I Walked Out of a Rental Inspection

When hostility between the agent and the tenant began to escalate

Photo by Aaron Sousa on Unsplash

I sat in my parked car on the busy inner-city street and watched in the rearview mirror for the real estate agent to arrive. A couple of other people were waiting out the front of the apartment building, but I didn’t want to stand there with them. I was thankful it was only two, unlike when I searched for a property two years ago, and hordes of people would attend inspections (read about it here).

I hoped it was a sign that the rental market had improved.

The agent approached from across the street, navigating the traffic with the brightly coloured advertising board under his arm. He set it up on the nature strip and took down our details.

“I don’t have a registration for you,” he told one of the customers.

“No, I only saw the ad this morning. I hope it’s all right if I come in.”

“Sure,” said the agent, “though we do prefer that you register.”

The agent unlocked the gate to the property and led us inside. It was a two-storey older-style apartment block, quite pleasant-looking with its rendered brick façade and graceful balconies. A generous car park ran along the side of the building and the fence was lined with tall trees…