HOMEOWNERS - BEWARE this agency! TENANTS - Beware this agency! If you are a landowner considering renting your property via Noel Jones management, please read below before making any decisions!

Myself and my housemates have experienced an entirely unprecedented situation whilst living in a property managed by Noel Jones Camberwell. It has taken this agency an entire year to complete urgent repairs to the shower, resulting in permanent damage to the property. The situation was initially reported on August 10th 2018, during an inspection, and has only this week been completed on August 8th, 2019.

For months, we have tried, tried, and tried again to get action taken on this situation. Because of a botched management changeover between two Noel Jones employees, the duty of care expected of a property management service has been entirely overlooked, disregarded, or forgotten about. Not only have we lived with a shower in the state visible below for one year, but the changeover of tenancies between renting parties was also a complete disaster.

The new agent managing this situation has shown complete disregard for both us as tenants, and essentially disregarded the permanent damage that the property has received during this negligence.

Due to a misunderstanding on the incoming property manager's behalf, we were asked to pay exorbitant tenancy transfer fees - $198 per person. $792 all up between 4 tenants coming onto a new lease. We knew this was inappropriate, but regardless of how we expressed ourselves, we were ignored. Due to this, and our refusal to pay fees we knew were inappropriate, there was essentially a stalemate reached wherein the incoming manager refused to action the urgent repairs required, and was essentially holding us to ransom over the transfer fees. Upon reporting this situation to the manager’s superiors, of course, we were in the right - only one transfer fee should have been charged. The majority of fees have now been dropped, however, even given the implications of this entire saga, they are still bizarrely sticking to their guns and expecting fees to be paid.

It's impossible to explain everything in this text box, so please follow the link below for a full description. This situation has grown totally unacceptable, and seriously impacted our lives - thus publicly sharing what has transpired. Additionally, the tenancy agency is now planning to push for compensation to come from the HOMEOWNER, who had no idea the house needed repairs until 1.5 months previous to the repair commencing. They simply did not tell him. Because of this, we are going through the appropriate channels of VCAT and Consumer Affairs to ensure compensation comes from Noel Jones Camberwell. It was their mismanagement that created this situation, and the landowner should definitely not have to pay compensation for their negligence.

For a COMPLETE account of everything regarding this series of events, please see the link below. This link includes a copy of the initial email sent to Noel Jones employees alerting them of the Residential Tenancies Act breach. Also included below are images of the shower we were forced to live with for one year.

https://www.evernote.com/l/ARKDVdR19n9JVrK1r2EvXFObF3i8DPATfXo