Ink on Carpet - My time has no value!

[kitdoctor]

My wife and I recently had the worst tenant in our one bedroom unit in Teneriffe in Brisbane in 15 years of ownership.

In only six months she:

1) Didn't pay the rent four times.
2) Ignored all contact from PM - email, SMS, phone, letters.
3) Sub-let the unit's car park without permission to person/s unknown. Hence gave away the remote control for the complex's roller door. This has now created problems with unknown person/s continuing to park in our spot despite being advised not to.
4) Decided to get a blue healer dog without ours (lease said no pets) and BC permission.
5) Abandoned the property leaving it uncleaned.
6) Managed to scratch, scrape, dent etc. walls all through our freshly painted/plastered unit but claim the "fair wear and tear" argument.

Anyway, the tenant's mother arranged to have the unit cleaned by professional cleaners. Subsequently, we travelled from Darwin and found that there were still ink or nail polish marks on the bedroom carpet (caused by daughter) and really the overall cleaning was inadequate - e.g. mirrors smeared, dog hair all through unit particularly carpet, tapware not thoroughly cleaned, stainless steel benches not cleaned with appropriate cleaner etc etc. My wife and I spent a full day cleaning and managed to completely remove the ink/nail polish.

Our PM says because we can't produce a real/actual tax invoice she can't deduct any monies from the bond related to our cleaning effort. In other words, our time has no value and even though we used our rubbing alcohol to clean the carpet and other cleaning products too bad.

Has anyone got any suggestions to get around our PM's objection so we could claim some/all of our costs (e.g. 10 hour cleaning x $x/hr)? What is the typical rate for a cleaner?

Also, can we insist the carpet is steam-cleaned/shampooed? It was treated for pests when the mother organised the cleaning but it was only vacuumed.

 

[DaveM]

As you incurred no monetary loss you cant claim your time.

 

[Perp]

=Has anyone got any suggestions to get around our PM's objection so we could claim some/all of our costs (e.g. 10 hour cleaning x $x/hr)? What is the typical rate for a cleaner?

No, and irrelevant. You'll never get paid for your own labour; you need an invoice from an independent cleaning company.

Also, can we insist the carpet is steam-cleaned/shampooed? It was treated for pests when the mother organised the cleaning but it was only vacuumed.

What does the lease say? It's usually standard to have the carpets professionally cleaned and provide a receipt. If your lease agreement says that, does the PM have the receipt?

 

[Xenia IM]

kitdoctor I'm afraid she is right.

It's not that your time has no value it is because you are unable to produce an invoice.

If you were able to raise an invoice and have an ABN attached to it, then it can be claimed whether you are the owner or not.

we had a similar situation in our office - landlord decided to self handle a lot of repairs instead of allowing our maintenance team (against our advice). He produce reciepts from bunnings for purchase of paint and taps and other stuff. The work he did was claimable on insurance (with an appropriate tax invoice) but the reciepts were not accepted by terri scheer insurance.

Had it been an invoice for a higher amount including labour and materials from a person with an abn who did the work then they could have been claimed.

 

[Xenia IM]

sometimes it's best to let the PM handle insufficient cleaning jobs between tenants as most of us can itemise invoices and use the correct language on invoices that will give it the best chance of getting through bond refund claims, tribunals and insurance.

Also - best to let the PM use the maintenance team they are used to.

Recently we had a carpet claim knocked back by an insurance company because the landlord used their own carpet company to replace the carpets, paid them himself and the invoice showed one sum for the entire house - the landlord opted to replace all of them, only 2 had stains that were claimable through insurance. The carpet company - does not work for us - refused to itemise their invoice showing the cost of the 2 carpets, causing huge trouble for us putting through a claim.

If you hire a professional, sometimes it's best to let them handle the job from beginning to end, the less people that get involved in the same matter, the better.

 

[jim1964]

No, and irrelevant. you need an invoice from an independent cleaning company.

Make your own up!!

http://www.graytex.com/blank-invoice-template.htm

 

[Xenia IM]

Make your own up!!

http://www.graytex.com/blank-invoice-template.htm

Yes you can do this - needs an ABN on the invoice.

 

[kitdoctor]

Okay, many thanks.

Just happen to have an ABN for a company of which I am a director which I did one property development through. Is it an option to use that ABN?

 

[perthguy]

Okay, many thanks.

Just happen to have an ABN for a company of which I am a director which I did one property development through. Is it an option to use that ABN?

I can't say if it is legal but you would need to pay the company the amount of the invoice and declare the income as tax.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Further to Perthguy - is the company still trading? Can it raise the invoice? Maybe it gets paid upon reimbursement from the bond/tribunal? Then gets declared/taxed/distributed back to you etc

 

[GreyGhost]

Maybe should look at the agent. Selecting such a tenant?
Just playing devils advocate here..

 

[kitdoctor]

Maybe should look at the agent. Selecting such a tenant?
Just playing devils advocate here..

Yes we're no longer with the PM that got us into this and have a new PM handling the mess.

 

[dabbler]

For what it is worth, cleaners I talk with in Sydney are on about 15 an hour + extras if they work night and do toilets.

If I were you I would let it go, get the manager to deal with it next time & if your the manager, consider yourself lucky that this is all that you had to do.

 

[Ausprop]

15, bargain! I've been paying $120 (on Sundays)

 

[Perp]

15, bargain! I've been paying $120 (on Sundays)

Agreed, 15 is nowhere near normal for a cleaning company.

In Brissie they charge $28-45 per hour for weekdays.

Having said that, I think kitdoctor would be insane trying to pull this off.

If the tenant resists and it goes to Tribunal, and the Tribunal member figures out what you're trying to do (and many of them are right onto this kind of thing), all of a sudden you look dodgy and your tenant starts claiming compensation for something and the member thinks "well, this landlord is clearly dodgy", and ... it won't end well.

Is it really worth the tax and potential fraud consequences for a few hours of your time, cleaning your own home?

 

[balwoges]

Experience does not come cheap - just put it down to a learning experience

 

[kitdoctor]

I think this is how many landlords feel "Tenants have taken their toll - but not my sense of humour!"

Also from what new PM has told us the tenant won't be registered on any tenant database. They are merely noted on new PM's internal files and details would be given to anyone making a rental history reference enquiry.

 

[Morbius]

I think this is how many landlords feel "Tenants have taken their toll - but not my sense of humour!"

Also from what new PM has told us the tenant won't be registered on any tenant database. They are merely noted on new PM's internal files and details would be given to anyone making a rental history reference enquiry.

Always keep your sense of humour. At the very least, it gives you a fund of good stories.

Yes. I don't see how this could go on any database. To get in the databases you need to have had a judgement against you and still owe money or have abandoned a property with money owing and still owe it. But don't underestimate the value of the note against the file in a PM's records. Good PMs will ferret out recent references and this stuff can follow you for quite a while.

 

[dabbler]

Agreed, 15 is nowhere near normal for a cleaning company.

In Brissie they charge $28-45 per hour for weekdays.

You both must be talking about what a company or business charges for a cleaner, I am talking about actual cleaners, you do not need to believe it, but I have seen the pay slips a while back, they end up with about 19-20 from memory.

The OP was acting in the role of a cleaner, not a cleaning company with books, insurance, etc etc, so his time, if he were to charge, could not be more than what a person employed as a cleaner would get. I am sure there would be an award that could be looked up by anyone that interested, I am not going to, I know for sure it is not a high pay job, not for simple domestic style work.

Either way, I doubt it is worth wasting more effort on.

PS note the rate is casual, so higher than full time
http://www.seek.com.au/job/28646655?pos=7&type=standard

 

[pinkboy]

You both must be talking about what a company or business charges for a cleaner, I am talking about actual cleaners, you do not need to believe it, but I have seen the pay slips a while back, they end up with about 19-20 from memory.

The OP was acting in the role of a cleaner, not a cleaning company with books, insurance, etc etc, so his time, if he were to charge, could not be more than what a person employed as a cleaner would get. I am sure there would be an award that could be looked up by anyone that interested, I am not going to, I know for sure it is not a high pay job, not for simple domestic style work.

Either way, I doubt it is worth wasting more effort on.

PS note the rate is casual, so higher than full time
http://www.seek.com.au/job/28646655?pos=7&type=standard

You are wrong. No quoted rate is ever the PAYG rate, it's always the charge rate of a company. Otherwise there always will be someone willing to work for minimum wage which will be the same rate across the board.

pinkboy