julesandco

.... or is it a perfectly legitimate practise that Estate Agents appear to use to con people of their bond money?

We moved out on 1st March and got the list through today of items that require 'immediate' attention. These include (and I quote), sweep garage; Remove velcro dots to ceiling in garage ; remove blue tac (4 blobs) from wall above blinds! I kid you not, there are four pages of this cr*p! :curse:

We even paid out for Ovenclean to come in and professionally clean the oven - this still was not good enough: 'remove glass on inside of oven door and clean runs from inside' $99 we paid to have that done

The best part is, at the end of the (very comprehensive) list, they have written in block capitals: PLEASE TICK BOXES AS ITEMS COMPLETED. How are we supposed to do this when we no longer have the keys or access to the property and the owner is at the property painting and running repairs?

The letter was dated 13th March and we HAD to respond within 3 days or they would get their own trades people in to carry out the work - it only arrived today! I can just imagine the swat team of blue tac removalists that they must have on their books!

I'm SO fed up with them. It wouldn't be so bad if the estate agent hadn't driven us out in the first place with 4 eviction notices due to their error when calculating the rent repayments.

To top it all off, we hand delivered a reply letter to their office and the Director told the receptionist to refuse to issue us with a receipt for the letter! I had to shout and make a scene in the shop to get her to agree to acknowledge receipt.

So, come on - fess up - how clean is your home?

Thanks,

Jules x

OzzieNurse

Have rented 3 houses and the answer to your question is NO never had any supposedly refundable deposit note the word deposit???!! Back at the end of the let. There is now a new law being passed that will make it a requirement for them to actually return the money. If it isnt a deposit they should call it something else really as I have so far lost in excess of £1800

fin

I've never had a problem with getting the bond back and neither has any of my family who have rented in Aus over the years. Real estate agents are quite picky with things and once my parents did get charged $50 for a dry patch of grass that the bin men left the wheelie bin on, but thats all that we have had taken out of the bond in all the time renting really.

Sorry you're having such a bad time, I hope things work out for you and you don't have any probs in the future.

Kristy x

Vash the Stampede

Yep, I did, at the end of a nine-month rental agreement in Midvale (WA) during 2001.

The agency made regular inspection visits throughout the term of my lease, and always issued me with a copy of their report for the owner (which quite impressed me). The only problem I had with them was their habit of ignoring the fact that I was a shift worker, and turning up for an inspection while I was trying to catch up on a few hours of precious sleep after night shift!

Clippy

No way! What excuse did they give for not returning it?

We are landlord's for a couple of properties and we've always given the deposit back, even if it was a bit of a mess.

Well twice we haven't actually, the first one because he didn't pay us any rent for 6 months and we had to spend a fortune in court costs to get him out - left us very out of pocket. The other one had left that much rubbish in the place and it was disgustingly dirty, we took 12 bags of rubbish out the back garden, all spilt out everywhere with maggots! he'd just trashed it. So he didn't get all of his deposit back but got a bit.

curly

Will you still rent them out when you move K? or sell?

Clippy

Sell, we've just emptied the one that's flats, lovey tenant she was as well, paid without fail and left the place immaculate.

Centurion

I got my bond back in full. I had a professional company come into clean the place and threw that at the agent. I felt it was the easiest way to back myself up in the event of any dispute as any tribunal or court would certainly look favourably on that.

bridie

We had two rentals and no, didnt have any problem getting the bond money back

will send you some k

iPom

Isn't the bond held with a separate bond company which is there to protect you as well as the agent? We have an agreement with this bond assoc which tells us about the legal recourse we have if things go awry. Do you have this too, or are the agents just holding your bond in a trust account?

We had a recent inspection and there were a load of things listed on it which were like that when we moved in... fix trim onto blind (it was off when we moved in), fan in bathroom needs cleaning...(I took it down and all these dead roaches fell out. It was thick with dust and grease and like that when we arrived.)
Sounds like you should go see a solicitor to get your money back ... the agents sound like sharks.

SalSa

OMG.....which agent in Secret Harbour is it??? (poohing pants now... )

Sandra

Did not have a problem getting our money back.

This is a good point to remind all those preparing to rent to take a detailed list of everything and I mean every little picky thing wrong with the place when you move in and get the rental agency or landlord to sign.

Video and photograph the issues if possible. This way you at least have some come back when they start saying the state of the place when you leave.

The report they tried to make my husband sign said the place was in perfect condition. 10 pages later I had finished listing all the major issues I had and then went on to the cleanliness of the place. Oven was stinking and I refused to be in the house when husband moved it from its place to clean. The dark brown explair turned out to be white but only after I took industrial bleach to it. I even noted down every nick and tear in the window screens and the number of light blubs not working. Paint work and carpets. The light bulbs where the spot type and there were over 30 of them round the house very few worked and I did not fancy having to pay to get them all replaced as we left.

The estate agent then excepted my report though I did invite them to come back to the house with me as I challenged their level of acceptable cleanliness.

After six months we and the owners dropped the agents and dealt directly. At the end of our agreed period the independant company refurnded the money.

Cover yourself as you move in and return property as found - argue crap issues as many estate agents and owners believe you won't. Read the booklet you have on your rights as a tenant and lodge a complaint with the bonds people if you feel you have been treated unfairly.

Cheers

soonbethere

Yes we got our money back on our previous rental, (surprisingly!) the company were ridiculously particular, we have a cat and a dog, and part of the agreement was to have the carpets cleaned and 'de- flea'd' on our exit. But all the carpet cleaners we contacted didn't do a special spray treatment that the real estate needed, so in the end I contacted our agent and told her our problem. She eventually mellowed after i asked if she could sort the carpet cleaner out, she just took the $200 (and odd) from our bond, and she too struggled to get the de flea treatment done, and we got our full money back.
Sorry to read your tale, its sounds to me like no matter what you do, your in the wrong, there should be a higher body that we can contact, this rental thing here is a total joke, i asked if there were any electrical checks done on items in the house, (i used to work in real estate in UK, having flame retardant furniture, gas & Electric checks, etc are the law in the UK) we were told that if we had an electric shock there would be an inquest into what we were doing to give us the shock!!! not an inquest into what wasn't wired up correctly etc,! the sooner we move into our own house the better!

Joolz

We took photos of everything when we moved in and at the end the landlord wanted the windows cleaned (fair enough) and the garden mown - this we disagreed with as it was mid november and the garden was in the same state as when we moved in! We hired a mower and mowed it at 6pm after work (bear in mind it was pitch black night time in November!).

Landlord gave us our full deposit back and noted that we were the first people he has let to that got a full deposit back. We were ready for a fight before we saw him so I guess that helped!

On the flip side we let out a flat ourselves but the tenant has been in there for years so haven't had to think about giving his deposit back yet.. although I hear this new deposit scheme might mean we have to get our agent to do something...

sme

We got all our bond back but it did take 2 days of cleaning (we had only been in the rental for 3 months) and we had to pay for carpet cleaning.

But like one of the previous posters we went round prior to moving in with a fine toothcomb, took umbridge with practically everything the inspector had documented and it was a brand new house we moved into.


Good luck but it is hard work