A single mum paying $830 a week for her rental claims she had no notice she would lose hot water, internet and driveway access after her front yard was turned into a muddy construction site.
Jessica Mudditt said she was not told about the extent of the works at her Condell Park home in Sydney’s south-west, which was arranged by her landlord.
‘I was told by text message from my real estate agent that a plumber was coming for two days and would be working out the front,’ Ms Mudditt, who runs a publishing business from her home, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The plumbers came and attempted to start subdividing (but) there had been no word of subdividing.’
She said the construction crew then ‘came back a week later with no warning that it was starting that day, I was told people were coming the following day’.
‘So at 7am my phone rings (and I was told) “come out, move your car”, and there’s bulldozers, heaps of men, and from there it just turned into a construction site before my eyes.’
When she went out her front door to take her children to school, Ms Mudditt said there was a detour sign and ‘we could no longer access any of our front yard’.
Ms Mudditt has also not been able to access her garage where she has gym equipment and which she also uses for storage.
Jessica Mudditt (pictured), a single mum paying $830 a week for her rental, claims she had no notice she would lose hot water, internet and driveway access after her front yard was turned into a muddy construction site
She said she was given ‘no notice’ about the extent of the work at her Condell Park home (pictured) in Sydney’s south-west, which was arranged by her landlord
She also claimed the builders were powering their equipment from her electricity supply through the garage, so she locked it.
‘And they’ve tried to force it open, and they’ve broken the garage door, so they’ve given me a spanner to lock it with,’ she said.
‘There has never been any communication. We’ve never known when the works would finish or what they were doing.’
She said her estate agent told her the works don’t concern her rental, but the property behind hers on the same block.
‘All the signs are pointing to a subdivision,’ Ms Mudditt reasons.
She moved into the property just six months ago and said she ‘would never in a million years have moved in, moved my whole life, put my daughter into the local school and my other daughter into daycare had I known that this was happening’.
Ms Mudditt said a text message (pictured) was the only notice she got of what was about to happen at her home
Ms Mudditt is pictured outside the front of her rental property in south-west Sydney
Part of the construction work at Jessica Mudditt’s rental home in Condell Park, Sydney is pictured
One of her daughters got hurt when she fell at the site. ‘It was distressing for all of us, and she’s only three and to be woken every day (by the noise) was just very difficult.’
Because she had to park down the street and was carrying grocery bags, she wasn’t able to hold her daughter’s hand as she would normally do.
‘And she fell and cut her hand and cut her knee and she was crying a lot. She was in a lot of pain,’ she said.
Seeing their distress, a neighbour came over, which was how she learned that there is a subdivision going in at the back.
Ms Mudditt also claims that at one stage she was left without hot water for six days and deprived of internet after the connection was allegedly damaged in the works.
She said the lack of communication has continued. ‘All we get occasionally is messages saying you’re not going to have any water for three hours. I wasn’t even given any notice.’
Adding insult to injury, the owner then wanted to raise her rent. She had asked for a year-long lease extension but was only offered six months, which she feels may have been an indicator the owner knew there was some serious building work coming up.
‘So I’ve just pulled the plug and I’ve given notice,’ Ms Mudditt said. ‘They’ve left the property in such a mess.’
She said Safe Work attended the site earlier this week and put up some plastic tape that says danger inside, but it completely surrounds her neighbour’s mailbox.
‘So he’s not going to be getting any mail anytime soon, and they’ve left it and it’s still a dirty mess because they carved up the concrete driveway and they’ve just put some gravel over it.’
Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Mudditt’s letting agent Tony Roumanous of Ray White Bankstown for comment, but he did not reply.
The tenant said she was given no warning about the extent of the building works
Ms Mudditt is so furious about the situation that she is moving out of the property
Tradies are seen digging up the front yard of Jessica Mudditt’s home in south-western Sydney
But in a previous comment on the situation to Yahoo News, he said ‘We regret any inconvenience caused. The tenant has now given notice that she will vacate the house and the owner has offered the tenant a week’s free rent as compensation.
‘The tenant was fully informed in advance of these works, and the owner was also onsite to only check on the progress of the works, which is within his right and not a breach of privacy at all.
‘We are deeply sorry that the tenant has not enjoyed her home this week but she was told about the work in advance. We are sorry for the inconvenience.’
Ms Mudditt said ‘one week’s rent is not proportionate to the breaches’ and she will be taking her case to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
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