On the fourteenth of June 2023 I moved out of my previous place. I’ve touched on the details as to why here and there and I’m probably going to repeat a fair bit of it here.

At the end of 2021 my partner and I took over the lease as Fe was moving out and for various reasons we wanted to stay. There were some issues with the place which we were aware of but we decided to stay regardless. Fe had asked for them to be addressed a few times but his requests were met with silence.

We began advertising for someone else to move in which we made the real estate aware of. The landlord didn’t want pets on the premises so we weren’t allowed to get anyone with pets in, and once rain started causing serious damp issues in the house we stopped advertising. We started asking the real estate to address it and those requests were met with silence.

When we add the request to address the water damage to another request, the other request was addressed and the request for water damage was ignored.

When we had an inspection we pointed all of this out, were told it would be looked into and nothing happened.

During this time we considered taking the real estate to tribunal but we held off. I was confident we had a good case but it seemed hopeless. When the inspection happened we felt a bit better about things happening, but of course nothing did.

Eventually our council sent a letter to our real estate / landlord advising to fix something else or there would be a fine. This was something that also was ignored and left us pretty crappy as people would walk past our place and stare, but apparently it was only able to be fixed once someone on our street complained and the council stepped in. Suddenly people were coming around with no forewarning to make repairs. Those repairs happened over a far longer time than necessary, but they happened.

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Shortly after the repairs were finished (or nearing being finished; I can’t quite remember) a council representative came around to look at the repairs, of which were completed but not done as well as they should have. It was then it was confirmed that they had sent a letter advising the repairs had to be done or there’d be a fine.

During the whole process of the the repairs happening the repairers left a lot of debris on the property which naturally my partner and I were not happy about. We also had to contact the real estate multiple times about not receiving notification for when the repairers would be working. We then received one notification.

Shortly after this all happened we received a notification of a rent increase. Considering the length of refusal to address the issues we were not happy and so I called the real estate and spoke to someone and told them of all the issues that had not been addressed. I was told to put them in email which I did.

A skip bin arrived the following day with no forewarning. I was told it would be collected at the end of the day. It sat there full for around four or five days. There was still debris left.

In the email we requested to have a rent reduction until all repairs were complete. From what I remember the email was ignored until I advised we’d be going to tribunal. Suddenly there was action happening. Suddenly a lot of requests from the real estate written more as demands than requests. We were told a rent decrease would only be considered if we could come up with a counter-offer whilst showing similar properties of similar value in the area. This goes without saying, but it’s not easy to show other properties being advertised with interior damage to the extent of which with we had been living.

We complied with requests where necessary and then came the mediation day. I won’t get into the details of it as it’s rather unnecessary, but the summary is that the real estate seemed willing to come to the table and actually talk to us about what was going on at this point. I didn’t believe some of the stuff of what we were being advised and I was prepared to go beyond mediation for a potential compensation battle, but neither my partner nor I wanted to so we were willing to drop the case if stuff was actually happening.

Eventually we received a notice of eviction due to it being too dangerous for us to be at the residence whilst repairs were occurring, which was a possibility discussed at mediation. We were told the rent going forward would be the increased amount. We had to follow up twice before we got confirmation that it wasn’t increasing.

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When we received the notice we began packing and working out what we would do and we checked out places over the remaining weeks we had. After a few weeks we were able to pair up with someone else which made things a fair bit easier, and a few weeks after that we applied for the place we are in now.

It was around two months of looking, and we didn’t miss out on places so much due to other people applying, but more so we didn’t go for a lot of places due to issues with what we were inspecting. Considering the condition of some of those places it was surprising that people applied for them. Where we are has some of its own issues but they are pretty minor. The place is old but it doesn’t have extensive damage throughout. There’s a bit of noise in the area but it’s limited and we get quiet more than we don’t.

So we were approved for where we are now and the three of us were happy, or at least my partner and our new housemate were. I was just tired. I didn’t feel happy about it and I still don’t. It might take a while, but I digress.

My partner and I continued packing and cleaning where we could, and then came the moving day. Two of my friends had agreed to help. Fe was going to as well but he’d injured himself and I preferred that he didn’t help if it meant exacerbating said injury. We also had movers booked and so I was pretty confident we’d get the whole thing done in a day.

A few days before moving the movers rescheduled from eight in the morning to half past twelve in the afternoon. That was something we could work with. One of my friends could only help in the morning so I didn’t tell him. I told the other one, however and they preferred to start in the afternoon which was fine.

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Come moving day and the friend who could help in the morning arrived. I gave him the tour of the damage throughout the house, then we sat on the front porch and had coffee and talked for about twenty minutes just to relax before we got into the swing of things.

Then we got into the swing of things.

With his car and mine we did a few loads. My partner stayed back and kept packing. When my friend left I asked that if he could come back later in the day it would be awesome, but if not it was fine.

At some point whilst we were moving the movers delayed even further and provided a rough time frame for when they would arrive, and eventually they did. My other friend arrived shortly after and we started loading and kept on going. There was some silliness but it was mostly moving quickly.

Back and forth we went and eventually the friend who came in the morning was able to come back and it was great. The movers arrived at the new place and unloaded… you  get the idea.

We needed them to do another load but they refused due to the time of day. It wasn’t good and we aren’t going to use those movers again. Had they arrived at the original time, or even at the second time we would’ve gotten the whole thing done in one day.

Anyway, they left and we headed back to the house for one last load which was the plants and a few other things. Myself and one of my friends went to move one of the trees I’ve had since moving out of the terrace. When I moved out of there I took a stick in a pot that had been there since before I had moved in. It had a leaf growing on it and so I figured I’d take it with me, and it survived. The plant in the rolled up Inner West Courier didn’t however.

Anyway, the tree was in this pot that was one I bought in error as I thought I was buying a different one, but I decided to use it anyway. It was part a barrel and the wood was thin. We went to move the tree and the pot started falling apart. We then spent a bit of time working out how to move it until I said that we should stop and just focus on taking what we could and I’ll come back in the morning and go from there. It was dark and I didn’t want to have my friends to have to keep spending their time on helping my partner and I move.

We gathered the last of what we could, drove to the new place once more, unloaded and ordered food. I repeatedly hugged my friends and we sat around and talked about the move and the old real estate a bit, and then we talked about other stuff for a while and it was a nice moment. It was small and we were tired, but it was nice.

Eventually my friends left, and my partner and I went to sleep. The following morning my partner headed off to work as she didn’t have the day off, and I got back into the swing of things.

I figured moving what remained would take only around two hours so all I had in the morning was a coffee as I felt it better to have breakfast after. It took closer to eight, in part due to being tired. It was five loads moved. The tree was moved and its pot was thrown out. It is now in a new pot.

The fifteenth of June ended up being a real slog but all that remained was either thrown out or taken and I was mostly done. I stood there in the house for a bit before I began cleaning. I thought about what had happened there and how this was an end, and I started vacuuming.

By the time I got into cleaning I realised I had to stop. I didn’t have much energy left in me and I desperately needed rest. I resolved to come back and finish the cleaning when I could, finished vacuuming, then took the keys to the real estate. I told them what had happened the day prior and that I was happy to come back and finish cleaning, but not that week.

—

On the twenty-fourth of June my partner and I entered our previous place for the last time. It was more bitter than it was sweet. We cleaned the last of what we could and left the debris the repairers hadn’t removed. It took a few hours, but it was done. I felt we did a good job and we could be satisfied with what we did.

After withdrawing the tribunal application I wondered if the real estate felt if they either had come out victorious, or dodged a financial loss, or lost what they felt were good tenants. I don’t know, but I think no one won here. If anything dodgy happens at this point we might have to resume the tribunal process which I don’t want to do. I still think my partner and I have a good case and could go for compensation if necessary, but I don’t want to go through that. It just adds to a what we want to leave behind.

Once we finished cleaning my partner went to the car, and I took some last photos and did the last bit of sweeping. I stood in that house and felt it empty. It was bitter because that had become our home. It might not have been ours, but in a way it was and it was taken from us. No moving or rental increase dispute would’ve occurred had the issues been addressed a few years ago, or at worst addressed when we initially raised the issues ourselves.

With that being said, at times we had problematic housemates and a lot of bad memories. In the last few months I had thoughts of completely giving up and committing suicide. It had all seemed hopeless and it felt as though years were lived in half of one. My partner and I managed to overcome, but everything that happened was still part of our history there.

When I was taking photos and doing the last sweep I put on Kowloon Walled City’s “Daughters and Sons”. It’s from their album Grievances, and there certainly were a few grievances in that place. It probably wasn’t the most appropriate song to play but it felt right as the last song I’d play in that house.

When I was done I closed the front door and took one last look at the house. I didn’t feel sentimental, but there was some sadness.

Then we left.