Bad Experience with Real Estate Agent When Moving out

eqv on 08/12/2015 - 00:22
Last edited 08/12/2015 - 08:38

Just had a bad experience with the landlord's agent being very unreasonable when we're moving out of our unit. I'm not sure whether it's just my luck, or whether real estate agents are just <insert profanity here> in general.

  1. Morning: Scheduled to do final inspection. After a few unanswered calls and almost half an hour later, he said he forgot and can't make it there in time. Wasted a few hours of my working time.

  2. Discussed and agreed to reschedule to do it in the evening after work, 10 mins later sent me a msg saying pls leave the key in the office and he will do final inspection himself as he can't sign the bond refund form anyway. I disagreed and asked why. No response.

  3. Lunch time: Went over to his office to get answers. Still try to convince me to leave the key for him to do final inspection himself. After a few exchanges, finally agreed to go and do it then during lunchtime.

  4. Inspection: Very petty about small little things that were dusty. I cleaned them on the spot. Unit were actually cleaner when we move out becuase they handed us greasy and unclean place with small cockroaches everywhere.

  5. Dispute: Still insist that the carpet looks dirty because we didn't steam clean it. Told him that we vacuumed the the place well, and it's already in a better state than when we move in, and he cannot insist for me to get steam cleaner as it's already reasonably clean.

  6. Told me that we will need to get to tribunal if we can't agree, and it's going to cost $50 and half a day of my time. He offered for me and landlord to split steam cleaning cost to avoid going to tribunal. I refused. He then said he will have to talk to hiss boss and see from there.

So after all the tiring arguments, he's still leaving me in limbo right now on whether I'm gonna get the full amount of my bond back. I've already given him the bond refund form with our details filled in. I'm thinking after a few days if he still hasn't sumbitted the form to fairtrading, I'm gonna go lodge the form unilaterally without their signatory. One thing for sure, I'd think twice before doing any more business with them.

Edit: BTW, this is the same ppl that Took back my car space without notifying me a few months ago, so you know how dodgy their practices are.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Matt P on 08/12/2015 - 00:39
    +3

    Most RE agents will want you to get carpets steam cleaned on a lease changeover. Go down to Woolies, pick up their rental units and 2 hours and 50 bucks later its done. It isn't this agent specifically, its all agents.

    • Henryneko on 08/12/2015 - 02:20
      +1

      Agree…steam clean is almost standard.
      I rather pay some cleaning guy $200 to clean and be confident I will get back my bond.

  • MrFrugalSpend on 08/12/2015 - 01:26

    What State, (different states have different laws)?
    Also, did you have entry condition report and photos that prove the condition when you moved in?

    • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:03
      +1

      NSW, and I have checked that NSW's law specifically says that landlord cannot even put in lease agrrement that I need the carpet to be professionally cleaned.

  • bargainslut on 08/12/2015 - 02:39
    +1

    Email is as good as a letter in a court of law. Perhaps give him a reasonable amount of time to respond (7 days is appropriate).

    Tell him what you wish to be done in the allotted time period. If he does not wish to be reasonable it's his choice. Simply ring citizens advice and they will advise of the appropriate steps. Serving notice via email is the most effective form of getting things done in my opinion. Hope this helps friend.

    • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:30
      +1

      Thanks, I think that's what I might do.

      • bargainslut on 08/12/2015 - 13:10

        Happy it helped. Sorted:)

  • DarkOz on 08/12/2015 - 06:23
    +2

    Steam cleaning carpet is quite standard. You can argue about it but at the cost of your time and even money. It's not expensive anyway(we had it done for $150 for 2 rooms and a lounge) and I would split it if the RE agent offered it.

    Please remember the difference between accepting the rental and terminating the rental. Accepting it in a worse condition doesn't mean you don't have to return it in a condition as specified in your lease agreement. You should have demanded the unit to be cleaned before you moved in.

    If you have plenty of time by all mean fight it. Otherwise it's well worth to pay a small amount and move on.

    • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:27

      Not true. Fair trading NSW says that when I return the unit, it needs to be in the same condition when we got it. The assumption is that when we get it, it's clean.

      Before we entered the lease, I already asked in advance whether there is any repairs or cleaning scheduled before I move in. They said it's being rented out as is, and we agreed that we'll just put everything in the condition report when we moved in to use it as reference when we move out.

      • DarkOz on 08/12/2015 - 08:39

        There is no assumption here. You need proofs. If you have the proofs that the rental unit is in the same condition when you have got it and you have the backing of Fair Trading by all mean take it to the tribunal.

        • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:44

          Yup, got all the proof I need, my condition report when we move in is very detailed with photos and everything. He's still arguing that you can't see everything in the photos. But we even have timestamped videos if we need to show it to the tribunal.

        • DarkOz on 08/12/2015 - 08:49

          @equavate: That's very well then. You just need to be prepared to spend a day at the tribunal. However, there is a chance the re agent will back out because they don't want to waste their time fighting for $100-$200. This happened to my colleague after he decided to take it on.

  • Geewhizz on 08/12/2015 - 06:53
    +2

    Having carpets properly cleaned IS standard, and the majority will want to see receipts from professional cleaners, not just done with a hired machine.

    and he cannot insist for me to get steam cleaner as it's already reasonably clean.

    He can, actually, and if he takes it to a tribunal, you're going to lose on the one. As someone has already said, you should have insisted on it being properly cleaned when you moved in, because it has to be properly cleaned when you move out. To be honest, if there was dust about, I'd have to question how thorough you were with this.

    When you move into a place, it's a good idea to take the property report and go over the place with a fine tooth comb, noting EVERYTHING you can find that is wrong. That way when it comes time to move out you have proof that you didn't cause any damage or stains etc.

    • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:34

      I agree that having the carpet properly cleaned is standard. And we HAVE properly cleaned it. It's just the agent being difficult about it. NSW law says that it's illegal to insist for tenant to have it professionally cleaned. http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/act+42+20…

      • ykwon10 on 08/12/2015 - 08:36

        Depends on your contract. Go through your contract again and it should say something along the lines of "professionally steam cleaned when vacating". If its in your contract and you have agreed and signed it, how is it illegal? Please check.

        • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 08:41

          It is illegal because it is specifically stated in NSW law that you can't put that clause in the contract. See my link above, section 19(2)(a).

        • ykwon10 on 08/12/2015 - 08:50

          @equavate: my point is you have signed it! if that is the case, you have agreed on something illegal then. you are part to be blamed too.

        • eqv on 08/12/2015 - 09:00

          @ykwon10: Sorry I only replied to one part of your question, because I thought that's the only relevant one. To answer your other half of the question, no it's not written in my contract, and I would have pointed it out to them at the beginning if they actually put it in. It is illegal for them to even try to put it in, and even if someone else signed such contract, it would be illegal and therefore the contact would be void and unenforceable by the law.

  • tomleonhart on 08/12/2015 - 07:56

    Bad Experience with Real Estate Agent When Moving out

    You're not the first and won't be the last.

    • Scorpiogirl on 08/12/2015 - 09:36

      Ain't that the truth @ tomleonhart. Don't stress as this can be normal practice. You can lodge your claim for bond yourself. Do not expect them to care about wasting your time. You will be let down. It is normal to have carpets cleaned especially with long term leases but was it written into your lease. You can argue no.

      Go claim your bond yourself so you are in control. The majority of real esate agents won't bother as they just want the place re-leased ASAP. They won't go to Fair Trading. A lot that comes out of their mouths will be lies and not the law. They bully people because a lot don't know their rights. Good luck :)

  • rambao9 on 08/12/2015 - 10:01

    Let them apply for tribunal lose the $50 application and still have to pay for steam cleaning. :)

  • cupcake on 08/12/2015 - 10:11

    My first rental unit I wasn't charged any cleaning fee. I got my full bond back.

    I was charged $80 for steam cleaning the carpets in the 2nd rental unit when I moved out so I didn't get my full bond back. This was 10 years ago.

    They didn't charge me anything in the 3rd rental unit. I got my full bond back.

    I think it depends on the property manager but I do believe most real estate agents take out a cleaning fee.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2015 - 11:55

    I've been to the NSW tribunal before, they will laugh at the real estate agent when they bring up the fact the carpets aren't steam cleaned. As mentioned above, it isn't legal or enforceable in this state, your property needs to be returned in a reasonable state, it doesn't even have to be identical to how you got it, the laws allow for reasonable wear and tear (what's reasonable depends on the length of tenancy among other things).

    Also had a car space issue with the same agent that took us to the tribunal, property was advertised with carspace (and property had one) but was then advised later on that the carspace belonged to another part of the property, and our "carspace" was parking on the lawn.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join