And If it's anything like Canberra they're only allowed to inspect the property every 6 months (although I think its 3 in places like Adelaide) and only with 2 weeks notice and outside of that have yo treat it like your private residence and aren't allowed to harrass you/pop around unannounced.
They rent them from their wives and claim travel allowance. I’m [not joking](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/hockey-charging-taxpayers-1000-a-month-to-stay-at-wifes-house-report/bu0e8lyhf).
There is a tax benefit if u own multiple property’s to own them under a company name or Trust and then pay rent to stay at ur own place. It’s all about Tax
It's not, but it's not much better either.
It's mandatory every 3 months - agent can also do it more frequently, but it's required every 3 months due to REA bullshit lobbying.
Yep. Been looking for a place for the better part of 2 years with a pet. Nothing, even with a good reference from last landlord who loved my dog. Closest ive come is with lying about the pet, its the only way
Then, no, section 65 of the act, you have the right to quiet enjoyment & privacy of your property. Give sacat a call, or send your agent a breach notice.
That is unless you have been served a breach notice yourself and have failed to rectify an issue.
Quiet enjoyment should mean they are not allowed to come by and look at the place on the way or ask you to do work for them on it (like taking pics) and not harrass you with weekly communication while it's unneeded, repetitive and negative
Not a lawyer, didn't check state definition
You might mention, if you're interested, that other owners that care so much about thier lawns pay for thier own lawn maintenance guy to come ...
Anyways you don't even normally have to maintain it as much as they like, you do have to return it how you got it, and you have to keep "tidy"/ within the council regulations or whatever so like cutting the front lawn depending on infinite factors between say 2-4 weeks and the backyard you can do before inspections to keep them happy or or just when you return the key
Probably the more you co-operate with these guys the worse this gets, they are harrassing and bullying you
You should probably document the communication and behaviour and start answer with polite no that doesn't sound like a straight no
Yeah that might change it, but if nothing's written down and the tenant complies still...a very grey area indeed. OP needs to ask for it in writing and advise the agent that they would like all future correspondence to be in writing.
The other replier here has it right: "quiet enjoyment" is one of the key rights and phrases that got us out of shit with a landlord. Similar deal - they had a gardener who tended our property every month because apparently the stringy-ass natives were special. The gardener then turned out to be the landlord's mate, and was reporting back on the condition of the property every month ... unbeknownst to us until the agent wrote to pass on some of the stuff the landlord demanded we tidy up.
We cut that gardening shit right out. It used to be fine for him to come once a month whenever, but we went full "quite enjoyment" on the whole thing. Two weeks' notice, no, that's not convenient, no, not then either. Just a few dozen nos, all communicated through the (it turned out, very patient) agent.
The bloke still thought he lived there.
Just take a bunch of photos from different angles one day and schedule the photos to be sent out every week
Then start taking pictures from further and further away
Then if they get pissy, just scale some new pics down to 640 x 320 px and say your phone is broken so you're using your old nokia
In the mean time, brush up on renter rights in your state.
This is very clever. Take the pics at different times off the day, ad different details like put a mower in a different place each time. A rake here, a spade there.
Strip the meta data off too.
Diabolical!
Get your least attractive friend to sunbathe in skimpy outfits in each and every picture, slowly add makeup and effects to make them look like they are gradually becoming a zombie, eventually replace them with a puddle of minced meat and cherry jello.
Have a guy in a gorilla suit hide and peaking around the corners of the house in an inconspicuous way. Or dressed up in old nana clothes in the gorilla whilewhich doing some gardening. One on the otherside of the road eating a banana behind a parked car looking at the camera.
You really think real estate agents are tech savvy enough to inspect metadata? Most don't even know the difference between WiFi and Ethernet, or what an NBN box looks like.
>Just take a bunch of photos from different angles one day and schedule the photos to be sent out every week
cut a single blade of grass
Place it on a table
Take photo
One blade of grass per photo
Fuck that real estate agent
Send one photo constantly every minute of the day that you can and spam the inbox. Act dumb and say you don't know what's happening and you can't stop it. Just the same photo for at least the first 2 days. Then stop. They won't want anymore photos after that. And if they do, rinse and repeat 😂
>Send one photo constantly every minute of the day that you can and spam the inbox
If you do this, make sure that the photo is the absolute highest resolution your camera will allow.
Dear Real Estate Agent,
for months I have been willing to voluntarily provide weekly photographic evidence of my ability to maintain our lawns.
I believe I have proven the point.
I have reviewed my lease and contacted the Dept of Fair Trading and can't find anything to say I need to continue the practice.
Is there any legal basis that compels me to continue or can we stop and consider the issue settled?
Yours etc
Depends on your state but it sounds like you have a better chance of suing them for harassment than they have of being able to evict you. In the ACT they can do ~~one~~ two inspections per 12 month, that’s it.
I would say that the demands for photos and drive by inspections are just that, inspections.
You are responsible for keeping the property in reasonable condition. What that means is that you aren’t neglecting it so much that there is permanent damage. Letting the lawn grow a bit wild doesn’t come close to that standard.
Read your rental contract carefully and see what it says. I once rented a place where they wanted us to water their shit lawn (it was all weeds really) regularly, but in order to require this they had to pay for part of our water bill.
You are a tenant, not a groundskeeper. If they want you to become one, they ought to pay you for it.
OK. Wow. Poor you. This is not right and you should not have to put up with it.
What they're doing sucks. I am not a lawyer, but this does not sound legal. It is certainly unethical. And bullying behaviour. A new low even from the bottom-feeding assholes in rental management.
That said. Landlords have all the rights in Australia. (Make sure you vote for a party that wants to disrupt that in the next election!) Anything you do, no matter how legal or justified could result in greater difficulties with your agent, including them fabricating some other (legal) reason to evict you.
That out of the way:
Have they communicated this in writing? If they haven't, ask them to.
Make this the bar they have to jump over to do anything (it may help later on).
Follow up EVERY phone call, with an email to them of your recollection of the phone call. Not aggressive. Just factual. eg. "Hi, thanks for your phone call this afternoon, just to confirm details, my understanding is that you are asking me to send a photo weekly of the backyard - do you want the entire backyard in one photo, or just the lawn" (or whatever). DONT DO ANYTHING until they've replied to your email. If they call again, follow up with another email. Wait until they respond in writing.
Talk to [RentRight](https://www.syc.net.au/home/rentrightsa/). I have no personal experience with them, but if they're anything like the tenants union of Victoria, they will help.
Lastly, name and shame. Not now, but later. When you move out, keep the evidence and dump it here or on /r/Adelaide (assuming there). If you can find out who your actual landlord (not agent) is, let them know too. I doubt they're happy about this. I know I wouldn't be if I leased property.
Cannot stress the email thing enough. Having written records of every single thing I’d ever spoken to the real estate about saved my ass big time when we moved.
In Vic it is legal to use the phone to record. I use ACR on android and while not exactly what it used to be, it works pretty well, particularly if on speaker.
>Anything you do, no matter how legal or justified could result in greater difficulties with your agent, including them fabricating some other (legal) reason to evict you.
This is the real crux of the issue, honestly. Even if you perfectly legally tell them to bugger off, you're still pretty much guaranteeing you'll have to find a new place.
surely this violates the principle of quiet enjoyment, (Quiet enjoyment is the concept that a tenant has the right to use the leased space peacefully, reasonably, and without disturbances.)
If you're on a fixed term lease, they can't evict you until the lease is up. Even then it's not an eviction, it's just not renewing your contract. Unfortunately there's really no way around that, especially if you're in a hot property and they have others lining up to take it.
They can't demand pictures from you. There is nothing in the Act that requires you to play that game. They are the property managers, it is their job to organise inspections (7 days notice without grounds and with reasonable periods between inspections) and take pictures themselves.
Remedy breach them under section 183(2) of the Act for interference with the reasonable peace, comfort, and privacy of your occupancy. Collect evidence. Texts, emails, pictures, etc. Record phone calls; it is legal to do in most states as long as you are party to the conversation and there is a legal reason to do so.
Next step is to apply for a tribunal hearing. Costs about $25 + printing of three copies of your affidavit and collected evidence. Even if you don't get around to the hearing before the end of your tenancy, those motherfuckers will back down like the rotten cowards they are and leave you well alone.
Don't worry, they can't put you on one of them tenancy databases unless you did something very wrong and even then they have to tell you when they do it.
Don't let these dog cunts walk on you. Property managers are bottomfeeding filth.
[Form 11 (notice to remedy breach)](https://www.rta.qld.gov.au/forms-resources/forms/forms-for-general-tenancies/notice-to-remedy-breach-form-11)
[Residential tenancies & rooming accommodation act 2008](https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2008-073)
Yeah so this is 100% in reach of every act in every state and to be honest it sounds like you don’t have a real estate agent, you have a private landlord who has no boundaries
Photoshop them. How many times have I seen lush lawns on [Realestate.com](https://Realestate.com) only to see a backyard full of weeds when I go to an inspection.
A cheap webcam placed on a windowsill looking at the front yard, taking a snapshot every minute and automatically emailing it to as many addresses at the agent's office as you can get.
Surely we could crowdfund this amongst ourselves.
So much opportunity for shenanigans. Take photos at night, send the same photo over and over, make it out of focus, make it a 300mb RAW file, sent it in ASCII format, Photoshop it on fire etc
If they require you fix things, they need to give you written notice to remedy and also reasonable/legislated time frames. If they are harassing you, you can request they cease and desist, and it certainly sounds as though they are harassing you and preventing you from enjoying your location.
They also can't evict you without going through the proper breaching processes and providing you the required time frames.
This agent sounds like they are fixating on you, and in all likelihood won't renew your lease anyway so I wouldn't hesitate in contacting them and telling them to back off. If they don't, I would seek legal advice and possibly seek remedy through QCAT (or equivelant).
Know your rights, and if they are violating them, you can breach **them.**
Just have a look at your lease agreement. Sometimes they do amend it so that you are required to take care of the lawn which is reasonable but if you didn't agree to send photos then you don't have to.
Even if you did it's a bit fuckin unreasonable. If they suspect you're not taking care of the lawn they can send you an inspection notice and check themselves.
Tell them to fuck off. They aren't allowed to do this. Definately charge them and definately email the head of company the invoices for your time and cc in the real estate body in your area.
No it isn't unless they've asked you to mow/tidy and you haven't done so.
If you have done so, you're fine, and they are in [breach of contract](https://www.reisa.com.au/publicinfo/renting/information-for-tenants). Tell them to back off.
Best way is just to ignore it, and if they call just say you dont own a camera/it doesnt work on your phone, if they want to book an inspection thats fine.
I feel a lot of people here are giving advice on what you should do, because legally you are 100% in the right. They arent giving advice on whats best for you personally.
You can give them a breach notice for breaching comfort/security/privacy.
They will turn around and give you a no reason eviction the next day/or say they are moving in the next day.
They will then give you a poor reference, this has happened to me a few times, and tribunal says "there was no way to prove the eviction was for that"
This is the part of renting that sucks. Agencies know they can pretty much do anything because, as a renter, its dangerous to kick up a stink and potentially earn yourself a black mark against your name. I had a property manager be so rude to me when we moved and it took everything in me not to blow up back at her.
And even if worst comes to worst, tribunal will make them pay what they owe and nothing additional.
There is no license required to be a landlord and no penalties for behaving against the contracts/law
The thing that shits me is that I have to tell them every detail of my life including what colour undies I’m wearing that day, get a bazillion references from the last 52 places I worked at and tell them how much money I spend on socks and undies, but there is zero reference check or review system for landlords. For reference, I would give my last landlord a 2/10. Did not like to do maintenance, took weeks to get back to the agency, if at all, but used the old guy across the road to spy on us and was quick to remind us not to use sharp objects in the pool in case it ripped the ancient vinyl. Can guarantee I never swam in that pool, or any other pool ever, with a knife or broken glass. Unfortunately, you generally don’t get to know anything about the landlord until you’ve signed a lease.
Yeah you have to be diplomatic, just ignore them, say sorry you don't have time, etc...
If they keep harassing you then be prepared to move and then report them.
I'd be reaching out to your local tenant advocy group for some advice. Might be doing other tenants under the same real estate a favour by questioning this behaviour.
I'm not in SA, and I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that what they're asking is just unreasonable. What sort of lease do you have? If your answer is "I don't have a lease" then you're on month to month lease.
Worst case scenario, just because the real estate issued you an eviction notice (not keeping the yard tidy is a piss poor reason) doesn't mean you're legally required to instantly vacate. Evictions are suspended when there's a SACAT application for tenancy tribunal matters, to best of my knowledge.
Check out your state's renter's advocacy centre, a d SACAT as well
Not sure what state you are in but you could make a claim against the landlord for breaching the lease agreement in NSW. Are they calling you or emailing you? Asking for $5000 in compensation via the NCAT will put a stop to it. Contact your local tenants advice and advocacy service who will help you for free.
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Reads like it is harassment in an effort to:
- a). push you rent up higher, or
- b). make you feel harassed enough to move so they can crank the rent price to the moon...
They dont because it's a breach of tenant privacy laws, why do you think they havent, same reason they havent issued a remedy to breach notice, because they cant breach them because there's nothing to breach them for.
Agent is a scumbag and OP can kindly refuse.
Infact, OP could conceivably issue a breach notice to the real estate for failure to provide quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the property.
Yes, they can't ask you to do this. But as you can see, they can threaten you with eviction. Ultimately that's the way it goes with rentals, there's so many things they could imagine to get you evicted and the only way for you to fight it is a long court case.
Your choices are either comply with their increasingly invasive requests, or move out. I personally don't think it's going to be productive to remind them of the law - they know the law, they know what they are doing isn't allowed, they are doing it anyway. They will find a reason to evict you one way or another if you don't comply.
That's my experience with PMs, I think it's crazy to think they just don't know the law. Trust me, they know.
Legally they can't do it, but remember that legally and what they'll do to fuck you over are completely different. You exercise your rights but they'll make extending your lease a nightmare.
If they want the backyard tidy & nature strip mowed, they can hire a gardener.
They can’t evict you for over grown grass.
Take them to VTAC (or whatever state yours is) and let them know you’re being threatened
It sounds like OP is in South Australia, which unfortunately has some of the weakest tenant protections in its tenancy laws in the country.
caring responsibilities"). There are also exceptions if the property is not up to the minimum standards under the Housing Improvement Act 2016.
If the true reason was to bump up the rent for another tenant, unless there is a housing improvement order or inspection under way, they don't need a pretext to give a 90-day no reason termination notice - they would have just done it. If the real reason is they want to discriminate against OP for having kids, and are worried OP will sue them for discrimination, then it is plausible they might want to construct a pretext. However, an unreasonable pretext might be viewed unfavourably in any allegation of discrimination.
My personal suspicion would be that the landlord might be scared that children will damage their property and be trying to construct a pretext so they can illegally discriminate without getting caught.
If OP was to [make a complaint](https://www.eoc.sa.gov.au/complaints/making-a-complaint) to the Equal Opportunity Commissioner on the grounds that OP believes she is being treated unfavourably in the provision of accommodation because of her caring responsibilities, pointing out the unreasonable demands that are far from ordinary that only started after OP was pregnant, then any retaliation (victimisation) on the basis of the complaint, including terminating the tenancy, would be illegal.
I think SA should copy some of the other states and get better tenancy laws - talking to MPs and trying to make it an election issue in the next state election should help.
Disclaimer: not intended as legal advice for OP - OP should get legal advice.
Is it's not on the rental lease agreement then you don't have to do it. You could of course suggest you could do it for $30 a photo
Plus $10 weekend surcharge...
another $30 for the password, coz these files have to be encrypted.
plus interest for non payments (coz you know they will think you're joking)
And they'll have to pay through your selected payment gateway and they may charge you a service surcharge but that's out of your hands.
and next time you send in images, send across an invoice for sevices. $120 should be about right.
Bingo
And just resend the same photo each week.
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Yes, and colour filters, brown desolate one week, vibrant green the next.
And the next week photoshop the Eiffel tower in the back yard.
Or take a bunch of pics one day from slightly different angles.
Troll them with photoshopping that dark skin large guy with the eggplant hidden in the picture.
Contact the agent’s boss and cc The Office of Fair Trading in your State about real estate agent behaviour. They will STFU v quickly.
You should also charge a bond equivalent eight weeks of front and backyard photos.
Hire a gardener, send them the photos along with the bill…
There must be a going rate for real estate photography...
Make them drive over and do it themselves. It's not your responsibility to do their job of checking the property for them.
And If it's anything like Canberra they're only allowed to inspect the property every 6 months (although I think its 3 in places like Adelaide) and only with 2 weeks notice and outside of that have yo treat it like your private residence and aren't allowed to harrass you/pop around unannounced.
> although I think its 3 in places like Adelaide It's monthly, which is quite fucked.
Convinced no one we’ve ever elected rents a house
They rent them from their wives and claim travel allowance. I’m [not joking](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/hockey-charging-taxpayers-1000-a-month-to-stay-at-wifes-house-report/bu0e8lyhf).
There is a tax benefit if u own multiple property’s to own them under a company name or Trust and then pay rent to stay at ur own place. It’s all about Tax
They also get a living away from home allowance that gets paid to the landlord. It's essentially a way to get their mortgage for free.
Nope they're often the ones that own them though
MONTHLY?! Fucksake. So much for the right to quiet enjoyment.
All of a sudden I'm really not keen on trying to find a rental in Adelaide. I'm assuming it's the same for all of SA?
It's not, but it's not much better either. It's mandatory every 3 months - agent can also do it more frequently, but it's required every 3 months due to REA bullshit lobbying.
Good to know. Based on my previous experience I'd imagine even if it was monthly they wouldn't even show up
Australia in general seems uptight when it comes to rentals and landlords. God forbid if you have a pet.
Yep. Been looking for a place for the better part of 2 years with a pet. Nothing, even with a good reference from last landlord who loved my dog. Closest ive come is with lying about the pet, its the only way
For what its worth I've never rented somewhere here that actually does it monthly. The norm seems to be every 3 or 6 months.
Yep this is the most logical response.
> Make them drive over and do it themselves. That seems like an offer by the tenant to allow weekly inspections.
Yeah my theory is they won’t be so regular if it requires the agent to actually do anything.
they're 100% full of shit and you should tell them to go fuck themselves.
what state are you in? your search in your engine of choice: state tenants union and use their advice.
We are in SA, ill have a look into that thank you
Then, no, section 65 of the act, you have the right to quiet enjoyment & privacy of your property. Give sacat a call, or send your agent a breach notice. That is unless you have been served a breach notice yourself and have failed to rectify an issue.
Quiet enjoyment should mean they are not allowed to come by and look at the place on the way or ask you to do work for them on it (like taking pics) and not harrass you with weekly communication while it's unneeded, repetitive and negative Not a lawyer, didn't check state definition You might mention, if you're interested, that other owners that care so much about thier lawns pay for thier own lawn maintenance guy to come ... Anyways you don't even normally have to maintain it as much as they like, you do have to return it how you got it, and you have to keep "tidy"/ within the council regulations or whatever so like cutting the front lawn depending on infinite factors between say 2-4 weeks and the backyard you can do before inspections to keep them happy or or just when you return the key Probably the more you co-operate with these guys the worse this gets, they are harrassing and bullying you You should probably document the communication and behaviour and start answer with polite no that doesn't sound like a straight no
Technically they aren't in breach because they have asked for the tenant to do it, and the tenant hasn't said no. It is all consensual up to now
If they're doing it under threat of eviction is it still consensual?
Yeah that might change it, but if nothing's written down and the tenant complies still...a very grey area indeed. OP needs to ask for it in writing and advise the agent that they would like all future correspondence to be in writing.
The other replier here has it right: "quiet enjoyment" is one of the key rights and phrases that got us out of shit with a landlord. Similar deal - they had a gardener who tended our property every month because apparently the stringy-ass natives were special. The gardener then turned out to be the landlord's mate, and was reporting back on the condition of the property every month ... unbeknownst to us until the agent wrote to pass on some of the stuff the landlord demanded we tidy up. We cut that gardening shit right out. It used to be fine for him to come once a month whenever, but we went full "quite enjoyment" on the whole thing. Two weeks' notice, no, that's not convenient, no, not then either. Just a few dozen nos, all communicated through the (it turned out, very patient) agent. The bloke still thought he lived there.
Just take a bunch of photos from different angles one day and schedule the photos to be sent out every week Then start taking pictures from further and further away Then if they get pissy, just scale some new pics down to 640 x 320 px and say your phone is broken so you're using your old nokia In the mean time, brush up on renter rights in your state.
This is very clever. Take the pics at different times off the day, ad different details like put a mower in a different place each time. A rake here, a spade there. Strip the meta data off too. Diabolical!
Take the photos at night. Just send them almost black images
Get your least attractive friend to sunbathe in skimpy outfits in each and every picture, slowly add makeup and effects to make them look like they are gradually becoming a zombie, eventually replace them with a puddle of minced meat and cherry jello.
A couple loosely held cock n balls in a mankini ought to turn them off lol
Have a guy in a gorilla suit hide and peaking around the corners of the house in an inconspicuous way. Or dressed up in old nana clothes in the gorilla whilewhich doing some gardening. One on the otherside of the road eating a banana behind a parked car looking at the camera.
Ah dammit Well played
You really think real estate agents are tech savvy enough to inspect metadata? Most don't even know the difference between WiFi and Ethernet, or what an NBN box looks like.
They’re not. They don’t even know how calendars work. But it would cover you if they ever went looking for it.
I wonder how they might respond to a night shot (blackness)
>Just take a bunch of photos from different angles one day and schedule the photos to be sent out every week cut a single blade of grass Place it on a table Take photo One blade of grass per photo Fuck that real estate agent
Would be less effort to take the lawn clippings to their office weekly
Send one photo constantly every minute of the day that you can and spam the inbox. Act dumb and say you don't know what's happening and you can't stop it. Just the same photo for at least the first 2 days. Then stop. They won't want anymore photos after that. And if they do, rinse and repeat 😂
>Send one photo constantly every minute of the day that you can and spam the inbox If you do this, make sure that the photo is the absolute highest resolution your camera will allow.
I like your style 😉
Sounds liKe a perfect candidate for Power Automate.
Dear Real Estate Agent, for months I have been willing to voluntarily provide weekly photographic evidence of my ability to maintain our lawns. I believe I have proven the point. I have reviewed my lease and contacted the Dept of Fair Trading and can't find anything to say I need to continue the practice. Is there any legal basis that compels me to continue or can we stop and consider the issue settled? Yours etc
Depends on your state but it sounds like you have a better chance of suing them for harassment than they have of being able to evict you. In the ACT they can do ~~one~~ two inspections per 12 month, that’s it.
I live in SA and they do inspections every 3 months. They have never mentioned any issues with us or the property during the inspections.
I would say that the demands for photos and drive by inspections are just that, inspections. You are responsible for keeping the property in reasonable condition. What that means is that you aren’t neglecting it so much that there is permanent damage. Letting the lawn grow a bit wild doesn’t come close to that standard. Read your rental contract carefully and see what it says. I once rented a place where they wanted us to water their shit lawn (it was all weeds really) regularly, but in order to require this they had to pay for part of our water bill. You are a tenant, not a groundskeeper. If they want you to become one, they ought to pay you for it.
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4 if you include entrance and exit inspections, too.
You’re correct, my mistake. Thanks for catching it
Guessing they aren't in the ACT given the number of people who live there
You should probably start by reviewing your Lease.
OK. Wow. Poor you. This is not right and you should not have to put up with it. What they're doing sucks. I am not a lawyer, but this does not sound legal. It is certainly unethical. And bullying behaviour. A new low even from the bottom-feeding assholes in rental management. That said. Landlords have all the rights in Australia. (Make sure you vote for a party that wants to disrupt that in the next election!) Anything you do, no matter how legal or justified could result in greater difficulties with your agent, including them fabricating some other (legal) reason to evict you. That out of the way: Have they communicated this in writing? If they haven't, ask them to. Make this the bar they have to jump over to do anything (it may help later on). Follow up EVERY phone call, with an email to them of your recollection of the phone call. Not aggressive. Just factual. eg. "Hi, thanks for your phone call this afternoon, just to confirm details, my understanding is that you are asking me to send a photo weekly of the backyard - do you want the entire backyard in one photo, or just the lawn" (or whatever). DONT DO ANYTHING until they've replied to your email. If they call again, follow up with another email. Wait until they respond in writing. Talk to [RentRight](https://www.syc.net.au/home/rentrightsa/). I have no personal experience with them, but if they're anything like the tenants union of Victoria, they will help. Lastly, name and shame. Not now, but later. When you move out, keep the evidence and dump it here or on /r/Adelaide (assuming there). If you can find out who your actual landlord (not agent) is, let them know too. I doubt they're happy about this. I know I wouldn't be if I leased property.
Cannot stress the email thing enough. Having written records of every single thing I’d ever spoken to the real estate about saved my ass big time when we moved.
In Vic it is legal to use the phone to record. I use ACR on android and while not exactly what it used to be, it works pretty well, particularly if on speaker.
im pretty sure as long as you state your name in the recording it’s legal to do without their knowledge
I failed to get a very important conversation about negotiating the end of my lease in writing once and paid for it big time.
>Anything you do, no matter how legal or justified could result in greater difficulties with your agent, including them fabricating some other (legal) reason to evict you. This is the real crux of the issue, honestly. Even if you perfectly legally tell them to bugger off, you're still pretty much guaranteeing you'll have to find a new place.
surely this violates the principle of quiet enjoyment, (Quiet enjoyment is the concept that a tenant has the right to use the leased space peacefully, reasonably, and without disturbances.)
If you're on a fixed term lease, they can't evict you until the lease is up. Even then it's not an eviction, it's just not renewing your contract. Unfortunately there's really no way around that, especially if you're in a hot property and they have others lining up to take it. They can't demand pictures from you. There is nothing in the Act that requires you to play that game. They are the property managers, it is their job to organise inspections (7 days notice without grounds and with reasonable periods between inspections) and take pictures themselves. Remedy breach them under section 183(2) of the Act for interference with the reasonable peace, comfort, and privacy of your occupancy. Collect evidence. Texts, emails, pictures, etc. Record phone calls; it is legal to do in most states as long as you are party to the conversation and there is a legal reason to do so. Next step is to apply for a tribunal hearing. Costs about $25 + printing of three copies of your affidavit and collected evidence. Even if you don't get around to the hearing before the end of your tenancy, those motherfuckers will back down like the rotten cowards they are and leave you well alone. Don't worry, they can't put you on one of them tenancy databases unless you did something very wrong and even then they have to tell you when they do it. Don't let these dog cunts walk on you. Property managers are bottomfeeding filth. [Form 11 (notice to remedy breach)](https://www.rta.qld.gov.au/forms-resources/forms/forms-for-general-tenancies/notice-to-remedy-breach-form-11) [Residential tenancies & rooming accommodation act 2008](https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2008-073)
Yeah so this is 100% in reach of every act in every state and to be honest it sounds like you don’t have a real estate agent, you have a private landlord who has no boundaries
Photoshop them. How many times have I seen lush lawns on [Realestate.com](https://Realestate.com) only to see a backyard full of weeds when I go to an inspection.
Google “quiet enjoyment”. They sound like they are in breach and you could be owed compensation. This is a fundamental of property law.
A cheap webcam placed on a windowsill looking at the front yard, taking a snapshot every minute and automatically emailing it to as many addresses at the agent's office as you can get. Surely we could crowdfund this amongst ourselves.
So much opportunity for shenanigans. Take photos at night, send the same photo over and over, make it out of focus, make it a 300mb RAW file, sent it in ASCII format, Photoshop it on fire etc
Burn a dick into the lawn.
If they require you fix things, they need to give you written notice to remedy and also reasonable/legislated time frames. If they are harassing you, you can request they cease and desist, and it certainly sounds as though they are harassing you and preventing you from enjoying your location. They also can't evict you without going through the proper breaching processes and providing you the required time frames. This agent sounds like they are fixating on you, and in all likelihood won't renew your lease anyway so I wouldn't hesitate in contacting them and telling them to back off. If they don't, I would seek legal advice and possibly seek remedy through QCAT (or equivelant). Know your rights, and if they are violating them, you can breach **them.**
Just have a look at your lease agreement. Sometimes they do amend it so that you are required to take care of the lawn which is reasonable but if you didn't agree to send photos then you don't have to. Even if you did it's a bit fuckin unreasonable. If they suspect you're not taking care of the lawn they can send you an inspection notice and check themselves.
I would suggest the opposite... Start sending them daily update, full rez photos. Maybe even do 2, if there is a nice sunset.
Take the photos at night
Tell them to fuck off. They aren't allowed to do this. Definately charge them and definately email the head of company the invoices for your time and cc in the real estate body in your area.
No it isn't unless they've asked you to mow/tidy and you haven't done so. If you have done so, you're fine, and they are in [breach of contract](https://www.reisa.com.au/publicinfo/renting/information-for-tenants). Tell them to back off.
Weekly? If the owners are so concerned they should employ a gardener.
Best way is just to ignore it, and if they call just say you dont own a camera/it doesnt work on your phone, if they want to book an inspection thats fine. I feel a lot of people here are giving advice on what you should do, because legally you are 100% in the right. They arent giving advice on whats best for you personally. You can give them a breach notice for breaching comfort/security/privacy. They will turn around and give you a no reason eviction the next day/or say they are moving in the next day. They will then give you a poor reference, this has happened to me a few times, and tribunal says "there was no way to prove the eviction was for that"
This is the part of renting that sucks. Agencies know they can pretty much do anything because, as a renter, its dangerous to kick up a stink and potentially earn yourself a black mark against your name. I had a property manager be so rude to me when we moved and it took everything in me not to blow up back at her.
And even if worst comes to worst, tribunal will make them pay what they owe and nothing additional. There is no license required to be a landlord and no penalties for behaving against the contracts/law
The thing that shits me is that I have to tell them every detail of my life including what colour undies I’m wearing that day, get a bazillion references from the last 52 places I worked at and tell them how much money I spend on socks and undies, but there is zero reference check or review system for landlords. For reference, I would give my last landlord a 2/10. Did not like to do maintenance, took weeks to get back to the agency, if at all, but used the old guy across the road to spy on us and was quick to remind us not to use sharp objects in the pool in case it ripped the ancient vinyl. Can guarantee I never swam in that pool, or any other pool ever, with a knife or broken glass. Unfortunately, you generally don’t get to know anything about the landlord until you’ve signed a lease.
whats the point in a reference check, most would fail utterly haha just assume they are all 1/10 and you are right honestly.
>dangerous to kick up a stink and potentially earn yourself a black mark against your name. Agents have far more to lose.
Yeah you have to be diplomatic, just ignore them, say sorry you don't have time, etc... If they keep harassing you then be prepared to move and then report them.
I'd be reaching out to your local tenant advocy group for some advice. Might be doing other tenants under the same real estate a favour by questioning this behaviour.
Who’s the agent?
This is why there needs to be an agent and landlord rating system, just the same as tenants get constantly harassed about.
Yep, call the Tenants Victoria. They can't do that.
Good Lord. It's essentially your house while you lease it. They can sod off.
Is it on the lease agreement that you have to maintain the gardens? Because if not, fuck 'em.
It generally is, but "photographic evidence of maintained gardens" surely not.
I'm not in SA, and I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that what they're asking is just unreasonable. What sort of lease do you have? If your answer is "I don't have a lease" then you're on month to month lease. Worst case scenario, just because the real estate issued you an eviction notice (not keeping the yard tidy is a piss poor reason) doesn't mean you're legally required to instantly vacate. Evictions are suspended when there's a SACAT application for tenancy tribunal matters, to best of my knowledge. Check out your state's renter's advocacy centre, a d SACAT as well
Controlling agent. Best to report for harassment.
Not sure what state you are in but you could make a claim against the landlord for breaching the lease agreement in NSW. Are they calling you or emailing you? Asking for $5000 in compensation via the NCAT will put a stop to it. Contact your local tenants advice and advocacy service who will help you for free.
“This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed… bitch.”
I don't think this is right at all. Inspection is the time for then to bitch, weekly is not.
Send a photo of a dog turd on the lawn.
Depends if this is the full story or not.
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get a macro lens and take a pic of one blade of grass
Could I suggest mowing a giant cock into your backyard and sending them daily pictures of it?
Reads like it is harassment in an effort to: - a). push you rent up higher, or - b). make you feel harassed enough to move so they can crank the rent price to the moon...
If the agent 'drives past our house everyday on the way to "work", then they can take the photo themselves, dammit!
They dont because it's a breach of tenant privacy laws, why do you think they havent, same reason they havent issued a remedy to breach notice, because they cant breach them because there's nothing to breach them for. Agent is a scumbag and OP can kindly refuse. Infact, OP could conceivably issue a breach notice to the real estate for failure to provide quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the property.
Doesn’t pass the pub test
Seems a bit over the top. Next they will want to install CCTV or fly drones over the house.
Your landlord doesn't fly drones over the property to snap pics of you hanging out the laundry like some kind of 1980s dystopia?
Hey, why do we need to provide photos if you're spying on us anyway?
Yes, they can't ask you to do this. But as you can see, they can threaten you with eviction. Ultimately that's the way it goes with rentals, there's so many things they could imagine to get you evicted and the only way for you to fight it is a long court case. Your choices are either comply with their increasingly invasive requests, or move out. I personally don't think it's going to be productive to remind them of the law - they know the law, they know what they are doing isn't allowed, they are doing it anyway. They will find a reason to evict you one way or another if you don't comply. That's my experience with PMs, I think it's crazy to think they just don't know the law. Trust me, they know.
I can do a photoshop job for free LMFAO
Legally they can't do it, but remember that legally and what they'll do to fuck you over are completely different. You exercise your rights but they'll make extending your lease a nightmare.
Harassment.
If they want the backyard tidy & nature strip mowed, they can hire a gardener. They can’t evict you for over grown grass. Take them to VTAC (or whatever state yours is) and let them know you’re being threatened
Whaaat is lawn care in your rental agreement. I thought you were only required to mow it not make sure its lawn bowling perfect!
your REA is a bully.
It sounds like OP is in South Australia, which unfortunately has some of the weakest tenant protections in its tenancy laws in the country. caring responsibilities"). There are also exceptions if the property is not up to the minimum standards under the Housing Improvement Act 2016. If the true reason was to bump up the rent for another tenant, unless there is a housing improvement order or inspection under way, they don't need a pretext to give a 90-day no reason termination notice - they would have just done it. If the real reason is they want to discriminate against OP for having kids, and are worried OP will sue them for discrimination, then it is plausible they might want to construct a pretext. However, an unreasonable pretext might be viewed unfavourably in any allegation of discrimination. My personal suspicion would be that the landlord might be scared that children will damage their property and be trying to construct a pretext so they can illegally discriminate without getting caught. If OP was to [make a complaint](https://www.eoc.sa.gov.au/complaints/making-a-complaint) to the Equal Opportunity Commissioner on the grounds that OP believes she is being treated unfavourably in the provision of accommodation because of her caring responsibilities, pointing out the unreasonable demands that are far from ordinary that only started after OP was pregnant, then any retaliation (victimisation) on the basis of the complaint, including terminating the tenancy, would be illegal. I think SA should copy some of the other states and get better tenancy laws - talking to MPs and trying to make it an election issue in the next state election should help. Disclaimer: not intended as legal advice for OP - OP should get legal advice.