A tenant has won her bond back after her landlord took her to tribunal when she and her housemates refused to pay more than $1,000 for an end-of-lease cleaning bill.
Sydney woman Sally Coleman was renting a property with four people and insisted they did everything right, spending days meticulously cleaning before they vacated.
However, when the agent visited for the end-of-lease inspection, they noticed minor issues such as dusty cupboards and tiny hairs on the floor.
As a result, the property manager called in a professional to clean the house again, charging $1,100.
Ms Coleman and her housemates refused to pay the bill prompting their landlord to head to tribunal with the tenants’ $6,500 bond withheld until the case was resolved.
On Monday, Ms Coleman and the landlord’s agent met for a conciliation hearing – the first stage of a tribunal where the parties attempt to settle the matter amongst themselves.
‘Me and my housemates got together beforehand and we’re like all right, we are not paying $1,100 for cleaning on principal,’ Ms Coleman said in a video shared to Instagram on Tuesday.
The housemates decided that they were willing to offer $50 each for the cleaning bill – a total of $250 as a ‘token amount’ to ‘make it go away’.
Former Triple J host Sally Coleman (pictured) stated that she meticulously cleaned the property after vacating at the end of her lease. Despite this, her real estate agent brought in professional cleaners and billed her $1,100
However, when the agent visited for the end-of-lease inspection, they noticed minor issues such as dusty cupboards and tiny hairs on the floor. They also claimed the sink wasn’t clean.
Ms Coleman prepared a more than 40 page document with pictures and notes on the clean the housemates did and the real estate agent’s points of contention.
‘Because I am self-righteous and want to prove a point, I went into that meeting with over 40 pages of printed photos and notes,’ Ms Coleman said.
‘We sat down with the agent and they barely looked at them.’
The agent told Ms Coleman that her landlord was ‘not going to budge’ and asked the former tenant to give them her ‘best offer’.
‘It really quickly became clear that this wasn’t about actually negotiating the cleaning, this was more like how much money can they get out of this meeting,’ Ms Coleman said.
‘Our response to that was for them to show us what got cleaned and why it needed cleaning and then we can talk about how much it should cost.
‘There was no itemised invoice or receipt for what actually got cleaned and therefore it was kind of impossible to show why those certain things needed cleaning.’
One of the complaints by the landlord was hair was found on the floor
During a conciliation hearing – the first stage of a tribunal – Ms Coleman presented a document of more than 40 pages with notes and photos of the property. She and her housemates agreed to pay $250 of the cleaning bill and were awarded their bond
Ms Coleman said the $250 offer was finally accepted after the real estate agent realised they were not going to get anywhere.
She added the real estate agent was given an additional push to accept the offer after she pointed out that if an itemised invoice was produced after the fact than they would have breached section 165 of the NSW Tenancy Act.
Section 165 of the NSW Tenancy Act stipulates a landlord or landlord’s agent must provide a copy of any estimates, quotes, invoices or receipts for work within seven days of the rental bond being claimed.
A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide documentation within the seven days faces a fine of more than $2,000.
Ms Coleman said the hearing proved the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) process needed higher penalties for landlords and agents who try to abuse the system.
‘The agent specifically said penalties don’t scare me,’ Ms Coleman said.
‘There is nothing about the NCAT process that is scarier to a real estate agent than the prospect of losing a high value client who has a big property portfolio.
‘When it comes to pissing off the tenants, breaking the law, going to tribunal, they will take all of those things if it means keeping the client happy.’
Ms Coleman and her housemates paid $250 of the cleaning bill and were awarded their full bond.
