December 2 to January 13
With more food for the cattle delivered, and another load of water delivered, we thought everything would be OK.
Before we left I had engaged an excavator operator to come in the second week of December to deepen the top dam. I figured if we hadn't had any rain by then the dam should be empty. On December 7 we received an email from the sitter saying that the excavator operator, quote "ripped rock, sand underneath, won't hold water" and advising that we needed to pay $500 in 7 days.
This was a bit disappointing, for while we had budgetted $2,000 for the dam deepening, we did not anticipate that the rock floor of the dam would be less than a metre thick, and that there would be sand underneath. More disappointing, we found on our return that the excavated material had been left in the middle of the dam, largely negating the benefit of deepening it. The location for the excavated material had been discussed with the sitter prior to our departing, but this instruction had not been followed.
I had agreed that payment would be by direct deposit into the operator's bank account and I rang him to reconfirm this.
The next day the cattle feed issue raised its ugly head again. The sitter sent us an email saying that there was only enough food left for two days.
By this time we had provided 29 bales of peanut hay and 4 bags of barley supplement. The hay was to be fed to the animals at the rate of 2 biscuits per day and the barley at the rate of 1 bucketful every two days. There are 6 to 8 biscuits in each bale, and 6 bucketfuls in a bag of barley supplement. So the hay should have lasted between 174 and 232 days and the barley 48 days. And all this was gone in less than a month! It just wasn't credible, and we speculated about what the sitter might be doing with the feed.
Remember, our cattle are dexters - a small breed of animal. The two steers and the cow weigh around 100 kilos and the miniature bull around 75 kilos. And they had 54 acres of partially timbered land to graze on.
Nevertheless, on December 9 I sent an email to Neighbour1 asking them to get more hay. On December 11, after receiving advice from the ASPCA, I sent an email to the sitter reaffirming feeding instructions for the cattle, and increasing the daily amount in recognition of that the extended dry period had depleted the amount on natural feeed available on the property and that the cow now had a calf.
The same day the sitter advised that the air-conditioning had broken down and that she had had someone out to fix it. The air con had only been serviced a couple of months earlier, so why the connection to the compressor burnt out was a bit of a mystery. The air con mechanic suggested it might have been because a gecko had climbed on top of the compressor and shorted out the wires. Interstingly, on our return we found the air con not working and had it repaired again. Same issue - the connection to the compressor burnt out. The mechanic suggested that it might have occurred because it had been run 24/7 at a very low temperature setting.
On December 12 Neighbour1 sent me an email that quoted the sitter as saying "the neighbourhood centre has given her money for hay, so she should have enough hay until you guys come home" and therefore Neighbour1 would not need to buy any hay. I must say I was surprised to read that the neighbourhood centre had given the sitter money for hay, but you never know.On December 14 the sitter sent an email saying the cattle had been without food for two days. This after telling Neighbour1 that they did not need to get any hay.
I received this email on December 15 and immediately rang the QLD RSPCA and requested an inspector visit the property to check on the condition of the animals and the availability of food for them.
On December 16 the sitter sent an email saying "cattle got into house yard while I was out, cow has eaten chicken pellets, as lid was not on container, have had vet out to see her, I suggest you contact him regarding her condition". Ignoring for the moment the question of why the gates were left open to allow the cattle into the yard, and why the lid had been left off the feed container, anyone with any farming experience would know that a small quantity of chook pellets would not harm ruminants. The vet told her this. Jaye-Cee would, however, have been aware of the damage that the cattle could do if they got into the orchard, as I emphasised this to her and showed her some earlier cattle damage before we left. A new double fence had been completed only the day before we left to ensure that the cattle could not get into the yard or the orchard.
On December 21 I received an email from the RSPCA inspector who attended the property. Inter alia, it stated: "In relation to any future conditions, particularly for the cows, I observed no substantial feed available on the property. As such, the cows are relying wholly on supplementary feed to meet all nutritional requirements. At the time of my visit, I sighted 4 rectangular bales of hay only, which will be sufficient for a short period. Also, while there is some water still in a dam located to the right of the house, this is low at the present time."I immediately sent an email to another neighbour (Neighbour3) and asked him if he could pick up 10 bales of hay each week from XXXX until we returned. I rang him later that day to explain the situation in more detail and asked if he could regularly visit the property and ensure that the cattle were being fed. XXX agreed to help and I transferred $300 into his bank account to cover the cost.
XXX procured three lots of feed for us, peanut hay, Lucerne and barley supplement, and delivered it. The first two times XXX delivered the feed, the pront gates to the property were unlocked, but the sitter was nowhere to be found.
The last email we received from the sitter was on December 30, a resend of the December 27 email from the sitter saying there was no cattle feed. Neighbour3 also advised the same day that he had delivered more feed (4 bales of lucerne and 4 bags of micronised barley and that "Your house sitter did not answer the door, although the tv was on and the ceiling fan in the kitchen was also on."
On January 7 I sent an email to Neighbour3 advising him that we would be cutting our holiday short and asking asking him if he could check to see what the food situation was and, if necessary, repeat what he got last time. Neighbour3 confirmed that the sitter was still on the property.
On January 8 we arrived back in Brisbane and spent the next few days recuperating and preparing for our return home. On January 10 we talked to our solicitor in Brisbane and, inter alia, prepared a Notice of Termination of the House Sitting Agreement to be served on the sitter on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.
We also contacted QLD Police to arrange for an officer to accompany us when we returned to the property.
At 1pm on Wednesday, January 13 we met with an officer from CXXXXX Police Station. He advised us that we could not evict her from the property as she was covered by the QLD Rental Tenancy Act and that if she did not leave voluntarily we would have to get a court order to remove her!.
This process involves serving a Notice to Quit giving the tenant (or sitter) 14 days to vacate the property. If that is ignored then a court order can be obtained that then gives another 14 days to vacate. After that period the tenant (or sitter) can appeal the order. So it could have been weeks or months before we were able to return to our own property.
So we went to CXXXX Court House to get the process going then to BXXXXX Police Station to discuss the matter further. On the way we checked to see if the sitter was still there. The front gate was unlocked, but her car did not appear to be in the carport. As I walked back to my car, the house sitter pulled up at the front gate, then drove in. She did not acknowledge my presence.
We drove to BXXXXXXX Police Station, and, fortunately, an officer was there who had already had a number of dealings with the house sitter. It was arranged for us to meet two officers from CXXXXXXX Police Station at 5 pm outside our property who would endeavour to facilitate the sitter's departure.
We met with the two officers at 5 pm, and with them leading we entered our property. The sitter emerged from her caravan and I served her with the Notice of Termination.
Following some discussion the sitter agreed to leave and one of the officers entered our house with her and helped to remove her property (and, inadvertently, some of ours too!)
They also helped hook her van up to her car and at 5:30 pm she drove off, only to be stopped by one of the officers and asked if she intended to take her dog with her! The sitter loaded the dog into her car and drove off. And that, we hoped, would be the end of the story.
But it wasn't.
Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. The yard and gardens were a mess, the above ground pool was green and fermenting, there were bags of rotting rubbish piled on our outdoor table, dog food on the kitchen floor, flies everywhere, maggots crawling out from under our fridge, and a "squatter's camp" in our living room. And that was only the beginning.