OverlySensitiveRobot @overlysensitiverobot - Tumblr Blog

I recommend the audiobook.

‘You could be one of the good ones, but the reality is, 99% of our tenants… just… aren’t”

I had offered the use of the bond, to insulate the house, and Michelle was explaining why that would be too much risk to the owner.

‘Anything could happen you see?’ She explained kindly. ‘You could stop paying rent, or damage the property. The owner would have to cover that themselves. The owner doesn’t have to provide insulation, and insulation only effects the tenant, not the owner, so it would be too much risk to allow the bond to be used.

“Oh” I replied, suddenly understanding. “so, because insulation only effects the tenant, not the owner, it’s a risk for the owner to use the bond?”

‘Exactly’ she replied ‘the owner doesn’t get anything out of that’

‘How about keeping a good tenant?’ I offered.

“Oooh and look, it might be, that you are one of the good ones..” she cooed emphatically , “but the reality is, 99% of our tenants… just… aren’t”

Who was I to argue? After all, the last tenants had literally trashed the place. I know, as we had just spent a month cleaning thick greasy dust off every surface, removing building debris and rubbish from the gardens, steam cleaning the carpets and repainting the walls and ceilings of our rental, getting it ready for us to move in to. So I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it was going to be too hard to prove we were good tenants worth keeping. Surely worth insulating.. I made a video of the work we’d done, and the work we were planning to do. But time after time, staff member after staff member, refused to acknowledge the work we’d put in, or that the footage even existed.

That’s odd. I thought.

It wasn’t the only thing that was odd.

It quickly became apparent that the property managers job was to protect the owner – from me.

Wait.. Am I the enemy in this scenario? I wondered. If so, why? I had kinda assumed we’d be working together, towards a common goal. Surely getting the best out of the owners investment was a win win for everyone? Right?…. Right?

You see, this was no ordinary tenancy, I had applied specifically to this tenancy with the offer to ‘do up’ the house at my own cost. It was a personal passion project. Something I’d always wanted to do. And something about this house had my creative juices flowing. In return I wanted long term sustainabile housing… we tried to get something in writing, but gosh darn it, we just couldn’t seem to get the wording right, but that’s no big deal I thought, we all clearly wanted the same thing, there’s time for that later. I needed to get a better idea of the investment I’d be making anyway.

So I signed up under the guidance of the very charasmatic James, and as soon as that was done I was never allowed to speak with him again- EVER.

Infact everything changed

Communication with the owner, was no longer allowed.

My offers to help to get the fence fixed, not allowed

Use of the bond to insulate the house, not allowed

Clarification on whether or not the owner did infact want the kind of tenancy I was offering- not allowed.

Acknowledging the work we’d put into the house – not allowed

After months of trying to find a member of the realestate to give me a straight answer, I ended up on the door step of the owners house to find out if they wanted me or not - in person.

-Aaaaaand, well, look. That’s a story on it’s own, and I am… really looking forward to telling it – spoiler free- so, ya’ll just gonna have to wait -

It’s a good storey. A story of discovery, as it just so happens that I have undertaken an…. incredibly intensive and enlightening 6 month journey. We are talking about a journey that can only be described as extreme in every sense of the word - There’s; inward and outward epiphanies, physical feats un-precedented, dareing stunts, twists, turns, dizzying highs and heart breaking lows. It has been the kind of journey that changes a person. The kind of journey that restarts a life.

And I owe all this to the plight of property managers.

So, if you are a property manager, and you can hear me, I’d like to thank you, because I think I finally figured out why I wasn’t able find anyone to advocate me as ‘good tenant worth keeping’. And why good tenants are just so gosh darn hard to find.

.. to be continued

#trying_tenant #tenant #real estate #property manager #tenants rights #my story #mental health #funny

edgysaintjust

natalieironside

Fun history facts: One of the 31 people arrested at Stonewall on June 28th 1969 was American folk singer Dave Van Ronk, who was not at the Stonewall Inn at the time and was cis & straight as far as I'm aware. He'd been eating dinner at a nearby restaurant when he noticed a riot happening, said "Well I suppose I should go see what the fuss is about," stepped outside, and immediately started throwing bricks at the cops.

Last night my Nana died

She the best Person in the world. Theres not a soul who didn’t love her. I never heard her speak a cruel word, or put anyone down, ever. She had nothing but goodness in her heart.

She been in palliative care for a few days and I put off seeing her because it seemed more appropriate for this to be a time for her kids to be with her, so I just sent in the single scented rose that was growing in my garden, and mum sent me a photo, saying she just kept wanting to smell it and it was a big hit.

In the photo Nannas hair was all flat, which it’s been for a while now, but she’d always loved to have it curled and set, and so I got it into my head that she would want her hair done, and decided to do it for her. And since I was going in, I thought maybe I’d bring in some music too, something that would add a little euphoria to the morphine she was on so I made a little playlist up just incase

Whilst I was at Kmart getting the hair products I decided to get a little tapestry kit too, as my Nana and Auntie Magda spent many hours with my sister and I, teaching us tapestry on holidays, and then my brother called. He couldn’t find the Ute key, so I had to go to the factory to help him find it. Whilst there I took the opportunity to grab a Bluetooth speaker.

When I arrived Nannas could no longer communicate. Her breathing was short and rattled, so I just set the music up and at the start we had it down real low and I spent the first hour just feeding her thickened water with a sponge tip. She really loved it. It was quite fun actually, and I was so glad to have that moment with her. She had to do all kinds of weird stuff to get me to eat as a kid, and she’d always made it fun for me, so it felt appropriate

She locked her eyes onto mine, and would not look away, I hadn’t expected that. She tried to say my name but she couldn’t. She wasn’t in a state to have her hair done, so I pulled out the tapestry and began to that instead.

She wanted to speak to me so badly, but she was too short of breath. So I just held her gaze and did slow steady deliberate breaths because I read somewhere once it can help to subconsciously help calm someone struggling to breathe. I don’t know if it helped her much but it’s how we spent the next few hours

We added a Andre Rieu song to the playlist as mum said she loved him, and I read out a few song names to find one she wanted. ‘Love Theme’ was chosen, and we turned the music up and began to listen to it and as we listened to the playlist we let the violins sweep across the room and free our tears, and speak our souls. I got to tell her what a wonderful grandmother she’d been, share my favourite memories, and tell her I how much I loved her. I hugged her tight and in my final goodbye I spoke my heart into her ear, I swear I felt her relax and she looked at me with like what she’d been trying to say had finally got to be said, but I honestly can’t even remember the words I even spoke in that moment

She died an hour after I left, and it hit me that what we had just shared was her final experience on this world, and I can’t believe it happened like that. It was so intense, beautiful but intense. She made me feel so special, like it had been so important to her that I was there and honestly I don’t feel like I deserved for it to be like that, but I’m so bloody grateful that it was

Thank you Nannas ,I will love you forever and ever and ever