Real Estate Australia - Weston, Australian Capital Territory

Luke L.

In my opinion, renting through Real Estate Australia was a frustrating and disappointing experience. My co-tenants and I found their communication to be extremely poor, with emails and messages often going unanswered or ignored. In my view, their level of professionalism was seriously lacking, making the entire process far more stressful than it should have been.

Based on my experience, I would not rent through this agency again and would not recommend them to others. I hope they take steps to improve their communication and professionalism moving forward.

Charles H.

My friends and I rented through Peter and his business for 2 years. We'd rented with some bad agents before, but Peter was by far the worst. We should have seen this coming when it took him 3 goes to send us a lease agreement that wasn't riddled with errors and typos (the one we signed still had an error, but we got sick of getting him to try and fix them and signed it anyway). We went a winter without working ducted gas heating because he wouldn't get it fixed despite weeks and weeks of follow up. He only fixed it as I bumped into him when we went to ACAT to report it. A leaking shower base that we reported at the start of the tenancy was still unresolved when we moved out. Likewise, a toilet that wouldn't fill after flushing was still unfixed when we moved out (about 2 months after we'd reported it). He tried to increase the rent by more than the allowed amount, which he back down after we asked about it. This was also during the middle of a fixed term agreement. When we questioned him about this, he couldn't take the time to call us and explain why this was allowed (it was, but it was extremely unclear as to why, and we had to get advice from legal aid to figure it out). During an inspection he tried to blame our pets for damage that was existing to the property when we moved in. We basically never got receipts for any payments we made, water bills were frequently sent to us a significant amount of time after the meter reading date (we refused to pay one that was sent to us 9 months after the meter reading date), and we never got a copy of any inspection reports. The final inspection report form was not completed correctly. We had to submit our own bond return form 2 weeks after we'd moved out. He never provided the final water bill. When we gave 3 weeks notice to vacate, we asked him to tell us what rent we owed, and 3 days after we moved out he still couldn't tell us, so I had to work it out myself by going through bank records. 2 days after we got our bond back, he sent us a threatening email stating that he wasr after movin going to take us to ACAT if we didn't pay the final water bill and rent owing. Except he never sent us the water bill to be able to pay it, and we didn't owe any rent. When we questioned this and asked for him to re-send us the invoices, he just resent us the final inspection report. I questioned this, and never got a reply.

Six or so months after moving out, the owner of the property reached out to us directly to chase up on the unpaid final water bill and the rent that Peter claimed was still owing. The owner was polite, respectful, and sent us the final water bill, which we paid. We presented him with evidence that we had in fact paid all the rent, which he accepted. He also stated that due to the service he had received from Peter, that he had stopped engaging his business for managing his rental property portfolio.

A year after moving out, my previous housemates and I have now received an email from Peter threatening legal action if this review is not taken down. The email claimed that we never engaged the service of his business and that this true and accurate review constitutes defamation because it was false or misleading. He clearly had an AI chatbot write the email, as he forgot to remove the following from the top of the email when he copy/pasted it:

Here's an improved version of your legal warning letter with better clarity, professionalism, and legal weight:

Hawk G.

Most unprofessional and alarmingly incompetent real estate agency I have ever encountered. Unable to follow through with basic repairs, inability to communicate (and when there is communication, it is rather incomprehensible or offensive), and repeated violations of the Residential Tenancies Act. There are several known ACAT cases currently pending or finished involving this agent - I implore you to search this agent’s name in published decisions on the ACAT website. Agent has no real understanding of the laws they practice under.

This is a warning to both tenants and landlords: this agency will only make your life hard, and leave you full of regret. The one agent that actually works here has no regard for your rights as a tenant, and has no regard for protecting your investment if you are a landlord. As extremely apparent online, this agent is chronically incompetent when it comes to managing property. This agency should not be legally allowed to practice real estate, and I hope that everyone who has had a similar experience reports this real estate agency to Access Canberra.

George N.

Warning to all tradespeople. This Real Estate Agency will engage the services of tradespeople whom they are aware that the invoices will not be paid and never use them again.
After numerous attempts and messages since December 2022, invoices remain unpaid and never return a call.
Excuses are always provided from the receptionist about the director being very busy.

Michelle H.

Peter and Jane have been looking after our properties for the past two years and we are very happy with their service. Peter was very efficient at putting the rental ads up online and organising open inspections. As a result we rented our places out very quickly. we highly recommend Real Estate Australia to anyone who needs to rent or sell properties in Canberra.

Craig H.

Returning to Canberra can be a troublesome process. Not with Peter Tolhurst. On the phone he took the time to listen to where I was coming from, where I would be working and the type of rental I needed. He was prompt, courteous and personable throughout the two short days it took from inspection to lease signing. Monica in the office was also a gem. Thank you, Peter.

Seth A.

Jane has been managing my property for the last 3 years and after dealing with a much larger agency where the property manager had no experience, I'm very happy I decided to come across. Whenever I come into the office Jane's always up for a chat which is a nice change of pace to what I've experienced before. Thanks Jane it's been a pleasure - Cheers, Seth

Shiva S.

I have been a Tenant of one of the properties they manage for past 3 years . I found the staff are very approachable, understanding and very helpful. Highly systematic approach in managing the property starting from periodic inspections to any maintenance request , their approach and communications are highly commendable .