Hi All
We are first time investors and have been quite naïve with our dealings so far. We’ve relied on our property manager a lot (unfortunately she is very blasé about our house and we’ve since realised that we’ll have to be more proactive ourselves if we want things done right) and have always fixed things as soon as we are notified. We have since realised we have been paying to fix things that were actually damaged by the tenants.
9 months ago my husband (a qualified carpenter) put in a new kitchen and bathroom while our tenants were on holiday. Amazingly, even though they knew the owner was coming, they left the house in a horrendous state (food scraps, ash and cigarette butts everywhere, toilet absolutely filthy, etc). Warning bells were ringing loudly but as my husband had travelled over 1000km to install the new kitchen and bathroom he went ahead with it. He photographed and documented everything at the time and we sent that to the agent.
2 months ago my husband travelled back up to inspect the property. As we had feared, there was already mould (that apparently the tenants can’t remove) and other damage in the 2 new rooms. We decided to give them 2 months notice and are now set to do the exit inspection next week. Our plan of attack is to simply walk around with the Entry Report and document and photograph everything that is damaged and not noted on that report.
Here are just some of the items we believe is damage and not general wear and tear:
- Brown stains (not from rust) in toilet bowl
- Urine stains around toilet which have eaten into the varnish and stained around the toilet
- Damaged blinds
- Nail holes for pictures
- Cigarette smoke has stained and embedded odour into walls, ceilings, curtains, etc
- Louvers broken
- Decorative toilet seat replaced with a plain one (not that I even liked the toilet seat (it came with the house), but it retails at $125 and they shouldn’t get away with removing it without permission)
- Mould damage in the bathroom
- Huge chunks (approx 50 cent piece sizes) taken out of the enamel in the stove (only 2 years old)
- Brand new kitchen sink dinted so much that it broke the seal (we wouldn’t have been as concerned about this as it could have been an accident, however they never notified us and water has now gotten through and the benchtop has warped and swelled. If they told us, we would have arranged for someone to come in and reseal the area immediately).
Some of these items may seem a little petty but we have been so disappointed at the state of the place we have decided to go with the attitude that we shouldn’t have to be out of pocket for anything. Our agreement states that the property should be left in the same condition as it was before the tenants moved in (fair wear and tear excepted).
We intend to keep the bond, but the damage caused will cost more than we will get back from the bond, so I have a few questions:
- What is the process we have to go through to claim this money back?
- Do we have to quote how much we think we are owed or is this done after the claim goes through?
- Some items they have damaged have already been fixed to prevent further damage (eg. Re-sealing around the kitchen sink). Is that claimable, or should we just cut our losses here?
Any gotchas, information or similar experiences will be most appreciated.
Many thanks.
We are first time investors and have been quite naïve with our dealings so far. We’ve relied on our property manager a lot (unfortunately she is very blasé about our house and we’ve since realised that we’ll have to be more proactive ourselves if we want things done right) and have always fixed things as soon as we are notified. We have since realised we have been paying to fix things that were actually damaged by the tenants.
9 months ago my husband (a qualified carpenter) put in a new kitchen and bathroom while our tenants were on holiday. Amazingly, even though they knew the owner was coming, they left the house in a horrendous state (food scraps, ash and cigarette butts everywhere, toilet absolutely filthy, etc). Warning bells were ringing loudly but as my husband had travelled over 1000km to install the new kitchen and bathroom he went ahead with it. He photographed and documented everything at the time and we sent that to the agent.
2 months ago my husband travelled back up to inspect the property. As we had feared, there was already mould (that apparently the tenants can’t remove) and other damage in the 2 new rooms. We decided to give them 2 months notice and are now set to do the exit inspection next week. Our plan of attack is to simply walk around with the Entry Report and document and photograph everything that is damaged and not noted on that report.
Here are just some of the items we believe is damage and not general wear and tear:
- Brown stains (not from rust) in toilet bowl
- Urine stains around toilet which have eaten into the varnish and stained around the toilet
- Damaged blinds
- Nail holes for pictures
- Cigarette smoke has stained and embedded odour into walls, ceilings, curtains, etc
- Louvers broken
- Decorative toilet seat replaced with a plain one (not that I even liked the toilet seat (it came with the house), but it retails at $125 and they shouldn’t get away with removing it without permission)
- Mould damage in the bathroom
- Huge chunks (approx 50 cent piece sizes) taken out of the enamel in the stove (only 2 years old)
- Brand new kitchen sink dinted so much that it broke the seal (we wouldn’t have been as concerned about this as it could have been an accident, however they never notified us and water has now gotten through and the benchtop has warped and swelled. If they told us, we would have arranged for someone to come in and reseal the area immediately).
Some of these items may seem a little petty but we have been so disappointed at the state of the place we have decided to go with the attitude that we shouldn’t have to be out of pocket for anything. Our agreement states that the property should be left in the same condition as it was before the tenants moved in (fair wear and tear excepted).
We intend to keep the bond, but the damage caused will cost more than we will get back from the bond, so I have a few questions:
- What is the process we have to go through to claim this money back?
- Do we have to quote how much we think we are owed or is this done after the claim goes through?
- Some items they have damaged have already been fixed to prevent further damage (eg. Re-sealing around the kitchen sink). Is that claimable, or should we just cut our losses here?
Any gotchas, information or similar experiences will be most appreciated.
Many thanks.