First Rental Inspection!!!

[Nikianx73]

Help! Got our first rental inspection coming up and I have no idea what to expect and little man's had a mishap and cracked the bathroom sink!! I know I probably sound daft but I'm getting a bit panicky

[NicF]

Report the cracked sink to the letting agents - they may be able to get it replaced or fixed. I wouldn't worry too much about the inspection. They are just checking to make sure you haven't trashed the place and are keeping it reasonably clean. How picky they are will depend on who inspects it. I think we only had one note left in 5 or 6 inspections and that was just to ask us to cut off a loose thread on one of the carpets.

[Nikianx73]

Thanks, we're renting directly from the Landlord so he'll be doing the inspection and he seems very reasonable. Panicking more about the sink than the state of the house. The kids bedrooms on the other hand.... Lol!

[Blossom]

Their building insurance might even cover the sink. In the end though, what's the worst that could happen? You have to pay for it, which if it was your own house you'd have to anyway. :-)

Most of my inspections they have hardly even looked at the place.

[Nikianx73]

Lol! Thanks, we've been preparing ourselves for a sink bill lol! Found it on the ikea website and it's not too expensive. I'll probably feel loads better once it's done and out of the way ;-)

[snifter]

General wear and tear happens. So do breakages on occasion. Try not to worry overly, I'm sure it'll be ok.

[candt]

I hate inspections. We have them every 3 months, we rent through Ray White.

The agents are friendly but I go into mad mode and the whole house has to be spotless.

The bit I hate the most is when they check the oven, sinks and toilets.

 

Heard stories of people being charged to have the whole garage floor resurfaced because of oil spots.

Interesting what people have said about the landlords insurance covering the damaged sink. Ive never considered that.

 

I think if we damaged anything we'd buy a replacement and fit it ourselves. Otherwise the landlord can just send you the total bill with a contractor of there choice, which could be expensive.

 

We rented in England before we left and the return deposit was delayed because the oven wasn't clean enough!! OH job!!! He only had 1 job to do. They charged us £70 and we had to wait 2 weeks for the balance of the deposit.

 

Sorry don't mean to scare you, just hate inspections.

[wubbledoos]

Not sure the above is true about they can just use a contractor of choice and send you the bill, I'd check the tenancy act as from memory this isn't the case, you have far more rights than this, this would be open to so much shafting it's untrue.

 

Also, I believe that when we all happily sign the demand to get the carpets cleaned at the end, this demand is not allowed anymore and any agent who still has it in their agreement is a naughty little bugger.

[Guest vikkiann]

I used to get scared at inspections. There's nothing to worry about. They just look to make sure houses aren't trashed.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

Probably best to report any damage as soon as it happens rather than leave it to be discovered on inspection

[Rabeah]

Quote Candt: "Heard stories of people being charged to have the whole garage floor resurfaced because of oil spots."

Sorry mate, that's complete rubbish, a typical horror story. In order to clean a garage floor from oil spots you only need a kind of petroleum benzine and the floor is fine again! These kind of stories is just to rip of inexperienced or clueless tenants!

 

Otherwise I wouldn't worry to much about an inspection, they hardly look to deep into detail. The only thing which would bother me is why are Ray White coming every 3 months??? Is that legal? I remember briefly that I've read somewhere every 4 months as a maximum is allowed.

[kelbert]

We also have 3 monthly inspections with a different agent. 3 months is standard around here. Also, I would say it's a fairly thorough inspection. They take photos of everything - even the inside of the loo! Can't wait till we buy our own place!

Edited April 15, 2015 by kelbert

[soo_the_panda]

Yep 3 months is standard. Really don't stress, we don't poke around when we inspect our investment property - it takes less than a minute to check someone is generally looking after the place. Whether a place is messy doesn't really matter. However I agree with the previous poster that I'd much rather get a phone call about any damage than find it at a regular inspection - would make me wonder if the tenants were trying to hide anything else (not for one second suggesting the OP is!) - but would expect to be informed ASAP as a general courtesy - also so we could fix the problem before it potentially got worse/more costly to fix/would be a nuisance for the tenants dealing with a fault/broken appliance or whatever.

[cliffy]

My daughter has a rental property in Adelaide. A few years ago the tenant pulled up all the native shrubs from the garden, which had been professionally landscaped, and planted "potted colour" flowering plants. The agent hadn't noticed at all in the inspections he did, but my daughter did when she came home at Christmas!!!!!! Too late by then, of course.