None Come Unto Rental Except By Me: Agents
Newcastle Herald
Friday January 4, 2008
"WE treat everyone who walks through our door the same, even renters."
So said a Hunter real estate agent earlier this year a very good one when I asked what set that particular agency apart from others.At face value, the statement offers an interesting insight into the plight of those who find themselves paying off someone else's mortgage each week.Take that last little qualification in particular. Now replace "renters" with say, "women" or "immigrants".The implied meaning of the sentence changes immediately. This particular agent, I expect, would be horrified. But I would also imagine that more than a couple of renters could relate experiences of being regarded as second-tier citizens as those without the means, inclination or intelligence to become home owners by those who sell and manage properties for a living.And it's here where I make my confession. Forgive me, reader. For I rent. It has been six months since my last inspection.Despite half a dozen Hail Marys, a really big swear jar and a healthy fear of the laws of karma, I can appreciate why property managers in particular join journalists and drug dealers at the bottom of the list of the world's most beloved and respected professions.Because there have been a few fundamental differences of opinion between me and those who manage the place in which I live.Most recently I was informed I would now be charged a "convenience fee" to help me pay my rent each week.When I contacted my agency, the young voice on the end of the phone the third I was transferred through to wasn't really able to explain how this was consistent with the Macquarie Dictionary's definition of "convenience".Rather than have the money directly taken out of my bank each week, I now have to lodge my financial details with a third party online and nominate how I would wish to pay.The level of convenience afforded (and its corresponding need for fiscal compensation) then determines the size of the charge added onto my rent.Pay by direct debit and you shall be charged 85 cents. With a credit card, a dollar or so. In piles of cash shot out of a cannon by a bilingual camel singing the second verse of Advance Australia Fair in Esperanto? Probably well over $2.I imagine this system was introduced because it suited the agency more than its tenants. Bless their little cotton socks their convenience fee must be huge.This of course is a fairly trivial gripe when considered in light of painfully low vacancy rates and record rental stress, but it is in such an environment where you would like to see heartening examples of agents using their powers for good rather than evil.But the Australian Red Cross is about to get them their chance.It is launching a challenge in February to see which Newcastle real-estate agents can make the most life-saving blood donations in an allocated time period.What a wonderfully convenient opportunity for agents to dispel the myth that they're really blood-suckers once and for all.lmckenny@theherald.com.au
© 2008 Newcastle Herald