A tenant got her bond back after her landlord took her to court when she and her roommates 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 do everything right, spending days meticulously cleaning before she moved out.
However, when the agent visited the property to carry out the end-of-contract inspection, he noticed minor problems such as dusty cupboards and small 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 roommates refused to pay the bill, prompting the landlord to take the matter to court and withhold the tenants’ $6,500 bond until the matter was resolved.
On Monday, Ms. Coleman and the landlord’s agent met for a settlement hearing, the first stage of a court hearing where the parties try to resolve the matter among themselves.
“My housemates and I got together beforehand and decided, ‘Okay, we’re not going to pay $1,100 for cleaning on principle,'” Coleman said in a video shared on Instagram on Tuesday.
The tenants decided they were willing to offer $50 each towards the cleaning bill, a total of $250 as a “token amount” to “make it go away.”
Former Triple J presenter Sally Coleman (pictured) claimed she meticulously cleaned the property after vacating at the end of her tenancy. Despite this, her estate agent hired professional cleaners and charged her $1,100.
However, when the agent visited the apartment for the end-of-contract inspection, he noticed minor problems, such as dusty cupboards and small hairs on the floor. He also claimed that the sink was not clean.
Ms. Coleman prepared a 40-page document with photographs and notes about the housemates’ cleaning and the real estate agent’s points of contention.
“Because I’m a moralist and I want to make a point, I went to that meeting with over 40 pages of photographs and printed notes,” Coleman said.
“We sat down with the officer and he 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 became clear very quickly that this was not about negotiating the cleanup, but about how much money they could get out of this meeting,” Coleman said.
‘Our response to that was to show us what was cleaned and why it needed to be cleaned and then we can talk about how much it should cost.
“There was no detailed invoice or receipt for what was actually cleaned and therefore it was nearly impossible to prove why those specific things needed cleaning.”
One of the owner’s complaints was that hair was found on the floor.
During a settlement hearing — the first stage of court proceedings — Ms. Coleman submitted a 40-page document with notes and photographs of the property. She and her housemates agreed to pay $250 toward the cleaning bill and were granted bail.
Ms. Coleman said the $250 offer was ultimately accepted after the real estate agent realized they weren’t going to get anywhere.
He added that the estate agent was given an extra push to accept the offer after pointing out that if an itemised invoice had been submitted after the fact, they would have breached section 165 of the NSW Tenancy Act.
Section 165 of the New South Wales Tenancy Act stipulates that the landlord or the landlord’s agent must provide a copy of any estimate, quotation, invoice or receipt for work within seven days of the tenancy bond being claimed.
A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide documentation within seven days faces a fine of more than $2,000.
Ms Coleman said the hearing showed the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) process needed tougher penalties for landlords and agents who try to abuse the system.
“The agent specifically said that sanctions don’t scare me,” Coleman said.
‘There is nothing in the NCAT process that is more terrifying to an estate agent than the prospect of losing a high-value client who has a large property portfolio.
“When it comes to upsetting tenants, breaking the law, going to court, they’ll agree to all of those things if it means keeping the customer happy.”
Ms. Coleman and her housemates paid $250 of the cleaning bill and got their full bond.
