I live in rental accommodation. I love my unit, but if I could have an
opportunity to speak with a building team, I would have a lot to say. I know that builders build to a price and the
more corners they can cut, the more profit for them and often the owner/developer
who will never live in the property will have no idea what these cuts will mean
to the tenants.
My unit (one of two – a duplex) was brand new when I moved
in just under two years ago and I did expect to have to deal with some issues
associated with a new never been lived in property and mostly the rental agency
treated me well – though taking 6 weeks in the midst of summer to even consider
fixing a faulty air conditioner did not impress. (As it turns out, during the
building the ‘motor’ of the conditioner was stolen, and a replacement was put
in place, but as I was to learn it was never connected or not connected
correctly.)
There were little things like the power point that never
worked, the smoke alarms that alarmed me frequently and often in the middle of
the night that shrieked to wake me – despite the fact that there was no sign of
fire. A ‘repair’ was made, but it didn’t
work and eventually they had to re install the alarms.
One of the bricks on the letterbox was loose when I moved in - and it took the builder over 12 months to return and correct it - in fact the builder didn't return and the maintenance man did it for me.
As well there was a fault with the rainwater tank, which may
or may not have be repaired correctly.
There was an issue with the letter box, privacy as the bathroom windows
had an ineffective glass which enabled neighbours to peer in and see people in
the shower – and I had a couple of young
girls staying with me when we discovered the issue! Not that I had a peaking neighbour, but it
was something I wanted fixed.
There are some ‘structural’ issues – one is that the laundry
is in a corner of the garage, and whoever does the washing has to carry the
load from the garage, through the house past the kitchen, and the lounge room
and out the back door, across the verandah and along the side of the house to
the clothesline. Now, that means I have
to lug the clothes basket through the house and out to the clothesline. I have a trolley – but with the steps and the
gravel at the side of the house, it is useless.
I just have to carry the clothes outside.
The garage – which I am delighted has a remote switch to
open and close the door is probably 10 cms too narrow – as when driving the car
into the garage it can be a bit of a squeeze to get out of the car, and if you
have groceries or other items in the car, one has to squeeze a bit more. I also have a bicycle – and nowhere to store
it, which creates an issue for me. I
store it in the lounge room!!
I am also annoyed that in both bathrooms there is a narrow
strip of floor that no mop fits into for cleaning, and as I am sometimes
physically challenged, getting down on my knees to clean that part of the
bathroom is often an impossibility.
One of the other stupid things is that one air conditioning
unit is positioned on the back wall above the lawn – but not high enough up
from the grass to enable a lawnmower to reach the grass. It peeves me at times when I mow the lawns
and can’t get under the unit to mow that grass.
Grrr.
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| How do you mow under this? |
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