lease, it might be better. Get EVERYTHING in writing from them at least, because shady people come back and bite you in the butt.

I suppose I forgot to add about emergencies. There are certainly circumstances where you can at that moment in the USA, BUT the OP's situation doesn't fall under those circumstances. So, OP, don't think that you have a legal right to withhold rent because I was talking about very limited circumstances and I don't know Australian tenant law yet.

It's true about the escrow account.

But, really, in the vast majority of cases, it's best not to withhold the rent. Less hassles with courts.

It doesn't seem like the guy has major problems. He has a stopped-up toilet. It seems as if maybe the apartment needs an electrical upgrade.

Also, the main problem I have with giving advice about making nice is the OP said the electrician had concerns about faulty wiring. I would refuse to make nice with a landlord who would hire cheap labor or did it her/himself in order to save money and put my safety at risk. Every landlord I have seen that pulls this crap doesn't give a sh*t about if a fire starts and you burn in it. They only care about the money and they refuse to fix dangerous problems. Why should you give consideration to that? They will not change. Being nice will allow them to not only walk all over you but they won't make repairs. These kinds of people require a heavy handed approach. If they didn't, they wouldn't be shady in the first place, you know?

When I talk about something, I go all out, if that makes sense. So I was just talking about it in general, but yeah, his problem does not require withholding of rent unless something like a backed up pipe causes massive flooding, you know? But I would really keep the electrician appointment if possible. Faulty wiring can cause horrible problems, including fires and higher electricity bills.

I guess it depends on the situation. I'm not there.

I don't know anything about Australian wiring--but doesn't surge protectors solve a lot of problems?

I have old wiring where I live. I use surge protectors. Never had a problem.

I'm not advocating using the "nice" approach all the time--just the first time. If they don't get on it after the first time, then I'd get more "heavy-handed."

Oh, and next time, don't just get everything that's wrong with the place in writing. Take pictures. Check what is in the lease and what it is claiming is in good condition/there, and what they are supposed to provide you. Also, check for this:

-Any mold
-Ceilings (brown spots which would be water damage most likely, cracks, leaks)
-Insects
-Under all sinks and around toilets (check for leaks, mold, and rat feces)
-In all of the cabinets, check for rat feces and insects
-If they come with appliances, make sure they are all working
-Make sure windows open and close properly
-Check all faucets for proper hot water and proper pressure
-Flush all toilets a few times
-Check for mold around caulking in bathrooms
-Check to make heating and cooling works
-Check lease to see who is in charge of lawn care
-Bring a charger and make sure every single electrical socket works
-Check outside for any mold, cracks, leaks
-Make sure any blinds that come with the place are working fine
-Make sure windows lock
-Take pictures of ANY damage to carpets, appliances, scratches, flooring, fixtures, etc.

I'm sure there are more that I forgot, but take pictures of them all, too. Even if it looks alright, take pictures. Write up all of the problems you found and have the landlord sign it. It will protect you.

Right...all that is good advice.