When living in an apartment you have to follow some rules otherwise you can find yourself evicted.

What happens if you are in a situation where you want to get evicted, but the property manager is being vindictive?

That is what this tenant is dealing with, and fortunately, things all came together perfectly.

Check it out.

That time the real estate agent evicted me

Background: I live in Australia and had been renting a unit for 6.5 years via a property management company.

The lease was 12mths, at the end of each lease I was offered the option of another year with a slight rent hike.

I signed a contract each time.

I’m surprised she got away with this so long.

The unit did not allow pets but I had 3 indoor only cats.

At each 3 monthly inspection I left a note for the PM stating I was cat sitting and not to let the the cats out as they were unfamiliar with the area.

The Company has a very rapid staff turnover and so this worked for 6.5 years.

I knew I was in the wrong keeping cats and did expect to get in trouble eventually.

I had loads of problems with the management over the years.

On 3 occasions they’d told me I was behind on my rent when I knew I wasn’t.

All 3 times they had the wrong weekly rent amount in the system, charging me more than my contract and making me look like I was behind.

It was fixed each time after lots of back and forth.

This is scary.

I had several break in while I lived there and they never wanted to change the keys, although I made them eventually.

They were difficult with maintenance and generally treated me like I was beneath them.

I always got attitude when I dealt with them.

I had been saving for a while and had just purchased a flat to live in but it wouldn’t technically transfer to me for another 2 weeks.

The flat had a tenant and even though I could terminate their lease on a 30 day notice, the previous owners had asked to either let the tenant remain or work with them on a move out date.

I had had a friendly conversation with the tenant but we hadn’t discussed the tenant moving just yet.

It was my first owned place so obviously, I wanted to move in ASAP.

But not only did I need the tenant to move, if I broke my lease I had to pay re advertising costs and pay rent (even if I didn’t live there) until a new tenant moved in.

I’d ploughed everything I had into buying the house, so the whole situation was tricky.

The Story

And then it happened.

Oh, now they are upset?

I came home and after a routine inspection I had been issued a notice that offered me the option of removing the cats immediately and permanently or to go to rental tenancies tribunal (like renters court) where the property management will ask for eviction.

I panicked but then remembered that I needed to break the lease anyway.

I did a bit of research and found that if I’m evicted, I am not liable for rent and re advertising.

Also, the property management did not know I’d bought a place.

I spoke to the tenant who was happy enough to move and asked if they wanted to rent my old place, they did.

I contacted the property management and asked if they would release me (and my cats) from the lease if I found someone to take it over.

They are shooting themselves in the foot.

It would mean my cats were gone and they wouldn’t miss a day of rent but they wouldn’t have it.

By the tone, I knew they wanted to punish me.

The Compliance

I agreed to got to Tribunal for eviction.

I’m sure they weren’t expecting that and thought there was no way for me talk my way out of eviction.

Tribunal date comes around and I’m very prepared with a folder of papers.

The tenant in my new place has a solid move out date for 3 weeks time, so I can move after that.

The whole thing was comical from the start.

This property manager doesn’t know what they are doing.

The judge (not really a judge but it’s close enough) asks the property manager how long I’ve lived there and she says 1.5 years, the judge asks me to confirm and I say 6.5 years.

Property manager is scrambling through her records and can’t find the details.

After several minutes I say I have them and pull them out of my folder.

You can tell the judge is not impressed.

We get to the cats and I explain that I know I’m in the wrong.

That is very comforting to have other beings in the house with all the break ins and security issues.

I explain that I have been able to secure other accommodation for myself and my cats but need some time to move as I cannot move in yet.

The judge seems quite sympathetic.

The judge turns to the property manager and says, ‘You are here seeking eviction, correct?’

The property manager says, ‘I don’t have approval for that.’ ‘Well that’s what your official paperwork states. I can try contact the owner now but if I cannot get them, we will proceed as the paperwork states.’

The property manager is beet red and flustered, stammering that the owner is difficult to contact.

The judge leaves to call them anyway.

The property manager knows she messed up, she didn’t expect me to be willing and now she knows I’ll be getting away without paying hundreds in fees.

The judge comes back, unable to contact the owner.

Perfect!

She explains the eviction to me and I ask that my eviction date be after the date I can move to the new place.

The judge orders it so!

As the judge leaves the room, she looks at me and says ‘No harm in a little cat’.

Property manger is purple!

The property manger and I have to stay to sign the paperwork.

I am grinning and she refuses eye contact.

I go out of my way to shake her hand and say ‘Nice seeing you Janet’ as we leave.

Honestly, it was such a beautiful moment.

To add insult to injury, I was supposed to meet the property manager at the rental to hand over keys once I’d moved.

Well-played.

I left a card with a cat on it, key taped inside, thanking them for making things so easy.

They did try and claim my bond for silly things like age cracks in the wall but Tenancies saw right through it and made them return it.

It’s a beautiful thing when everything comes together so perfectly.

Take a look at some of these comments.

Exactly, what were they thinking?

This commenter shares some important information.

Now that would be fun for years to come.

Yup, you love to see it.

Yeah, it would have worked well for everyone.

How could this property manager be so stupid?

She walked right into a trap.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.