x9200 wrote:Also, clearly nobody is forced to sign a TA with some aircon related clauses not acceptable to this person so what is this all whining about?
I think it can be more subtle than that with air-con. For example what has happened with our last two places is the inventory came together with copies of receipts the previous tenant had for work done (air-con, laundry of curtains, etc) at the time of their check-out. The agent then said
‘Those are the companies the landlord uses, so please use them. As we have seen other companies are not good, and you wouldn’t want to do it elsewhere cheaper, then we find there is a problem and the work needs to be done again with the place the landlord requested [/subtle NOT]’.
In the event last time their [ironic] laundry wasn’t contactable, no address, just a ‘handphone number’, which went to voicemail. So I got a quote from elsewhere, told the agent their laundry wasn’t responding, and told the agent that unless they had reasonable Grounds to object I’d go ahead with the quote I had. And that’s what happened. I used our local dry-cleaner since I’d known him years and liked/trusted him. And he told me how he would have to sub-contract out the work, since even his shop’s equipment wasn’t suitable for large items like that. Despite that it cost something like 1/2 what the previous tenant had paid via the landlords suggested supplier.
Similar happened with the air-con.
‘This is who the landlord uses, (therefore this is who you should use), and you are overdue sending me a copy of your annual contract with them. And remember if it is out of service and there are any problems found that this will probably be very expensive for you[/subtle NOT]’.
And then I pointed out we don’t use air-con so why should I service it, when any tenant obligation is to return the
property in the same condition (less fair wear and tear) as in which it was originally received. The agent then tried to argue that if air-con isn’t regularly used it suffers damage. Anyway, that ended up with me not getting a contract but getting a ‘one-off’ service at our point of check-out. A one-off however is more expensive per-visit/basis than under a contract. But as I told the agent, at least it doesn’t mean I have to sit around for 1/2 a day once a quarter, waiting for engineers to show up to pretend to do work that isn’t necessary. Actually getting a one-off is not that straight-forward to arrange, as they are hell-bent on selling you an annual contract lol – follow the money.
During our tenancy generally speaking the LLs agent wasn’t interested in contact or dealing with repair issues we had. Her attitude to getting a copy of an air-con contract and receipts for laundry from her recommended source in comparison took up at least a dozen e-mails and phone calls, perhaps two dozen. ... Oh gawd, those AND getting the timber bedroom floors polished. You’d have thought those floors were long lost panels from the fabled Amber Room, such was the discussion, inspection, and chin-stroking that went on about them. Oh and of course providing receipts for polishing from
her contractor.
lilith wrote:While I can't be sure about this nefarious nexus between agents and aircon service companies, I can say the chances of getting your aircon serviced without getting the runaround is pretty darn low. Going off point there but yes, servicing every 3 months is too frequent and if it says so in the contract, try to disagree with it before you sign but it does seem like it will always be the tenant's responsibility to service the aircon. I imagine every 6 months would sound about right even if it's on 24/7
Follow the money. The agent ‘recommends a contractor’ with heavy hints verging on threats, then scoops commission, apparently when and only if they get a copy of a contract or receipt. If that doesn’t go to plan expect your depo to get hit. Given FTs don’t know much about such local methods, are here and gone/haven’t time for this bull$*, plus no simple method of recourse then it’s too simple to roll over and comply... and still get fleeced on the depo.
Oh to see an agent writing a blog revealing such sc*ms ... $ch... schemes, but that might be as taboo as betraying the mafia’s code.