A/c advice-moved to very hot country.

[TherealMeghanMarkle]

Posting here as no replies in living overseas.
Anyone any experience of using portable a/c units.
Recently move to Australia where it regularly is in the high 30s /low 40's in in the summer and low 20's in the winter.
House hunting but a lot of the property's I like (the older Victorian style) don't have A/C. Mixed online reviews from they are great to don't waste your money. Happy to spend the money if it works but wanted advice from anyone who actually uses them when its very hot.
Am I crazy (or to keep the theme of the subject title) AIBU to even consider about a house with no a/c?

Update: I rang the agent about increasing the rent and having proper air con she said the vendor will not put a/c in. Been asked before.

Sadly its not to be then as I don't think fans & portable units will be enough for the length of time we are looking to rent.

The search continues...

If anyone was interested in the house I had my heart on here is the link...

https://www.domain.com.au/1-18-john-street-north-fremantle-wa-6159-14416924?utmsource=www.domain.com.au&utmm_medium=sharelisting

@milkyaqua

Get an electric fan.

@milkyaqua Lol you've got to be joking! Ask any Australian about fans, they'll tell you they do fuck all but circulate hot air. I live in Qld and don't know anyone that doesn't have airconditioning now. It's an essential to living in Australia, or Qld at least.

Ask the agent WHY the vendor won't put it in, OP.

I lived in Sydney for five years and rented one house. It was a nice house and we assumed it had air conditioning because we saw what looked like it, but turns out it was only heating! We moved in in July so it was a little while before we realised. 😩

Anyway the house was in an elevated position and quite close to the coast, it had ceiling to floor vented windows that kept upstairs cool most of the time, and we had ceiling fans and our own portable fans elsewhere. I would say the majority of the time it was manageable, there was really only one spell in my five years when we had a week of continuous 40 deg temps and it barely touched it then. The house and location was so good otherwise we decided to stay anyway.

@PinaColada123456

Ask the agent WHY the vendor won't put it in, OP.

Erm because it is expensive and they don’t want to redecorate afterwards. The landlord doesn’t have to justify this.

@Aprilx Erm it adds value to the house, means higher rent asking price, and no redecorating is needed - it sounds like you've never had airconditioning instead and you wrongly assume an entire wall is changed. It's a unit attached to the wall. Of course the landlord doesn't have to 'justify' anything, but any normal person would query why a landlord refuses to add something that not only increases the value of the house (and all these little extras do add up), but also increases rental asking price. It's bizarre that a landlord wouldn't do something that increases the potential of the house.

Ohhhhh I'm just down the road from you ! Freo is gorgeous, and rentals are very hard to find at the minute. But that's a lot to pay for a place with no Aircon! You could get more bang for your buck if you widen your search area, but if I was only staying for a while I'd pick Freo too.

[quote PinaColada123456]**@Aprilx* Erm it adds value to the house, means higher rent asking price, and no redecorating is needed - it sounds like you've never had airconditioning instead and you wrongly assume an entire wall is changed. It's a unit attached to* the wall. Of course the landlord doesn't have to 'justify' anything, but any normal person would query why a landlord refuses to add something that not only increases the value of the house (and all these little extras do add up), but also increases rental asking price. It's bizarre that a landlord wouldn't do something that increases the potential of the house.[/quote]
It doesn’t change the point that the landlord doesn’t want to put in air conditioning and asking WHY isn’t going to change that. I believe in focusing on what you can control not what you can’t.

And wrong on air conditioning, I have also lived overseas in the Caribbean for a few years and had it whilst living there. Not sure why it is relevant but just correcting your assumption.

I can see why you love it and I can see why the landlord won’t put it in. On all but the hottest days (Christmas 2021 for 6 weeks this time), you wouldn’t need it. Natural cooling would work quite well. It’s possibly quite a comfortable house to live in most of the time.

@TherealMeghanMarkle

Update: I rang the agent about increasing the rent and having proper air con she said the vendor will not put a/c in. Been asked before.

Sadly its not to be then as I don't think fans & portable units will be enough for the length of time we are looking to rent.

The search continues...

If anyone was interested in the house I had my heart on here is the link...

[[https://www.domain.com.au/1-18-john-street-north-fremantle-wa-6159-14416924?utm]]source=www.domain.com.au&utmm_medium=sharelisting

Unless I've not read it properly, there's no heating either.

Cheeky bastard. Move on.

Not having airconditioning is a backward step for any landlord and pressure should be applied, if enough tenants push the issue then the landlord may relent, if you just accept it and don't try you get nowhere. It is fair to ask the landlord why , and maybe if one knows their reason, a remedy or compromise could be reached. If you don't ask you don't get. There is no harm in asking why not.

@PinaColada123456

Ask the agent WHY the vendor won't put it in, OP.

Its not my business, by the sounds of it they have been asked before so Im not going to ask, also it's absolutely their choice and no need to justify it to me or anyone else really.

@PinaColada123456

Not having airconditioning is a backward step for any landlord and pressure should be applied, if enough tenants push the issue then the landlord may relent, if you just accept it and don't try you get nowhere. It is fair to ask the landlord why , and maybe if one knows their reason, a remedy or compromise could be reached. If you don't ask you don't get. There is no harm in asking why not.

As much as i do love the house and agree with the article posted in the thread that landlord's & developers should have a responsibility to ensure houses can be habitable in high temperatures Im going to leave it, the search continues.

If you're new to Perth, I'd just also say, winter is surprisingly freezing, even though in theory the temps shouldn't feel that bad. I love the heat, so don't use our air con that much (except this year!), but we do use the reverse cycle to warm a lot in winter.

@TheWestIsTheBest

Ohhhhh I'm just down the road from you ! Freo is gorgeous, and rentals are very hard to find at the minute. But that's a lot to pay for a place with no Aircon! You could get more bang for your buck if you widen your search area, but if I was only staying for a while I'd pick Freo too.

Hello!

Im loving Freo, especially north Freo as its quiet, walkable/bikeable to the beaches, shops etc. Im trying to avoid getting a car, my husband has one for work which I think is all we need. Been looking a coogee but all the houses are just out of our price bracket.

In serviced apartments atm, so still time to look..

Ask any Australian about fans

I am an Australian.

@DetMcNulty

If you're new to Perth, I'd just also say, winter is surprisingly freezing, even though in theory the temps shouldn't feel that bad. I love the heat, so don't use our air con that much (except this year!), but we do use the reverse cycle to warm a lot in winter.

How cold is cold? Im used to scraping ice of my car every morning, open fires, electric blankets and central heating on, cold-cold.

Google says expect days temps of around 20 during the cold months and also a lot of rain, or as we call it at home summer -hahaha

[quote PinaColada123456]**@Aprilx* Erm it adds value to the house, means higher rent asking price, and no redecorating is needed - it sounds like you've never had airconditioning instead and you wrongly assume an entire wall is changed. It's a unit attached to* the wall. Of course the landlord doesn't have to 'justify' anything, but any normal person would query why a landlord refuses to add something that not only increases the value of the house (and all these little extras do add up), but also increases rental asking price. It's bizarre that a landlord wouldn't do something that increases the potential of the house.[/quote]
Rentals are in massive demand here at the minute, and rents are through the roof wiith multiple tenants chasing every property. Landlords don't have to add value to get tenants, so a lot of them don't bother.

So I'm from Scotland and I definitely know cold, when I moved her I threw out all my coats and winter boots, thinking I'd be in T-shirts all year round! By May I'd re-ordered it all. It will get up to 18 to 20 during the day and feels ok in the sun, but it takes a while to get there. It can get down to 4ish at night, so mornings and nights are cold, and because there's no insulation, sometimes outside is warmer than inside!

My first winter in Perth was bloody freezing. We were in an uninsulated house with single glazing and no heating, my electric blanket for the sofa saved my life that year. So yeah its not really cold during the day but when the sun goes down in winter I get into my Oodie!

I lived in Australia for 2 years, moved between Queens land and Northern Territories but I did visit Perth for a couple weeks too.

It's definitely nice to have aircon and there will be times you're glad of it but I was never inclined to turn it on too often. You'd be surprised how your body acclimatises to the heat. I really like the big ceiling fans that they have in a lot of the bedrooms over there, thats all that we ever used at night.

@shivawn

I lived in Australia for 2 years, moved between Queens land and Northern Territories but I did visit Perth for a couple weeks too.

It's definitely nice to have aircon and there will be times you're glad of it but I was never inclined to turn it on too often. You'd be surprised how your body acclimatises to the heat. I really like the big ceiling fans that they have in a lot of the bedrooms over there, thats all that we ever used at night.

This is true, My aircon usually only goes on when its over 35, as I am lucky enough to live near the beach and the Freo doctor is lovely most days. But we did have a very hot summer this year (13 days over 40 I think, including 6 days in a row IIRC), and the doctor didn't show up some days! Believe me a ceiling fan just wouldn't have cut it, much as I love them.

We lived in the heat (not Australia) first home was more characterful, froze in winter and a single window a/c in summer that didn't do much unless you were practically say on it. Ceiling fans didn't do much.
If you get the chance go modern and get a place with central air.
Best move we ever did. When it was 40 outside I used to Cool the house to about 28/30. Sounds hot but in comparison to the outside it was bliss. We were well insulated so warm In winter finally and cooler in summer.

@TheWestIsTheBest - Where has the doctor gone this year? I've been here 9 years now, this is the 1st time I've had to complain about the heat, and luckily I was in Margs for the 6 days in a row, so missed the worst of it.

@TherealMeghanMarkle I have one (fan) from Target that is super powerful, a crappy looking plastic one from Argos that I brought with me (also awesome) and another one that I got from Kogan. I didn't spend much on any of them.