a day ago
Aussie shocked by source of vile 'stench' coming from a bedroom during rental viewing in Melbourne
A prospective renter was horrified to discover a Post-It Note warning about a dead possum causing a 'stench' in one of the bedrooms in the rental.
An anonymous member of the Facebook group 'Don't Rent Me' shared details of their recent visit to a three-bedroom home in Melbourne 's east.
'It was absolutely perfect for us except there was a foul smell coming from one of the bedrooms,' they wrote.
'Then I saw this note stuck to the door.'
They shared a photo of a blue Post-It Note with the handwritten message: 'All furniture in here to hard rubbish b/c (because) dead possum smell'.
The hopeful renter followed it up with a neighbour while they were throwing out their own rubbish.
'They said they heard there's a dead possum in the roof and it's the second time in six months but (the landlord) refuses to fix the roof or entry holes,' they continued.
'Current tenants are moving out as stench makes it uninhabitable. There were a lot of people viewing the house... Apart from the stench, it's a really nice house.'
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to the landlord for comment through contacting the real estate seller Ray White.
Aussies were quick to share their thoughts about the smell in the comments.
'Run! What else won't the landlord do maintenance on if they won't do maintenance on something like that?' one person said, using multiple red flag emojis.
A second said: 'That's disgusting and I'm pretty sure unsafe.'
A third person shared a warning that the stench might never leave the property.
'You will never completely get rid of the stench it will be in the carpets through the plasterboard where the decaying liquid has seeped into plasterboard,' they said.
'Give it a very wide berth. If you put it as a condition on your application, you will not be accepted to start with.'
But one person said the previous tenants should have addressed the problem.
'Surely it would have been less of an expense for the previous tenants to simply organise and pay for the possum removal themselves and to put up a nesting box in the nearby area?' they questioned.
Consumer Affairs Victoria has noted the law 'doesn't always say who is responsible for fixing or paying to fix a problem with pests, infestations or mould'.
But it said: 'If the problem happens because of the building structure a renter can ask for an urgent repair.
'The rental provider may be responsible if a problem with the property has caused the mould or damp or allowed pests to enter and they have not fixed the problem.'
One example given is if a hole in the roof lets in pests.
But a renter could still be responsible if their behaviour contributed to the problem, such as if pests were attracted to rubbish they didn't remove.
