Do I have a choice?

[~Lashes~]

consumers should be on your side.
what they have outlined is no reason for you to worry.
after you have called consumers, i would call your agent, let them know you have spoke to consumers and find out exactly why she is worried about the state of the yard ect, seing as it is not a "permanent" problem and easily rectified. i hope they are easy on you and understand.
one owner i had came to the inspection and after being told by the agent that she was more then happy with it, i later recived a letter stating i had so many days to
1, cease riding of motorbikes in the yard (he assumed as there was 2 motorbikes infront of the garage that they were being riden on the property)
2, remove dog from property, (she WAS on the lease so shouldnt hae been mentioned)
3, maintain the growth of fruit trees and maintain the grass ( it was winter and his fruit trees were out of season, the grass i had a pool set up for the kids over summer that killed a patch of the grass, but i was re-growing it and was already half repaired at the inspection)

Sometimes they find the smallest things to pick on, and altho it dose stress you out, as a tenant you have lots of rights. they seem like very minute thingsto be pulling you up on, they are in no way a reason to be taken any further then another inspection, wich dosent even sound warrented.

ETA: with the "will enter via spare key held at the office" i would be calling them and letting them know that it is not ok to do so. im realy uncomfortable with people being in my house while im there, and i certainly dont want them being there while i am not. you can tell them that it is either when you are home or not at all. (i like to add in my dog is not friendly while i am out)

[Netix]

Well, the two... um, let's just say, nice rental ladies, just left after my inspection re-inspection. Again, they said they were happy with everything. Uh-huh. Right. Let's see if I get another letter in a few days...

I spent the day vac'ing the house, doing washing and trying to clean and tidy around the kids. I think I feel like that little cleaning bot from that robot movie. Yeah, making lots of sense there Netix! ..... Wall-e! Sorry, that took me ten minutes to figure out! I couldn't even find it on Google. Anyway, you know that little cleaning bot that follows Wall-e's dirty tracks around? I feel like that! I didn't feel like I got much "tidy", until about twenty minutes before the inspection, when I got a box and stacked almost all of the papers from our kitchen bench into it. I managed to separate the junk mail as I went, which went straight into the recycling box for me to make sure there's no letters or anything important before I turf it out. SO much better! I actually have a bench!

Oh! Except for all the little boxes of garbage (can't say the 'cr' word) that I stashed in the pantry. Very . Oh the shame! I could leave the papers in the box and sort them out (file, shred, and recycle), but the boxes have to come back out of the pantry now! Oh well. I was just starting to get used to the idea of having a usable bench again.


I did call Consumer Affairs, and they said there isn't anywhere in the Act that says I need to have a clean and tidy house. It doesn't matter how tidy it is, because I'm the one living there, and "everyone lives differently" (that's what the guy on the phone actually said). He also said I'm entitled to "quiet enjoyment" which I am not getting due to them (the RE) wanting my house to be tidy to their standards. I didn't bother causing a fuss, as mentally, I just couldn't do it atm, and secondly, because we are behind in the rent. If I caused too much of a fuss (ie, making references to the Act), then they could just turn around and give us a notice to vacate. That would more than likely tip me over the edge. In the Act it does say that the place has to be "reasonably clean", which I believe my house was for the first inspection.

Lastly, I'm glad that I was home, as when they left, they left the front gate open. They pulled it to, but didn't actually put the latch down, so it would have swung open in a small breeze. Thanks guys! I'll bet that you would pay ALL the fines for getting my dogs out of the pound, especially as one of them is a restricted breed! Real smart.

Onyx; Here the RE can use their key, as long as the time is agreed upon (their definition of agreeance is me not responding to their letter, but they do give a phone call half an hour before the appointment time to see if I was going to be home to "check if they needed to bring the key from the office".)

Keike; I did tell them I was in hospital. Their care could not have been less.

Sarah; I have told them that the dogs do not like people if we are not home. They either don't care, or don't believe us. And I didn't think the second inspection was warranted, but I let it go, as I said why above.

Thanks for the everyone. I needed them.