Avoid this property.

Pros: 

It's a beautiful property, with large functional spaces. Lots of effort to maintain original natural look of the property.

Nice large kitchen

Quiet street in nice area

Cons: The property has a lot of problems - sewage, heating, hot water..

Poor Heating. Landlord installed a cheap heating unit when they had to follow regulations to update the heater. They went for the cheapest unit and one undersized for the property. As a result it is always cold or you have to run the heater constantly while it struggles to heat the large spaces (3m ceilings!). This has resulted in our gas bill doubling from $150 to $300 per month. 

Gas Supply Intermittently unavailable: Apparently this street has old pipes and in cold winter mornings moisture can enter them and you'll wake up and your gas and hot water isn't working. It doesn't clear up until the afternoon by which point the utility people arrive and say everything is fine. It's pretty hellish in winter to have no heating and no hot water in the morning. Combined with the heater issues this is pretty bad for quality of life. We are told this can only be fixed when the street is ripped up and the pipes replaced so look forward to this EVERY WINTER.

Owners are builders: We thought this was nice at first as they had put nice effort into the property to maintain the original look but what actually happens is they always want you to wait for "a guy they know" to do any repairs or respond to faults. As a result we spent days waiting for repairs and responses to faults. One time their sewage backed up and our entire en-suite flooded with raw sewage and we we told to wait a few days for their plumber rather than calling our own. Also it seems they buy properties, fix them up, rent them and flip them so you will never know when the place you call home is somewhere you have to move out of.

Landlord is pretty ruthless: We signed the lease after advising the landlord we had to move due to construction on our current property. That we were about to have a baby and we were searching for a family home. By the time the due date arrives for our baby girl we receive a Notice to Vacate (end of lease) as they will not renew the lease and have declined to state why. The notice came 1 week after we reported Hot Water and Heating wasn't working. We are now 2 weeks out from having a baby and have to move, during lockdown, with no inspections possible. That landlord refused even an additional month to allow us time to bring our baby home and then look for a house. We are perfect tenants with an impeccable rental history so we can only assume this is because we complained about the heating and hot water not working.

The "Agent" is the Landlord's niece! If you think Property Agents are not very impartial wait until you meet this lady. If you ask about something like the Heating, or make any request in a friendly civil manner her first response is "We already checked with Consumer Affairs and we don't have to do this.. " Her language is always very hostile, she hangs up on you if she's done talking and it feels like everything is a conflict which is quite uncomfortable.