A Sydney property manager is taking a former tenant to court because she refused to pay professional cleaners at the end of her tenancy.
Former tenant Sally Coleman insists she did everything right and spent days meticulously cleaning the property after vacating.
“We spent days scrubbing the floors, we cleaned every window upstairs and downstairs,” he explained in a video posted on social media.
“We scrubbed all the toilets, all the bathrooms, we cleaned all the showers. We mowed the grass and we trimmed the hedges in the driveway.”
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 property again.
The cleaners charged $1,100, which Ms. Coleman refused to pay.
Obviously I don’t agree with this because we spent days cleaning this property, we did everything we could.
Ms. Coleman maintains that photographs taken by the agent during the inspection, which were intended to support the need for a professional cleaning, actually show that his cleaning job was good enough.
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.
Ms. Coleman and her housemates spent days cleaning their home for the final inspection, only to have the agent point out minor flaws in their cleaning.
Ms Coleman revealed that her and her housemates’ bail, which amounts to about $6,500, is being held until the court finalises the matter.
“We’re essentially holding him until we get this sorted out,” he said.
“So I know this is wrong, I know they can’t do this.”
Many Australians sympathised with Ms Coleman’s plight.
“I’m a former property manager. They should have given you the opportunity to come back and clean what they told you to do first. They shouldn’t have just sent the cleaners,” one explained.
‘Your deposit is not held by the estate agent, but by the Rental Deposit Authority for this very reason.
Ms. Coleman claims the real estate agent said the bathroom was not clean.
He said the agent highlighted this speck of dirt as a reason to require professional cleaners for the property.
‘Bring your photos and your vehicle condition report to court. Mention that you were not given the opportunity to fix the problems yourself first. Good luck.’
A second added: We went to court and won. The officers were betting that they would threaten you and you would back out, but don’t. Stay calm and stick to the facts.
A third agreed, saying: “Courts, in most cases, rule in favour of the tenant; you can see what is happening.”
A fourth said: ‘I found out they do this when you don’t use the ‘recommended’ cleanser they’re getting reviews for.
“It happened to me when I used a different professional cleaner, not the one they wanted me to use.”
This hair in the bathroom was pointed out as a reason why it was deemed necessary to hire professional cleaners.
