McGrath Real Estate Group

We found McGrath to be disorganized and constantly putting off necessary maintenance when we rented from them 2010 to 2011.
If you sign a contract with McGrath I recommend communicating with them via email during your tenancy to protect you in the unlikely event there’s an issue. McGrath (on behalf of our landlord) tried to take advantage of us at the end of our lease. Luckily we had always been in touch through email, which helped us in the Residential Tenancies Tribunal!
So two thirds through out tenancy our unit needed maintenance for a leaky shower and a rotting wooden screen door. Getting McGrath to send a repairperson was like pulling teeth. It took about 2 months and by then we were getting towards the end of our lease so the repairperson just did a quote.
Here’s where the fishy business happened. A couple of weeks after we moved out a bill came from McGrath. Oddly, the owner had done the repairs himself and charged substantially more than the professional quote. Plus he was expecting us to pay for 100% of the work.
It was awkward, but we felt we had to stick up for ourselves. When we raised the issue with McGrath they brushed us off and suggested we take it up with the Residential Tenancies Tribunal. And sadly that’s what we did. We felt venerable because our entire bond was being withheld, where the owner only had a few costs from Bunning’s and was in no rush to settle the dispute.
After the tribunal, McGrath seemed pretty embarrassed about the whole situation (and so they should’ve been!). They were there on behalf of the owner. However, had they kept up with maintenance during the lease the whole issue would likely have been avoided.