We have moved!
Why did we move out seemingly so suddenly from our tiny Noosa Junction shopfront?
We had a really bad leak around und November 2023. The floor at the back of the office was a few centimetres under water. It soaked the carpet, our timber filing cabinets and the back wall. We’d had a series of smaller leaks/flooding before this and subsequently.
The leaks were eventually fixed in early 2024 after much chasing of the landlord, a commercial entity that owns the building.
The plumber cut large holes in the wall, found and fixed the leaks. But the holes were left open, and to our horror we then suffered a cockroach infestation that was impossible to get on top of. It simply got worse with time, despite soaking the walls and carpet with crawling insect spray.
Throughout 2024 I suffered five sinus infections that went to my chest. But when my staff started having respiratory issues toward the end of 2024, I started to question if it was the mould, now visible on the carpet.
Chasing the landlord to fix the wall, they finally sent a builder. Moving the filing cabinets away from the wall, it revealed the entire inside of the wall between our office and the pub was full of black mould. The builder said the wall needed replacement.
Apparently the landlord didn’t like the quote and sent another builder, then another. Before Christmas 2024 I advised that we would close the office for two weeks, giving them time to replace the wall. And if they didn’t, I would obtain legal advice.
The landlord in turn, invited me to exit my lease completely.
Clearly, replacing the wall was not something the landlord wanted to do. They just wanted to patch the wall.
My lease went to July, and I had a four year option. I sent the landlord a link to an article on this site about mould in residential property and the action tenants can take if a landlord refuses to fix the issue.
The response was simply to ask when I would be out.
With the black mould area on the carpet growing out of the kitchen area to into the middle of the office, and my staff sick, it was clear we had to get out, which we did at the end of April.
We had to throw out all the furniture at the back of the office. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of custom built furniture to fit the 30sqm space.
On assessing the value of the space, it never led to any new clients who didn’t already know Noosa4Sale. Because very little business is actually done within the office - it is done at the properties we are selling.
Everyone is working from home in this day and age - our buyers and sellers too. So in the end it was an easy decision to relocate the office back to Parkridge.
Our mailing address is PO Box 453, Noosa Heads QLD 4567.
A shopfront is not to attract buyers with properties in the window like in the olden days, when that was the only way to see what was for sale. It is just to house a team of agents. Our buyers are more often than not, interstate, and the best way to reach them is online.
And they way they have always reached me is by phone or email.
So in reality, nothing changes. Not even the wall at the back of our now empty Junction office!