Bond Dispute - anybody been here?

[Quinkla]

Hi Macfamily

 

I am very sorry to hear about your experiences at the Tribunal, but not that surprised. Landlords know that this is a way to get free money - they make spurious claims in the expectation of meeting halfway - when in fact they should be entitled to nothing. Business in Australia does not work the same way as business in the UK and that's just a harsh reality of emigration. If you had moved to Angola you'd have to pay spurious police fines; it you move to Australia, you have to accept that people will try to screw you in contracts. It's not a sentimental place and that's probably how Australia managed to build itself so quickly.

[Guest Anya]

Am glad it is finally over and you can put it behind you. But please, please all prospective tenants remember this for the future:

 

Before you sign the condition report go through the property with a very very fine tooth comb. Take detailed close up photos and videos as if you know you're going to use them to fight at the tribunal. Email the photos and also upload it on any website, so you have a date and time stamp. Because some landlords and agents are bottom of the barrel scum and will try every trick in their book to extract money from you.

 

Our ex landlord and agent however didn't succeed in our case. Once the agent sent me her [ridiculous] laundry list, I simply uploaded around 300 before and after photos on Flickr and sent her the link...lol. About a week later learnt that the property manager was sacked and the new manager who took over told me that it appeared they don't have a case against us and that they would not be pursuing the matter at the tribunal. Anyway I got my whole bond refunded. I didn't care about any references as we bought a house and were moving there. And sweetest icing to this saga, as karma would demand it, the house remained vacant for 6 weeks, their asking rent was reduced from 790 to 720 p/w (so the greedy gits lost around $5000 instead).

 

Just use this as an experience from which you can learn never to fall in their trap again. You're certainly not alone, 90% of the agents and landlords will try to make money out of rent bonds as if it is their god given right.

[Incata]

We got comprehensively done over by our agents in the UK, who screwed up the tenancy agreement and inventory and as first time landlords, we did not realise until it was too late. My husband was in the military and we rented out our home while we were posted away.

 

The lesson we learned, was videotape. When our next set of tenants moved in, we videoed the march in. We took photos of everything that had scratches and videoed states of carpets etc etc. Our next tenant was wonderful and left the place immaculate, but she told us that when she moved to her new rental in a different part of the country, she took videos when she moved in (which included shots of the landlord). It was lucky she did, as when she moved on, he tried to claim she had caused all sorts of damage and took her to court - whereupon she produced the video evidence.

 

It might not do down well but if you can't video, take photos with time and date stamped on them. If you can get shots with the landlord or agent in, so much the better. Also, do it before your furniture is moved in. This should be in addition to any inventory. It may be a pain at the time, but may save you a fortune when you move out.

[Guest lisabella]

I am a property manager and it is illegal for them to not return your bond within 10 days. Take it to VCAT (here in Melbourne) not sure what they are called in Perth, look in your little renters hand book. They have to allow for wear and tear on the property and cannot charge you for that. The tribunal always favour the tenant, and if they have been holding back on your bond for so long they are going to get into serious trouble

 

 

 

 

Hi

We're having the very unfortunate nightmare every renter dreads!

 

 

We rented a property in Perth for almost 2 years, treated it like home, were very happy there and left it spotless (cleaner than when we moved into it!) Upon leaving we wrote a thank you letter to the owners (who were moving back into the property) and wishing them luck on their return to their home. The only issue here was a very small area of damage done to the wood floor by a computer chair, we never denied it and even offered to fix it or pay towards the cost of repair. The wood floor ran the whole way through the house and there were scratches on it before we moved in. When we vacated we had a professional carpet cleaner in to do all the bedrooms etc and provided a receipt.

 

3 months later and we still haven't got our bond back! There have been several emails with the estate agent trying to come to some sort of settlement but they are not playing ball at all. We have offered to pay over half the quote for repair of the wood floor. The owners took it upon themselves to have the carpets cleaned again because they weren't happy with them and when we asked our carpet cleaner to contact them he offered to redo them at no cost - the offer was refused!

 

The estate agent came up with all sorts of bogus claims such as accusing us of owing rent (as if they wouldn't be on your tail if it was 1 day late!!). We provided bank receipts showing everything was paid up to date (as she well knew). Thye also threw in painting, gardening (even though part of our lease included gardners looking after the garden), maintenance....the list went on and on until eventually they wanted us to pay $650 ABOVE our bond!! We couldn't believe it............still can't believe there are such dishonest people out there.

 

Eventually it has come to a head and they have applied for an order from the magistrates court to release the bond money to them....so basically taking us to court! Initially we were just going to let it go and put it down to a really bad experience and horrible people until they started adding all this bogus stuff and demanding that we pay them all our bond money plus more?????? As I said we left the house spotless (I even had a professional cleaner come in to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything) plus the garden was left fully weeded and the area cleaned. It doesn't feel right letting people who bully like this get away with it.

 

After this long tale.........has anybody been in a similar situation? Has anyone had the unfortunate experience of having to go to court? We just hoping the magistrate will be fair on hearing both sides and can see how much these people have tried to rip us off! Any advice would be appreciated.....thanks.

 

ps. Thankfully we have all our comments re damage/dirt recorded on the Property Report prior to moving in to the property which clearly states there were scratches on the floor and the carpets were stained. Somebody had also given me very good advice to take lots of photos for evidence before we moved in and lodge them with the estate agent!

:arghh:

[Guest lisabella]

Sorry did not see there were more pages and you have already resolved the matter:-)

[blobby1000]

Hi

We're having the very unfortunate nightmare every renter dreads!

 

 

We rented a property in Perth for almost 2 years, treated it like home, were very happy there and left it spotless (cleaner than when we moved into it!) Upon leaving we wrote a thank you letter to the owners (who were moving back into the property) and wishing them luck on their return to their home. The only issue here was a very small area of damage done to the wood floor by a computer chair, we never denied it and even offered to fix it or pay towards the cost of repair. The wood floor ran the whole way through the house and there were scratches on it before we moved in. When we vacated we had a professional carpet cleaner in to do all the bedrooms etc and provided a receipt.

 

3 months later and we still haven't got our bond back! There have been several emails with the estate agent trying to come to some sort of settlement but they are not playing ball at all. We have offered to pay over half the quote for repair of the wood floor. The owners took it upon themselves to have the carpets cleaned again because they weren't happy with them and when we asked our carpet cleaner to contact them he offered to redo them at no cost - the offer was refused!

 

The estate agent came up with all sorts of bogus claims such as accusing us of owing rent (as if they wouldn't be on your tail if it was 1 day late!!). We provided bank receipts showing everything was paid up to date (as she well knew). Thye also threw in painting, gardening (even though part of our lease included gardners looking after the garden), maintenance....the list went on and on until eventually they wanted us to pay $650 ABOVE our bond!! We couldn't believe it............still can't believe there are such dishonest people out there.

 

Eventually it has come to a head and they have applied for an order from the magistrates court to release the bond money to them....so basically taking us to court! Initially we were just going to let it go and put it down to a really bad experience and horrible people until they started adding all this bogus stuff and demanding that we pay them all our bond money plus more?????? As I said we left the house spotless (I even had a professional cleaner come in to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything) plus the garden was left fully weeded and the area cleaned. It doesn't feel right letting people who bully like this get away with it.

 

After this long tale.........has anybody been in a similar situation? Has anyone had the unfortunate experience of having to go to court? We just hoping the magistrate will be fair on hearing both sides and can see how much these people have tried to rip us off! Any advice would be appreciated.....thanks.

 

ps. Thankfully we have all our comments re damage/dirt recorded on the Property Report prior to moving in to the property which clearly states there were scratches on the floor and the carpets were stained. Somebody had also given me very good advice to take lots of photos for evidence before we moved in and lodge them with the estate agent!

:arghh:

 

Yes same story with every rental. We have had similar things happen. The real estate agents here are crooks and the landlords all chancers.

[fmck]

Is what happened to the floor not considered wear and tear?