What power does an apartment manager have?

Zarcady on 20/02/2016 - 01:13
Last edited 20/02/2016 - 01:44

So I recently rented an apartment but now regretting choosing this real estate agent and the apartment.

Start of contract is tomorrow (sat) but i get an email today (fri) from my agent asking me to call the building manager if I wanted to sort out the moving in.

I give a call to the building manager (who was a real nasty piece of work, keep sighing on the phone and talking in a cbfed kind of way), and he tells me that the body corporate policy is that nobody is allowed to move in on the weekend and everyone who is going to move in has to book an appointment with him to get an approval; furthermore, only 1 apartment can move in at any one booking session and the time available are from 10am to 4pm.

His reasonings were that
1. If there are 'hundreds' of people moving at the same time, it will cause mayhem (those were his exact words)

  1. Need to book with him because he needs to set up some padding on the elevator to make sure we dont scratch it

  2. Cannot do on the weekends because other tennants will get pissed off.

I told him that I work from mon to fri and that I cannot fit his schedule of 10am to 4pm because Im working during those hours. He just flat out said thats all they can do and that my real estate agent should have told me about it.

Well its obvious my real estate agent is just lazy but im getting suspicious that the building manager set up those rules so he doesnt have to come to work on the weekends.

Anyway what repercussions do I face if I just flip him off and move my things in anyway? Do they have any significant authority at all?

How the heck are people suppose to move in when its forbidden during the weekend and only one group is allowed to move in at any one time? Im just flabbergasted at this ridiculous situation and Im thinking about maybe starting a petition to replace this guy with someone who doesnt actually hate his job

Home & Garden

Comments

  • airzone on 20/02/2016 - 01:41

    What are the strata bylaws in respect to this?

    • Zarcady on 20/02/2016 - 01:45
      +1

      Yeh thats what im wondering. Take the matter to vcat maybe for lost rent money….

      • airzone on 20/02/2016 - 01:49
        +4

        The agent should have made a copy of the bylaws available when you signed the contract.

  • p1 ama on 20/02/2016 - 02:26
    +5

    Honestly, it's actually not that bad. Just pull a sickie and use that day to move in. No point making enemies before you've even moved in. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to live with this guy and all of your proposed ideas are just going to make you enemies, not friends. I honestly think you're overreacting, the situation isn't as bad as it seems and there isn't really all that much to get flabbergasted about - just calm down and don't get so worked up about little things.

  • chill on 20/02/2016 - 03:24
    +2

    the building manager set up those rules so he doesnt have to come to work on the weekends.

    Problem solved. Move in on a weekend of your choice.

    As for strata. Ignore everything they say unless they start hassling your RE.

    • eatwell365 on 20/02/2016 - 07:09
      +1

      bet OP is moving in one of the newer apartments like "Marat-h-on"'s.
      The manager may not work on weekend but strata nazi may complain and CCTV will record as evidence everywhere.
      Any bumps and scratches on the buildings/lifts, strata may hold you liable to the damage.
      Depend on your by-law, breach may mean fine (notice to comply) being issued to you - so check.

      If not happy now at the begininng, rather move somewhere else now as it may not get any better. Just tell the agent it was not mentioned during the signing of lease and that you can only move during weekdays and you can't. See what they say.

      • eatwell365 on 20/02/2016 - 12:13

        …during weekends and you can't during weekdays [sic]….

  • Marcsie on 20/02/2016 - 06:19
    +4

    Just take a day off during the week and move in, problem solved :)

  • try2bhelpful on 20/02/2016 - 08:02

    This sounds like it might be the start of a whole lot of bylaws issues. I would get hold of the bylaws document stat, ask the real estate agent for a copy, and make sure you read them thoroughly and agree you can abide by them. This is a warning to others to make sure we read the by-laws for a new place before signing on the dotted line. Some of these by-laws can be particularly onerous so you want to make sure you are happy with them. You really want to move into a building where this guy is the manager. Imagine what he will be like when you have issues to be dealt with. If you aren't happy see if you can break the lease and raise the issue of the manager as the reason. Best of Luck.

  • altomic on 20/02/2016 - 08:14
    +2

    Build your own apartment building next door. And then film yourself moving in to it on a weekend, and send the clip to the building manager. That'll show him!

  • tomsco on 20/02/2016 - 08:27

    I'd say at a minimum if the start of the contract is on sat and the REA let the lease start then, you should ask to be comped two days till Monday.

  • Nutrino on 20/02/2016 - 08:58
    +4

    Sounds like the rules have alot of common sense.

  • Mister M on 20/02/2016 - 10:54
    +4

    As someone that lives in an apartment building with similiar restrictions, I think the restrictions are great. Why should I have to spend every weekend have to navigate around people parking moving trucks in front of car park entries, delaying the lift because they continue to use it dozens of times within a few hour period or leaving boxes in the middle of communal areas while they move in/out?

    You say "but it's not every weekend".. this apartment building has 280 apartments, so even if people move in/out once every 5 years it's still one person moving out every weekend.

    That's why I'm happy having the 10am-5pm Weekday restrictions, it means the moving in/out process happens while I'm at work and I can enjoy living in my building peacefully.

    • Zarcady on 20/02/2016 - 12:22

      Yes I can agree with some of your points there, but that applies to some situations and not as a whole. If there is a blanket ban on moving in, regardless of how small or big your things are, it just slows the process down. He stated that registration and booking needs to be done for moving in as well as out. How long must a tenant wait before he is able to find a booking and be able to match that with his ability to get off work and move?

      I realise that this must be just a nonsensical whinging to some people but even the real estate agent is puzzled as to this policy and has stated that this is the first time he has come across such a rule.

      but that's why I was wondering what kind of real authority he has over tenants as I feel like all a building manager does is maintain the daily administrative duties of the apartment and has no real authoritative power

      • Randxyz123 on 20/02/2016 - 13:35
        +1

        I must say I agree with the rule about no move ins on the weekend. The bookings rule is fair enough as well because it will actually cause mayhem if multiple people arrive at the same time. Also 10am -4pm most people are at work so it will be quiet, there will be space for a truck to park etc.

        What you should do now is your lease carefully and see if there is anything mentioned about the rules. If there is nothing then you can cancel your lease if you feel it is too hard.

        It seems strange the agent didn't know about it. If they had never heard of it before they still should have known about it since they were leasing an apartment in a building with those restrictions…

        Unless you can't get any leave you should just take a day off (don't chuck a sickie) and play by their rules.

  • Candour on 20/02/2016 - 19:56

    always join a tenant's union as the law and regulations change and they know how to fight for your rights on an equal footing. unless our friends on site know the law, well meaning advice will give you more problemsthan worth the lease.

    agents only have power to enforce the act and regulations. building managers cannot make up rules beyond what the body corporate has decided in by laws or legally binding decisions.

    join the tenants union and ring them and find out what you should do.

  • datafellows on 20/02/2016 - 20:08

    What kind of stuff will you move? Few bags and boxes of stuff? You might be able to do it in an hour during a weekend and nobody might find out? Or take a morning off from work and do it according their schedule.

    If you organize a moving company and bring a container then moving during weekdays is highly recommended. As someone said here that nobody likes to have elevators blocked during weekends, your move will take a lot longer during weekends and the moving guys would not be happy as well (unless they are on hourly rate).

    Having moved myself few times between apartment buildings, a move during weekdays is great as elevators are quiet and everything goes smoothly when there are less people around.

    Also, be happy that you have such a great building manager, he ensures that you can enjoy living in this place once you have settled in.

  • bobbified on 23/02/2016 - 01:18

    I had a similar situation with the building I moved into late last year. We had a week overlap between signing into a the new apartment and having to leave the previous apartment.

    When we tried to book the lift to move in, the building manager said they were booked out for the next 2.5 weeks and there was nothing he could do - it was over the Christmas/New Year period. Tried to explain to him the situation we were in an situation of having to move out of the previous apartment and we wouldn't have anywhere to stay, but he flat out refused to negotiate.

    On the last day we had to move out of the old place, we took the essential stuff into the new apartment anyway. The building manager came running out of his office and started abusing us in front of everyone - I was so tempted to punch him right then and there (but I held back). About 10 minutes after yelling and screaming at us, he eventually led us through to the goods lift for two items.

    I can see where he's coming from, but really.. what else could I do? I didn't feel like I had a choice.
    What would you have done my that situation?

    • Zarcady on 23/02/2016 - 07:56

      Well the thing is, I ended up just moving at night because I really had no other choice. I knew that the building manager would go home when he finished his shift haha. It took me ages since I took 1 thing at a time through the elevator to not cause problems but it worked! Now the problem is to let the building manager know that im here…

      Im with you man, I probably would have got into a fight with him so its a good thing you held it in.

      How did you end up moving the rest of the things?

      • bobbified on 23/02/2016 - 08:51

        The rest of my things were stored on my old neighbour's apartment and moved the next day. After the initial argument, I called him up and he was magically able to fit me into his booking schedule.

        I think one of the things that really annoyed me was, they were booking people in 3 hour blocks so it was a maximum of two each day, regardless of how long it actually took. Does someone really need to have a whole lift booked for 3 hours each time?

        I imagine it'd be funny when he sees you walking around the building! :D

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