Lisa Mayoh: Taking a stand may be hard and stressful – but it’s worth it

For stressed, vulnerable house hunters who are unknowingly misled, Lisa Mayoh implores everyone to take a stand, use your voice and fight for what’s just.

Looking for a 12-month rental can be a very stressful, overwhelming and all encompassing search. Picture: iStock

I was on Judge Judy this week. Well, kind of.

I took a local real estate agent to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) that helps resolve disputes like mine – when someone keeps your rental property holding deposit, even though they shouldn’t.

I didn’t want to, obviously, but when the agent in question laughed at me and said “good luck” when I vowed to try and get my hard-earned money back, I had no choice.

Long story short, I was looking for a 12-month rental for my family of seven (including my best friends, the two dogs) at the end of last year and during the very stressful, overwhelming and all encompassing search, I found a clean, comfortable property perfectly positioned just a short walk from the kids’ school.

So, when our application was approved and move-in dates aligned, I cheered all the way to Kennards to buy millions of boxes – until the agent said, there was just one condition, though – “the owner has a few small, little (unattached) windows that have to stay in the teenage retreat”.

I went to NCAT with my evidence in hand and butterflies in my stomach. It was worth it though, and the law ruled in my favour.

I told him I hadn’t seen the windows in my inspection, but if they were “few and small”, I couldn’t imagine what the problem would be, so I paid the deposit that he insisted on me sending ASAP so the house would be ours, all ours. Problem solved. I’d done it. I’d rented us a house during a rental crisis and everything was going to be OK.

The next day, when I went to measure the lounge room for our couch, I saw the “few small windows” were actually eight to 10 door-sized glass panels all stacked together in a bulky steel vessel that took up half the room. I couldn’t go ahead with the rental because it made the whole space dangerous and unusable.

I was told because I was the one pulling out of the deal, I had forfeited my non-refundable deposit. So off to Judge Judy – I mean NCAT – I went, with my evidence in hand and butterflies in my stomach. It was worth it though, and the law ruled in my favour.

Lisa Mayoh: “It was worth it and the law ruled in my favour”.

I just wonder how often already stressed, vulnerable house hunters are unknowingly misled – by advertising, or by agents who should know better?

To anyone who has, I implore you to take a stand, use your voice and fight for what’s just. It may be hard and stressful and prolong hard situations – but it’s worth it.

Even when someone laughs at you for trying.

Actually, especially when they do.

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Originally published as Lisa Mayoh: Taking a stand may be hard and stressful – but it’s worth it