The tenant who left in a hurry in Arundel

I'm in Arundel, and I'll be honest: I put this off for far too long. As a property manager, I see a lot of messy vacates, but this one was memorable. The new tenants were due in four days.

Clothes, broken furniture, a couch on the patio, food in the fridge, rubbish bags in every room and a yard full of old toys.

Arundel is a leafy family suburb of brick homes and quiet streets, and getting things out isn't always simple. We plan around driveways, unit car parks and loading zones so the truck is close to the load.

They offered a time the next morning. I asked if they needed me to move anything to the kerb first, and they said no, they'd take it from where it was.

They arrived a few minutes early, introduced themselves and did a quick walk-around. The price they gave me was a bit under what I'd budgeted, which was a pleasant surprise.

There were a few things that might have been of value, like a laptop and some jewellery. They bagged them separately and handed them to me, so I could follow up properly.

The space is unrecognisable. I keep walking past it just to look. I'd use them again without thinking about it, and I've already passed the number on to my sister.

If I'm honest, the hardest part was deciding to do it. Once that was done, it was easy.