Posts Tagged ‘Moving Out’
Moving Out
If you’ve got this far you are probably sitting in one of two positions. One, you are settled into your new home. Two, you are still living at your parents’ place after realizing that you aren’t as ready to move out as you thought you were. Either way, I hope that you are happy in your surroundings. Moving out of home is a natural progression that we all face sooner or later.
Remember the bond that you paid at the beginning of your tenancy, which basically acts as insurance for the landlord or agent in case you cause any damage? You should have the receipt for this from the Bond Board that your bond money was lodged with.
She had originally promised to give it to me in cash, because I was flying back to Oz two days later and wouldn’t have time to hang around while the cheque cleared, but on the day she said she didn’t have time to go to a bank, wrote me a cheque and told me to deposit it when I got back to Australia.
The day before I moved in I had to pay a $500 (in Aussie dollars) bond. I had no idea what my rights as a tenant were, or what happened to my bond money. I was so excited to have found a place to live that I didn’t think of any of that.
I was never asked to sign a lease, which meant I was free to leave at any time just as long as I gave enough notice. When it came time to go back home for the start of the uni year, at the end of February, I made sure to give my landlord enough notice that she wouldn’t be left with an empty room.
They will be able to advise you on the matter, and give you your basic options and rights. If you still can’t manage to resolve the dispute, your final option is taking it to the Residential Tribunal of your state or territory.
(In NSW this is the Residential Tribunal; in Queensland the Residential Tenancies Authority; in the Northern Territory the Tenancy Section of the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs;