Mould problems

I continue to be amazed by the complexity of controlling damp and mould in houses. Ray White Beecroft had a property under management which suffered serious mould problems. We brought in several consultants, each making different recommendations.
Obvious potential sources of the problem included an unventilated shower used by a teenager downstairs, and the spin dryer in the laundry having no external vent. We also felt the tenant could do more to ventilate the property instead of leaving all the windows closed and heaters on full blast all the time.
We obtained quotes to put ventilation into the shower, duct the spin drier outlet through a hole in the wall to outside, put whirlygigs in the roof and forced ventilation in upstairs walls, and so on. Remarkably, the owner approved "whatever is necessary". But the tenant vacated before we had actually implemented any of these steps.
With the property empty and ventilated, we painted throughout with mould suppressing paint, and quickly found a new tenant. We explained our intent to do the proposed work, and the tenant agreed to allow access for this.
The new tenant has been in for nine months now. He ventilates the property sensibly, and admittedly doesn't have anyone using the downstairs shower. And there has been no mould at all since he moved in!
In fact this tenant has proved to be about the best we have in all our properties, maintaining the house immaculately, improving the gardens, and so on. So the question is, should we spend the owner's money modifying the house, or just ask future tenants to leave windows open sometimes? My intention is to wait until either this tenant leaves, or mould reappears, before doing anything!
Of course the problem might well change if we have a cold wet winter and the tenant goes into shutdown mode! But at least we are ready with solutions if needed.

Epping West Public School hedge stolen!

On the subject of hedges, students from Epping West Public School used money raised by the P&C committee to buy 180 Murraya plants, and spent a weekend planting them in a line across the front of their school. Four days later someone stole 12 of the plants!

"Spite" Hedges

There have been many reports of people planting quick growing hedges that grow to excessive height, to provide privacy for their property. However this can have a most undesirable effect on the neighbouring properties.
Changes to the Trees (Disputes between Neighbours) Act 2006 will come into force in August, and provide a simple inexpensive and accessible process for resolving disputes about hedges that severely block sunlight or views. A lawyer will not be required.
Councils will then be able to enforce court orders to trim or remove such fences if the owner refuses, with costs being recovered from the owner.

Myna Menace

Hornsby Shire Council's winter newsletter includes an article on Indian myna birds, saying how they are having a devastating effect on our local wildlife. They provide a contact phone for the HSC Bushland and Biodiversity Team on how to join a Local Community Action Group. Sharing their dislike for this introduced species, I have asked for more information.
Quite coincidentally, the Northern District Times has a sad but related article about a Ryde resident who bought a South American blue and gold macaw. The bird was very tame and watched television with him. When he took it out in the garden with the bird in his arms, myna birds swooped down and scared the macaw, who flew away! He later saw the bird on a roof nearby and watched in dismay as more mynas attacked it! He reported the microchipped bird to police and hired Pet Search, who found the bird on a construction site, but sadly by then Polly was too emaciated to be saved.

Rent Rules Overhaul

Legislation tabled in NSW State Parliament yesterday proposes significant overhaul of the residential tenancy laws. Under the proposed changes landlords will have to give 90 days notice instead of 60 days for tenants on continuing agreements. Landlords will be able to control the number of tenants in the property, and to vet new tenants moving into a shared tenancy. Tenants will have to notify landlords of changes of tenants, and allow landlords to interview the new proposed tenant and view references. Also tenants will be more free to make minor changes to the property, such as putting in picture hooks, so long as such changes are rectified at end of the lease.

Comments in the Sydney Morning Herald website on this issue include this by "Sally":
Under this legislation flatmates now have 3 months when they can live there after they are told they have been kicked out. This means that a selfish person with a motive for revenge and a key to your house is given 3 whole months to do whatever they want to you and there's nothing you can do about it.

Swinging Property Statistics

Amazing how quickly the market changes! A few weeks ago we were urgently seeking more rental properties, but in little more than a week the number on our books has more than doubled, despite the fact that we continue to lease an average of 8 properties every month. We still have lots of potential renters on our books, some increasingly desperate, but at least we are increasingly able to offer them properties to view.

On the sales side, despite selling several properties in the last couple of weeks, our sale listings have gone up significantly as well. The total number of houses for sale in the Beecroft and Cheltenham area remains at historical lows (just under half the peak at end of 2008).

Businesses of Beecroft

Ray White is a founding member of the Businesses of Beecroft organisation, and is hosting that organisation's blog, at www.businessesofbeecroft.blogspot.com.

Douglas Knows Best

A testimonial from the owners of the house sold at auction last week:
"Although we would have liked to have sold prior to the auction it is now obvious that Douglas knew best".
This followed a long drawn out auction with bids going up $1K at a time and the auctioneer Ben Mathews refusing to give up.

State of the Market (2)

In my last blog I reported how newspapers say interest in house purchase is fading. Yet over the last week we had our largest number of visitors to our site (raywhitebeecroft.com.au) in eight months! Of these, 40% were new visitors, and they spent an average of over four page views per visit.
Of course a lot of these visitors would have been perusing our rental properties as opposed to sales, the rental market is sizzling and we are renting more properties each week than we have done in a long time.

State of the Market

According to Stephen Nicholls of the SMH, Sydney's property market has suddenly caught a cold! Auction clearance rates in the past two weeks have been down, and agents report fewer visitors to open houses.
However Ray White Beecroft sold 30 Lyndon Way at auction on Saturday,

and 14A The Crescent was sold prior to auction the night before after some fast footwork by Peter Raco.

Even more incredible we had 45 groups through a new listing at 15 Wandeen Avenue Beecroft, a beautiful old house that was due to go to auction on 12 June. However we have 14 contracts out on the property so Douglas is thinking of bringing the auction forward a week.

Should be an interesting auction!