One of our apartments is vacant as of last weekend.  We already have tenants lined up for it, but they don’t move in until next Sunday, so we’ve been taking the opportunity to do some stuff.

‘Doing some stuff’ has turned out to take a fair bit of time and energy.  We redid the whole bathroom/laundry last year (retiled, new cupboards, etc etc), but there has been a leak from the shower, so I organised a guy to come out and seal it.  The good news is, it comes with a 15-year guarantee, and the pressure is fine, meaning there isn’t a leak from the plumbing.  The bad news is, it cost nearly $500.  C choked on his cereal when I told him that this morning.

We’ve also had significant paint peeling from the walls and ceiling in the bathroom.  This is annoying, as we only painted about nine months ago.  As a result, I’ve spent the last 48 hours sanding, skim filling, sanding again, and sealing all the dodgy bits.  All that’s left now is to actually slap on a couple of coats of paint, and it’ll be done.

On top of this, we’ve also been doing the more usual mundane stuff – washing all linen, washing pots and pans that weren’t properly washed by the tenants (always a pleasant job), vacuuming behind furniture, washing windows.  The place looks great, C and I look haggard. 😉

We’re also having some problems with other tenants of ours.  Basically, they’re living like pigs.  C has been trying to get the internet put on for them, and so has had to go to their place a couple of times.  They’re putting food scraps straight in the bin without using a liner, and leaving dirty pots and pans lying around.  C also said there were ants in the kitchen.  We’ve never had ants there before.  So today I served them with a formal notice of breach of tenancy, specifying what is expected re: cleanliness etc, and letting them know we will be doing an inspection in two weeks’ time.  I guess it’s all part of the fun of self-managing rentals.

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