landlords want to install a pool.. whats our rights as tenants?

The landlard has been a little funny - coming and having trees ripped out and henges removed (i came home and found them all gone).. no written notice or anything - jus tthe gardener calling me after wards to say he tried to ring but couldnt get through.

We are 2 months into a lease - so not near the end etc, and ive never had a Landlord do gardening of this kind whilst in tenancy.

anyhow... they emailed this morning (the RE) to see if the owner can come over as he wants to install a pool in the back yard.

I am not sure of the story yet but wondering if anyone knows our rights as a tenant.

- We DONT want a pool (we have 2 toddlers !!!).

- There is only a tiny bit of lat land where the swing set is and this is where they want to put the pool so we woul dhave no grass for the children anymore.

- i am a shift worker and dont want my backyard a construction site for god knows how long... not to mention 2 littles ones sleeping and unable to use the backyard .

can they just do this kind of reno';s while it is tenanted???

i dont know if they are looking to sell etc (which we dont care as we are moving out in dec anyhow) or move back in when we leave but surely they cant do this while we are paying rent!!


anyone

i dunno, but i guess they can do what they want as they own the place. but what a pain in the bum!

I'd contact the tenants association and ask them your rights. I don't think they can do it tho if you are against it. I thought major work had to wait til you were out of the place. Make sure you know your rights so you can point them out if they try to argue it with you.

That's so dumb. :hug: The things is, I guess, if they're not willing to stop work, or don't have to, can you be bothered finding a new place to stay til December?

I imagine there must be some sort of clause for you to end the term early, surely, since with no backyard space, the property will sort of be different to the one you originally agreed to rent?

I think that is something that you can object to! It's not essential works is it!

I would be ringing the tennancy tribunal for sure about that one. What if they then decided they will put the rent up because of the pool :o

Exactly what I was goine to say (what Raven said), plus who would have to look after it???
I guess they might have naively thought that 'everyone' would love a pool so it wouldn't be a prob.
I would question it too, both through the RE (ask them to provide you with the laws in writing) and the TT. Are they willing to drop the rent if you allow them to continue? Cos it sure ain't what you signed for!!!

eta found this though
under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 No 26

22 Tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment

(1) It is a term of every residential tenancy agreement that:
(a) the tenant shall have quiet enjoyment of the residential premises without interruption by the landlord or any person claiming by, through or under the landlord or having superior title (for example, a head landlord) to that of the landlord, and
(b) the landlord or the landlord’s agent shall not interfere, or cause or permit any interference, with the reasonable peace, comfort or privacy of the tenant in using the residential premises.
(2) A landlord or a landlord’s agent under a residential tenancy agreement shall not, during the currency of the agreement, contravene or fail to comply with subsection (1).

that is just wrong!
i would be so peeved if that happened to us!
surely they can't do that?

Well they are looking at installing a lap pool down the strip of grass we have.

I told the RE we do not want the pool installed while we are in tenancy.

The pool guy reckons it will take until at least dec until they get council approval anyhow. (phew!).

I guess we wait and see and if they request to do it before the end of lease i will be asking to break lease without penalty to move. :)

thanks for all your help and support girls

The biggy is are you still under lease or month by month. Because month by month they can do it, you say no, they say move on then... kwim?

Just wanted to pop in and wish you luck with it, I hope the landlord can put it off until your lease is over and you guys are out of there. That's pretty unfair... I mean I know the landlord owns the place, but I can definitely understand your concerns about taking away your kids' play area... and putting in something which could pose a serious risk to them!

Hope it all works out for you!!

According to what Kim posted, then they sorta can't do it while you are there. You could take recourse through the council too. It will need to be approved by them to have it done, so you could write a letter to the Council outlining your concerns and they wouldn't be able to get it through right away without a hearing of sorts because you couldn't rely on the Council taking it's time in doing the DA approval for it.

I cant believe that they didnt even ask permission to come to the house and take the tree's down...arent you ment to recieve written notice of work's ect?

Good luck hon....fingers crossed council object or drag it out for you

we are still in lease.
not month to month :)

i guess it is a waiting game... i wonder what else they may throw at us?

At the very least the landlord or the agent has to give you written notice of entry - which clearly didn't happen with the gardener coming over and just ripping out trees. It's not up to the gardener to call (although that would be nice as a courtesy) - the landlord cannot just get people to come over whenever he/she feels like it without letting you know at least 24 hours beforehand in writing, unless it is an emergency. So they have broken that rule to begin with. Personally I think that building a pool will interfere with your "quiet enjoyment" of the property, so you would be within your rights to submit a written letter outlining your concerns and the predicted impact on your family of the building of the pool, not to mention the fact that when you moved in and signed the lease, it was for a house without a pool - so you shouldn't now have to be responsible for maintaining a pool that didn't exist when you moved in.

I was just going to point out that pools can be expensive to maintain by the time that you have to buy salt and chlorine etc ... if they install a pool while you are there, I would want a written agreement about who is going to maintain the pool. Surely they can't just put one in and expect you to be responsible for it's maintenance.

Probably doesn't make you feel much better, but I wanted to throw that out there and give you a chance to think about it before they install it.

Good luck with everything, I hope they don't get to install it.

ETA: *snap* Bon - posted at the same time :)

you can actually serve them a 'breach of duty' notice for entering the premises without former notice - that is if you want it to go down this sort of road...

as for installing a pool while you are occupying the premises, i don't see that they can, if you read your lease on quiet enjoyment etc etc..... if they want to start works prior to the end of your lease i would be claiming compensation, costs of relocation etc etc, or requesting a signficantly reduced rent...

depending on the type of pool, i don't think it would actually take very long to install, maybe a week or something, however its the principle of it, and also the fact that you have toddlers etc and its going to take your whole backyard...

you can get free advice from tenants union victoria

We have had something similar happen to us - we rented a place with a nice big back yard, then the landlord decided to fence it off and put another house on the back section. The plans for the other house fell through and even though we were keeping the back yard tidy they still fenced it off so we had nowhere for DS to play except for a little strip out the front that he also couldn't play in because they wouldn't put in a gate.
I was told by the tenancy place that I could ask them not to put up the fence but it came under property improvements or something and I couldn't actually stop them. The best I could do was to negotiate hours with them so that the construction didn't interfere with my 'quiet enjoyment'.

They were also the kind of landlords that didn't bother to ask before getting tradies in - I came home one day to find my back door wide open and some electrician wandering around my house! And when the landlord arranged for someone to fit curtains on a day I was away and I asked him to reschedule for a time I could be home he yelled at me and did a huge burnout on the way out of the driveway lol

if they put a pool in while it is tennanted it is a tax write off as an improvement to the property - that is why he is doing it while you are still living there

hope you can stall it until after you've left (and stop him from getting the tax break)

:

---

he yelled at me and did a huge burnout on the way out of the driveway lol

---

pmsl charming!!! i hope he wont make you clean the marks off the driveway when you leave! haha

Angel - technically they cannot claim it as a deductino on tax as it is a capital improvement. you have to actually repair or replace an item to the same as before to claim as a deduction. They can depreicate it and claim the increase interest on their loan (if they extend it).

but it is a case of they have way too much money they need to put somewhere!

thanks for you support girls!

:

---

Angel - technically they cannot claim it as a deductino on tax as it is a capital improvement. you have to actually repair or replace an item to the same as before to claim as a deduction. They can depreicate it and claim the increase interest on their loan (if they extend it).

---

it can be done - I've done it before - major renovation for a capital improvement as a tax deduction (damn I love my accountant!)

hopefully you can get it sorted

Yeah I agree with Punks, it can be done. Dp and I have done it with our place.

lol! i dont care what they do! just not in my lease! lol~!

Maybe i can break lease without penalty??

This is a bit wierd isn't it, I would also talk to the re about the entry without notice, they can't do that, what if you walked by naked or something not expecting someone to be in your yard or they frightened u thinking it was an intruder and even f that didnt happen u r entitled to the entry notice and the appropriate notice the only other way they can enter legally is if they call and arrange it with u,

I would definitely say something about it, even though it might be easier to let it go if you dont say anything it kinda sets a precedent and u might find the same thing happening again

:

---

We have had something similar happen to us - we rented a place with a nice big back yard, then the landlord decided to fence it off and put another house on the back section. The plans for the other house fell through and even though we were keeping the back yard tidy they still fenced it off so we had nowhere for DS to play except for a little strip out the front that he also couldn't play in because they wouldn't put in a gate.
I was told by the tenancy place that I could ask them not to put up the fence but it came under property improvements or something and I couldn't actually stop them. The best I could do was to negotiate hours with them so that the construction didn't interfere with my 'quiet enjoyment'.

They were also the kind of landlords that didn't bother to ask before getting tradies in - I came home one day to find my back door wide open and some electrician wandering around my house! And when the landlord arranged for someone to fit curtains on a day I was away and I asked him to reschedule for a time I could be home he yelled at me and did a huge burnout on the way out of the driveway lol

---

That is a clear breach of contract. People are not allowed into the premises without your permission, even though the landlord owns the house, it is your home with your stuff. Your landlord broke the law!

As for the pool, I don't think they can do it while you are living there without consulting you. As far as I know, in order to get council approval to get a pool installed, the neighbours have to approve, and I think that as the resident, you can write to the council objecting and they have to take that into consideration before approving the work.

As for the gardener ripping out the trees while you weren't home, and without you being told, I think that if you have it written into your contract that the the house comes with a gardener then you probably can't do anything about that, if it was a once off gardener then I don't think that is allowed.