'I went into the office and broke my lease': Greedy real estate agent gets his comeuppance, tenant costs him six weeks of rent money

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  • 01
    "Cost my real estate agent $$$"
  • 02
    Cost my Real estate agent $$$ I was renting a house with pool ( Australia) In Oz RA have a reputation for being w s. (well deserved tbh) They inspect every 3 months and even for them they were picky. It turns out a neighbour told us a relative of the RA owned it.
  • 03
    Finally we bought our own place. The lease was 12 months and said we had to pay a break fee of 6 weeks if the landlord wouldn't agree to waive it. I approached the RA and asked if I gave them three months notice and they rented it would they forego the 6 weeks as they would not be losing any rent. "No" was the instant answer. Hmm ok I thought not a lot I can do.
  • 04
    A couple of days later I look out my window and see a big To Let sign in the lawn. I'm like ! I went out pulled the sign up and dumped it out the front. Called the RA. "yes you're leaving in 3 months so I'm entitled to do that" But of course as they wouldn't play nice I replied "No I'm not leaving we changed our minds" I hadn't given notice etc. A few days later an unhappy chap in a truck collected his sign.
  • 05
    That's the end of that I thought, but no. Several days later I got a mail telling me that there's an open house Saturday.
  • 06
    For the non Australians, when you give notice they have the right to show tenants round the house whilst you're still living there. I called again" Yes we're having one, it's in the contract. "Yes but I have 3 months left on my lease and I'm not leaving.
  • 07
    So no there will be no open house until then." Two days later I receive a bill for $250 for cancelled advertising. This time my sunny disposition is wearing thin. I mail the office back saying that they are now harassing a tenant with a lawful lease. If they didn't stop I would be reporting them to every agency I can think of. I get a mail back saying "This invoice has been cancelled."
  • 08
    Imagine my utter pleasure when on the day that I had originally told them we were leaving I went into the office and broke my lease. I thought her head might explode. The further kicker that house was empty (pre Covid) for a good 3 months after we left. So because they were greedy and wanted my 6 weeks they lost 6 weeks rent.
  • 09
    Redmudgirl 4 hr. ago Chefs kiss
  • 10
    pratofu 3 hr. ago Wish I could upvote more. REA's. They're scum
  • 11
    SignatureElegant162 . 3 hr. ago Love it
  • 12
    Wild_Replacement8213. 1 hr. ago That was beautiful
  • 13
    TheFilthyDIL 1 hr. ago Thanks for adding your location. It's rather confusing for us Americans, because our real estate agents sell us houses. SFAIK, they don't manage apartments.
  • 14
    beetans 34 min. ago Real estate agents rent apartments and charge brokers fees in OR and MA for sure from personal experience
  • 15
    TheFilthyDIL 17 min. ago You can tell it's been a long time since I had to deal with renting an apartment!
  • 16
    WKU-Alum 56 min. ago . Kinda blurred lines. Leasing doesn't require a license like a buy/sell agent needs. However, a lot of REAs own a lot of rental inventory. They see new properties as soon as they hit the MLS, get a 3-6% discount on the price (they get paid the commission on the deal), etc. so a lot of advantages for them. Every land lord I ever had was a real estate agent, though I'd call them my LL, not my agent.

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