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We have been tenants for 10 years, so when the garages and laundries of all 6 units burned down (officially due to old wiring issues) last August we were expecting some kind of action. To date we have 1. had a miserable flat cash offer across all units of refused by all tenants, 2. a miserly at best rebate of our monthly rent – paid bi-monthly – finally negotiated around late-October. We mostly accepted thinking some work would have taken place by December.
We are still looking at the shells of our laundries and garages, brick walls still standing obviously unable to be used. Since December, the agent revealed that the stuctures have finally been deemed 'structurally unsound' and need to be bulldozed and rebuilt. After DA approval and the rest we are not looking at having any usable structures we pay for for quite some time yet.
My question: The rebate barely adds up to one commercial load of washing. We are using our time, fuel and other resources (such as a kitchen dryer, since the yard with washing lines behind the unusable laundries has fallen into almost complete disrepair) to get our clothes washed and dried. There are couples and families with kids in this block.
Aren't we entitled to better treatment than this? Shouldn't our laundry services, which we pay for twice now (sorry, minus the sorry rebate) be compensated in the very least? Not to mention the destruction of belongings in our garages, which has never been addressed. Comprehensive contents insurance aside, we don't think we should bear the brunt of this loss for the obviously poor maintenance and maintenance negligence that led to the fire in the first place.
Quite a lot to consider but if you could advise how to open a dialogue with our agents at this late stage, with a lot of angry tenants it would be a great help, since a lot of cajoling so far has yielded close to nothing.
Thank you very much,
KJezza
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Work out a claim for what it has cost in laundry bills and what the value of rented car spaces is in your area. Put together a comprehensive joint statement of claim to present to your rental agent. Explain to them that failure to accede to your request for proper compensation plus a rent reduction until such times as the services are reinstated, will lead to action at Fair Trading.
If they don’t come to the party within a reasonable time contact Fair Trading’s tenancy division (Tel 13 32 20) and ask about proper compensation for the non- provision of a facility that you have been paying for. The compensation should go back to the date of the fire and there should be a reduction in the rent until such times as it is reinstated.The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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