A couple of weeks ago I was standing in our minute living room and could smell the unmistakeable stench of dead possum.
Given I am a country girl, I can identify the stench of dead animals at 10 paces. My parents taught me well. I know dead possum when I sniff it. And dead fox. And dead dog poo.
This was that gassy smelly of a dead possum. A common dead possum. In our ceiling.
So I called our real estate agent to report the dead animal and request some back-up. She called back and told me the landlord would come over the next day.
Great. Dead possum be gone.
So the next day the landlord came over. I expected him to sniff around the house. Smell gassy dead possum and remove dead possum.
Instead he said: "I have a possum cage, shall I set it?"
Well, not unless you're Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, I don't think you're going to trap this dead possum. I can't imagine it's hungry for anything.
And me being the pushover went, "Oh, oh, ok, yep." And let him set the trap and leave.
Now let's time warp ourselves to today. The now. The right now. And right now, we've got disgusting, and I am talking deee-skust-ing big. Fat. Blowflies. Flying in from the airvent thingie. Seriously. One day they were just loitering there, at the air-vent thingie, and flying in and out. Filth.
Now fast forward to right this very second, and I've just checked my emails and surprise! I've received an email from my real estate agent, my very favourite pen-pal!
Did I receive their correspondence back in March? No. No. No I did not. Well surprise! We've reached our 1 year anniversary, and to celebrate they're putting our rent up. Who wants to blow out the candles on that one?
Now I'm not Bill Gates. Or Steve Jobs. Or even Brynne Edelstein. So where am I going to pull this extra cash out of? Tell me that real estate agent? Selling blow-flies on the backstreets? Hocking possum skins to NZ fashion designers?
What to do? Cough up? Or look for an alternative abode?
14 comments:
You haven't told us what area you're talking about. And by how much has the rent gone up? How can we advise you whether to go or stay when we are missing vital details, hmm?
MOVE TO NEWCASTLE
Gift them the Possum with the first payment.
doesn't hurt to have a look around Lexi :)
Totally agree with my anonymous brother from another mother. Next time don't leave out the vital details. Eg Address and where you leave the spare key. Plus that little 3 digit number on the back of your credit card would be handy.
Thanks!
;-) xxx
I believe Sydney rent has gone through the roof so why not have a look on Domain to see what you can get for the same money. I would insist they get rid of that possum first thing tomorrow though!! AND sort out how the possum got there in the first place.
yep, find a non smelly dead possum abode!
Move. I love a house move. I am no longer allowed to move. Look around and move and I can live vicariously through you.
Agree with ClaireyH! Although It's such a hard decision.. move, don't move.. sometimes the actual cost of moving can be the same as the rent increase!! x
Speak to the owner directly and appeal against the rent rise, point out how great you are. You want to stay but don't accept the rise. It cost's them money to get new tenants.
There are a lot of bad tenants out there.
A sensible landlord will negotiate. The agents just give bad advice.
Nothing to lose. Good Luck
weren't you just saying this is the landlord who won't let you have a cat? maybe it's time to move?
The first thing you do is contact both the real estate office and the landlord and say you are not paying a cent until the possum is removed from your ceiling. It's a health and safety issue and you have small children. Be firm. I know it's hard.
Renting...like a mortgage can change course at any second. Owners (like Banks) of course want the big bucks so they will get you in the house at a lower rate, wait until you are settled and then put the rent up.
If you found a cheaper place, after moving all your things and paying bond etc again, you will sit for a few months and up goes the rent again.
The question is which home do you like the best to pay more rent for?
If you like dead possum abode are you willing to pay more for it?
Look at rentals that way.
If you look at a property because it is cheap then you will always be disappointed by the gyp that is the rate rise.
xxxx
I love a good move, then I can redecorate with lots more crazy stuff I pick up from around the traps....
No Cat allowed but you now have a dead possum you can't get rid of...
We had exactly the same thing in our last place. Dead Possum Thousand Flies. It's foul. By the time they removed the furry friend it had subsided but man it was gross.
Sydney is so expensive. Moving sucks. No helpful advice. Tasmania? Tasmania! xxx
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