Chortlepuss

I found agents do treat the bond as a bit of a revenue raising exercise. I've had deductions for blu-tak holes (deserved) and things like moving a sofa - Usually it's a small amount and we can't be bothered to argue. We looked after our last house really well, repairing screens, planting a garden and even putting in a door to the living room as there wasn't one - and it was the only air conditioned room in the house. The landlord refused to pay for anything that wasn't urgent maintenance, and the property was very dated. This didn't stop them increasing the rent on a regular basis. On moving out we asked if they wanted to keep the door to offset a minor bit of damage my daughter had caused. They said 'take the door' so we did, and paid for the damage.... Needless to say, our old property remains without tenants.......

KJCherokee

My wife works part-time for a real estate business doing the entry and exit inspections on rentals. She takes very detailed notes of the condition of the house before the tenant moves in, backed up with photographs, in order to write the entry condition report which the tenant has to sign: then when the tenant moves out she goes round comparing the condition with what is in the entry report, so the tenant can't claim that any damage (as compared to normal wear and tear) is not their fault. This is for a high end rental area of Brisbane: I don't know if the same care is taken at the lower end of the market.

Mike at Taree

The bond is held by the Rental Bond Authority, not the agent. If there are any major problems like grubby walls or cracked tiles they would have been picked up at the regular inspections, so keep a list of stuff like range hoods not working etc so they can't spring them on you at the end of the lease.

As for cleaning, I've only ever had a request to go back a second time and that was because of a lawn issue. However I could prove that I had spent money repairing the lawn after a drought and it was in far better nick than when we moved in. Keep receipts.

asher

I have always had the carpets professionally cleaned and photocopied the receipt for the agent. It is usually a condition of lease and not worth ignoring.
I have never paid anything out of my bond for cleaning most times I have cleaned myself last time I had a firm do it and gave the agent their card.

this is my 5th move.

Saying that as an ex army wife I am used to cleaning to army standards, ie it has to look as though no-one has lived there. I even had one estate manager put on white gloves take off the front of the boiler and run his gloved fingers over the interior! luckily for me my mate had marched out the day before and told me about it so I was able to clean it and disappoint him!

scotsista

Totally disagree. We are not lazy and certainly did not cut corners. One of the issues for us was we had moved the wheelie bins from the back garden to the front garden. We had to go back after we moved out and move them back again! Other issue was the weeding in front garden was not up to owners standards, even after my husband went back to re-do! Some people can just be extremely pernickity. You generally do not find this in the UK.

Our apartment in Scotland has just been totally trashed after evicting tenants who did not pay rent for the last few months. I am totally and utterly appalled that some people behave like this and just disappear scot free when we treat a rental like our own, leave it immaculate and still get some of our bond taken from us!

Hino

+1 Another advantage of using the real estates recommended cleaners is that they are very aware of the property manager's focus points and make sure that these areas pass inspection.

Every property manager has his/her area that they require to be immaculate, window tracks, tops of skirting boards, the space underneath the stove top, there's always at least one thing they are real picky on......I know, I'm married to one

Cleaners in this area charge about $30/hr and the last thing I need in the middle of changing living accommodation is the hassle of having to clean my last place, and the risk of potential problems with the last estate agents. So paying $100 - $120 for someone else to do the job for me is money well spent.

As for carpets, they are always professionally cleaned on entry and exit in this area.

ainitcskarachi

Yes rental move out has its negatives. Strict in Australia.