Julie* and Steven* were in the middle of cleaning their rental property, ready to vacate, when a team of cleaners arrived and interrupted them. Needless to say, it was a shock for the couple who were still in lawful possession of the property.
The cleaners claimed that they had been booked to do a bond clean on the house that day, despite Julie and Steven still being in possession of the house. They asked the cleaners to leave and contacted their real estate agent to inform them of what was going on.
Julie and Steven finished cleaning the regional Queensland home, filled out their exit condition report and took photographs as evidence of the condition of the property when they left. But the next day, after the keys were handed in, the real estate agent made an immediate claim on the full bond.
Julie and Steven felt this was premeditated and unfair, as there was no proof of what costs the agent was seeking.
The couple were forced to take their case to QCAT to prove that the property had been left in a good condition. And fortunately, QCAT ordered the full bond of $2500 be refunded to Julie and Steven.
Although the outcome was a satisfactory one, Julie and Steven went through a time-consuming ordeal to prove that they were entitled to their own money – one that wouldn’t happen with better protections for renters.