Thanks for opening this thread, I am a new-to-Australia (Canadian) tenant and I fear I am being railroaded by a seasoned home owner. Long story short:
We moved into a lovely home, signed a 6 m lease. At the end of lease we decided not to renew a 6 m lease and asked for a 4 m lease instead. Owner got angry, said she was counting on us and as such she would raise the rent and gave us 60 notice to vacate. 60 days did not suit us (kids in school) and we replied with a 30 day vacancy. All good. Had a property inspection done by PM, all good except a few scratches on door, batteries needed in a fire alarm. PM and owner get into a fight about whether PM is thorough enough at inspections, owner gives one week notice to view again and comes over to find leaves on veranda, felt marker line on kitchen bench, cobwebs in various areas, and gives a 'breach' and says she will be back in one week. PM sits with us after owner leaves and we all talk about how unreasonable owner is being. One week later owner comes back (with us and PM present) goes through house and says it is not good enough and gives 7 day eviction notice. May I say here that we have cleaned the house thoroughly and it looks great to us and to PM. 7 days notice ends after our previous 30 day vacancy notification, but owner still wants to have eviction on record. Now comes the 4th inspection in 4 weeks and we have cleaned, scrubbed, washed, vacuumed, gardened, repainted one wall, and the house looks great to us. My husband attends the final inspection but is thrown out of house and cursed at by the owner, and we are not able to get photos of the house at move out. Owner not satisfied and instructs PM that she wants us to pay for 50% of property refurbishment. Our responses:
1. Paint garage walls: this is wear and tear to a garage, in which there is a work bench and no restrictions to actual work being performed. The areas of wear and tear are to 5% of walls and may require a touch up rather than a complete paint job. We agree to 20% of cost.
2. Porters lime wash to small wall in kitchen: We agree to 50% of cost due to small oil spray from cooking.
3. Porters lime wast to large wall in dining room: No damage done to wall. Photos taken upon vacancy are done in extreme close up and cannot be compared to photos on move in. We will not contribute.
4. Sand and paint timber counter top: This counter was heavily worn on move in with the varnish being worn to the wood along kitchen side and on edges. Our wear and tear to this counter is a 2-3cm marker line and does not require counter to be redone on our account. We agree to 20% of cost.
5. Replace 5 door magnets to kitchen doors: This is wear and tear, we will agree to 25% of cost.
6. Bathroom walls: Water marks are wear and tear, we do not agree to repainting walls.
7. Resand and varnish pine floors: As this floor is pine it is a delicate flooring that is not well wearing in a rental house. The move in pics were taken at a distance whilst the final pics are taken at extreme close up and are not comparable. The flooring was revarnished 3 years ago and showed wear and tear prior to our 6 m tenancy. We will agree to 20% of cost.
8. Cleaning: We dispute that a further 10 hours of cleaning are necessary. We will contribute 3 hrs.
9. Window cleaning: All windows/screens were vacuumed and cleaned. We will agree to 50% of recleaning.
The owner then filed a claim at the tribunal wanting us to pay the full price of all refurbishments and we are off to court. My main questions are:
1. The property report says the house was in excellent condition and we agreed, but we were not aware of how detailed the owner would be on move out and we should have counted nail holes, floor scratches, door scuffs but we didn't. We feel the house is still in excellent condition but does have wear and tear.
2. We couldn't get final pics because my husband was asked to leave the property when he began to argue with the owner about things such as the kitchen counter and stray weeds. As such we have to rely on pics the PM took (which are all done in owners favor with tiny marks in extreme close-up). Will the court look at this as an infringement on our ability to defend ourselves?
3. I am not very well spoken and the pics seems to be in favour of the owner. How does court determine fair wear and tear? Can the owner ask for more than the bond (ours is 2400) as they want us to pay for all repainting, redoing the hard wood, replacing kitchen counter etc?
I am really really nervous and am being bullied by this owner. The PM WAS on our side but I fear she is also being bullied by this owner as I have requested a letter stating her opinion on the situation but she has not followed through with her promise to do so.
Any answers to my 'long story short'?
We moved into a lovely home, signed a 6 m lease. At the end of lease we decided not to renew a 6 m lease and asked for a 4 m lease instead. Owner got angry, said she was counting on us and as such she would raise the rent and gave us 60 notice to vacate. 60 days did not suit us (kids in school) and we replied with a 30 day vacancy. All good. Had a property inspection done by PM, all good except a few scratches on door, batteries needed in a fire alarm. PM and owner get into a fight about whether PM is thorough enough at inspections, owner gives one week notice to view again and comes over to find leaves on veranda, felt marker line on kitchen bench, cobwebs in various areas, and gives a 'breach' and says she will be back in one week. PM sits with us after owner leaves and we all talk about how unreasonable owner is being. One week later owner comes back (with us and PM present) goes through house and says it is not good enough and gives 7 day eviction notice. May I say here that we have cleaned the house thoroughly and it looks great to us and to PM. 7 days notice ends after our previous 30 day vacancy notification, but owner still wants to have eviction on record. Now comes the 4th inspection in 4 weeks and we have cleaned, scrubbed, washed, vacuumed, gardened, repainted one wall, and the house looks great to us. My husband attends the final inspection but is thrown out of house and cursed at by the owner, and we are not able to get photos of the house at move out. Owner not satisfied and instructs PM that she wants us to pay for 50% of property refurbishment. Our responses:
1. Paint garage walls: this is wear and tear to a garage, in which there is a work bench and no restrictions to actual work being performed. The areas of wear and tear are to 5% of walls and may require a touch up rather than a complete paint job. We agree to 20% of cost.
2. Porters lime wash to small wall in kitchen: We agree to 50% of cost due to small oil spray from cooking.
3. Porters lime wast to large wall in dining room: No damage done to wall. Photos taken upon vacancy are done in extreme close up and cannot be compared to photos on move in. We will not contribute.
4. Sand and paint timber counter top: This counter was heavily worn on move in with the varnish being worn to the wood along kitchen side and on edges. Our wear and tear to this counter is a 2-3cm marker line and does not require counter to be redone on our account. We agree to 20% of cost.
5. Replace 5 door magnets to kitchen doors: This is wear and tear, we will agree to 25% of cost.
6. Bathroom walls: Water marks are wear and tear, we do not agree to repainting walls.
7. Resand and varnish pine floors: As this floor is pine it is a delicate flooring that is not well wearing in a rental house. The move in pics were taken at a distance whilst the final pics are taken at extreme close up and are not comparable. The flooring was revarnished 3 years ago and showed wear and tear prior to our 6 m tenancy. We will agree to 20% of cost.
8. Cleaning: We dispute that a further 10 hours of cleaning are necessary. We will contribute 3 hrs.
9. Window cleaning: All windows/screens were vacuumed and cleaned. We will agree to 50% of recleaning.
The owner then filed a claim at the tribunal wanting us to pay the full price of all refurbishments and we are off to court. My main questions are:
1. The property report says the house was in excellent condition and we agreed, but we were not aware of how detailed the owner would be on move out and we should have counted nail holes, floor scratches, door scuffs but we didn't. We feel the house is still in excellent condition but does have wear and tear.
2. We couldn't get final pics because my husband was asked to leave the property when he began to argue with the owner about things such as the kitchen counter and stray weeds. As such we have to rely on pics the PM took (which are all done in owners favor with tiny marks in extreme close-up). Will the court look at this as an infringement on our ability to defend ourselves?
3. I am not very well spoken and the pics seems to be in favour of the owner. How does court determine fair wear and tear? Can the owner ask for more than the bond (ours is 2400) as they want us to pay for all repainting, redoing the hard wood, replacing kitchen counter etc?
I am really really nervous and am being bullied by this owner. The PM WAS on our side but I fear she is also being bullied by this owner as I have requested a letter stating her opinion on the situation but she has not followed through with her promise to do so.
Any answers to my 'long story short'?