A real estate agency accused by a woman of withholding her deceased brother’s rental bond has responded to the claims, saying the money was never withheld and was returned in full.
Gerard Farmer was renting a two-bedroom unit on May Street in Preston, northeast of Melbourne, when he died on January 12 from blood poisoning after a long battle with throat cancer.
Farmer’s sister contacted tenants’ rights advocate and founder of the website s***rentals.org, Jordan van den Berg, claiming that her brother’s real estate agency, Harcourts Rata & Co, would not return Farmer’s deposit. $1,695.
But Harcourts told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday the agency never held or claimed Farmer’s bail.
In the initial correspondence between the sister and the property manager, a list of reasons explaining why the bond could be withheld was emailed.
Gerard Farmer was renting a two-bedroom unit (pictured) on May Street in Preston, north-east of Melbourne, from agency Harcourts Rata & Co.
The reasons included leaves being found in the driveway and “a lot of new soil” being discovered in the backyard, left by Mr Farmer, who had been an avid gardener.
Harcourts management intervened after the initial email and the matter was resolved with Farmer’s sister before van den Berg’s video was shared on his social media accounts under his ‘PurplePingers’ nickname.
A spokesperson for Harcourts, who did not wish to be named, explained that Farmer’s bond was being held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA) in trust pending the appointment of a person authorized to act on behalf of the deceased tenant.
The RTBA holds in trust all of Victoria’s residential tenancy bonds, including those for rented premises, long-term caravans, boarding houses and caravan sites under site agreements.
When a lease ends, the property managers or owners, and the tenants or residents, have the same opinion on how the bond should be paid. The RTBA releases the money as agreed.
Harcourts added that once the sister emailed details of the person authorized to receive Mr Farmer’s bail, she was fully released by the RTBA the following day.
Harcourts management intervened after the initial email and the matter was resolved with Farmer’s sister before the video of van den Berg (pictured) was shared on her social media accounts under her ‘PurplePingers’ moniker.
The estate agency insisted that the matter was resolved before Van den Berg shared his video, and that the bond was returned a week later, once a person authorized to act on Me Farmer’s behalf was appointed.
Mr Farmer’s rent was paid until January 27, so his sister quickly arranged for 10 people, including professional cleaners and gardeners, to clean the property on January 23.
His sister told Mr van den Berg that she had contacted Harcourts after the professional end-of-contract cleaning was completed so they could arrange the return of the deposit.
However, on January 30, Mr Farmer’s sister claimed Harcourts contacted her to inform her they were shocked by the poor state of the property.
He said the estate agency raised “a number of areas of concern” after comparing the current condition of the property with the condition report carried out at the start of Mr Farmer’s tenancy.
Property manager listed 12 concerns including additional cleaning inside home, stains on carpet in master bedroom, rear sliding door curtains requiring deep cleaning, removal of 10′ hooks, sliding door repair of the clogged shower and repair of the TV antenna point.
Farmer’s sister also claimed the agency took issue with the garden, citing “a lot of new dirt.” over backyard grass, garden beds, and new plants that needed to be removed.
‘A lot of new soil has been spread over the rear grass area and garden beds. This should never have happened and should be removed,” Harcourts’ email said.
‘There are many new plants, including vegetable plants, planted in the backyard along the fence. It is necessary to remove them. (The gardens were immaculate at the start of the tenancy) Also needing more weeding.’
Mr. Farmer’s sister also claimed that Harcourts’ email said items in the nature strip needed to be collected or removed, that full trash bins needed to be placed outside for collection and that the garage required another sweep.
Farmer, an avid gardener, died of blood poisoning in January after a long battle with throat cancer.
Leaves in the driveway (pictured) were listed as one of 12 “areas of concern” in the initial email sent to Mr Farmer’s sister describing the condition of the property.
The initial email also mentioned “leaves in the driveway need to be cleared” as an area of concern.
“The exit report was made six days after (the cleanup), but I don’t know if you know about the leaves, but they just appear,” Mr van den Berg said.
Harcourts confirmed to Mr Van den Berg that a link to the condition report had been sent through the agency’s inspection system; However, Mr. Farmer’s sister claimed that the link did not work.
Harcourts also informed Mr van den Berg that no one was authorized to act on behalf of the deceased tenant.
“Once the details of the authorized person have been provided, our aim is to deliver an outcome that is amicable and acceptable to all parties,” Harcourts told Mr van den Berg.
“We are sympathetic to the tragic circumstances of the tenants’ death and hope to provide an outcome that does not add undue stress to the family.”