My Landlord Saw Me Topless When He Showed Up to Our House, Unannounced

And now we have to move

We’ve lived in the same rental for the last seven years and up until recently, it really felt like ours. We’ve done so many improvements to the home — painted the inside, replaced curtains and handles, installed an AC, planted gardens and fenced the backyard.

We were lulled into a false sense of security — it felt like ours. Even though we had to pay rent every week, and have an inspection once every three months— we really made it our home.

A few months ago, our landlord showed up unannounced. At the time, I was sitting in our lounge room. Topless. That’s right, I was hooked up to the pump, expressing for Caelin’s next feed. I was sitting on our lounge that’s completely visible from the front door. The landlord knocked, noticed what I was doing and said he’d wait on the deck.

Well, his rude and completely illegal intrusion was all for the purpose of giving us an invoice. The last inspection we’d had, we showed the agent some mould on our ceiling. It had progressively gotten worse and we suspected the roof was leaking. As much as we’d maintained the house, we weren’t going to hire someone to fix the roof — that’s going a step too far. The agent obviously reported it to the landlord and that’s why he’d shown up unannounced.

The invoice he’d handed us was for mould removal. He was trying to pass the charges on to us. $2207 to have the mould professionally removed.

I was gobsmacked. And still in shock that he’d just seen me topless.

As soon as he left, I’d called the real estate and reported that he’d ‘stopped by.’

His words, not mine.

So that’s when our search for a new place to live started.

I felt violated. And it made me so angry I immediately wanted to find a new place to live.

First, we looked at rentals. We quickly learned how brutal the rental market was. There’s a housing crisis in Australia (and well, probably everywhere…) and the competition was fierce. You had to write a cover letter with each application. A COVER LETTER. Like you were applying for a job. Here’s an example of one I wrote:

18 August 2022

To the Landlord,

My name is Keeley and I would love to lease your house at 1 Green Street with my husband, Carl, our 12-month-old baby, Caelin, and 10-year-old yellow labrador, Phoenix. Carl and I have been married for five years and have lived together nearing fifteen years. For the last seven years, we’ve rented a lovely large home in Bald Hills with my sister, Lexi.

Regretfully, we need to relocate as the roof is leaking in two significant sections of the home, which has caused water damage and mould spores. Knowing how dangerous mould can be — especially for babies — the owner has declared the house uninhabitable until the roof undergoes serious repairs and the mould be treated.

Your house has everything we are after; character, charm and views of greenery from almost every window. Your sunroom would be my reading and writing oasis — the natural light it boasts is just divine. Your media room — a room my husband can lock himself away in for some playstation time, and the beautiful yard where Caelin will play and my Phoenix will laze in the sun.

Your house is in great proximity to shops, hospital and much closer to Carl’s work than our current home. It really feels a safe place we can make our home. We have a proven track record of regular, prompt payments and have never gone into arrears. We take a lot of pride in how our home looks, and always ensure it is clean and tidy. I work part-time for myself and Carl works full-time as a group station master at Roma Street.

Our property manager would be more than happy to provide a reference for us. Her name is Kelly Fakeson and she can be contacted on (phone number here) or [email protected]

Thank you for considering our application. If you have any questions, you can contact us on (our details provided). We look forward to hearing from your agent.

Sincerely yours,

Keeley Schroder

How insanely ridiculous is that!? You have to apply for a rental house like you’re applying for a job! At least, if you’re applying for a job, you eventually get paid for that job. Not with a house. You’re writing a cover letter to PAY SOMEONE ELSE.

It’s beyond ludicrous.

What’s even more ludicrous is that there’s absolutely no guarantee writing the stupid letter will get you the stupid house. I don’t care how much natural sunlight a house has, just lease me your house and be done with it.

But noooooo. If you desperately want a house, there is one way you may be able to make it yours. Or at least, make it your rental.

You can offer more than they’re asking.

Yep. You heard me right. There are legit bidding wars over rental houses. A friend of mine offered $100/more a week than the price that was listed. In addition to offering more, she also offered to pay three months upfront. This has recently been made illegal in the state of NSW, but is still perfectly legal in the sunshine state of Queensland.

Looking for a new place to rent was by far the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. Writing cover letters, going for inspections, preparing ourselves to start a bidding war. No thank you.

After two weeks of looking for a new rental place, we decided we’d look for a house to buy. I don’t know where we were getting the money from. We had $5k in savings, tops.

Would we be homeless?

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