A cleaning business coach has revealed the shock tactics real estate agents use in order to keep a tenant’s bond.
Industry trainer assessor and advocate Fiona Morris shared her knowledge of the sneaky tactics on social media on the weekend.
‘So here’s the thing,’ she told followers in a video posted to TikTok.
‘I think in about 2011 we started bond cleans and at the time of about 2014/15/16 we were doing four or five a day so I’ve calculated we’ve done thousands.’
Ms Morris claimed that on ’50 to 100′ occasions she had been asked by agents to create reports that were ‘false’.
Property insider Fiona Morris shared her knowledge of the sneaky tactics on social media on the weekend
Ms Morris said cleaners and property specialists were often asked by real estate agents to do things they weren’t comfortable with.
‘To exaggerate the cleanliness as well as quote properties they don’t intend on getting us to go clean, so that the owner can take the money,’ she said.
Ms Morris claimed agents will get quotes on cleaning that come ‘very near to the bond’.
They will then ‘take the bond and often don’t have the responsibility to get the work done because the owner can accept that as compensation’.
She said she had witnessed ‘some abhorrent things that have been very dishonest’.
Ms Morris said she had been called back after a bond clean ‘for three fingerprints and a fly on a window sill three weeks later and they’re still holding the bond’.
‘It’s an ego trip, it’s a power trip, it’s a broken system and the power and control is all in the hands of the property manager and you get good ones, you get bad ones, but it’s a problem,’ she said.
She said she had received ‘hundreds’ of emails with people sharing their experiences.
‘I’ve had family a friends around the Hunter and Newcastle crying in tears, their bond being held by three crumbs on the bottom of an oven,’ she said.
Dozens of renters flocked to social media platform X to praise Ms Morris for speaking out.
‘I wish more people like this in real estate adjacent industries would speak up about the dodgy practices of the real estate industry,’ one said.
‘Thank you for your honesty, we need more people like u that can explain things the way you do,’ another added.
Many renters revealed similar experiences with real estate agents in response to Ms Morris’ video (stock image pictured)
Others shared similar experiences with real estate agents.
‘People I know are being forced out of their rental due to mould requiring structural renovation,’ one user revealed.
‘The agent has demanded a full bond clean, including carpet cleaning. The carpets and floors will be ripped out.’
‘This was how our real estate agent took our bond in Queanbeyan East despite replacing all their grass with brand new grass from Canturf,’ another said.
‘They then produced a quote from a gardener which came to $10 under our bond to “regrass the backyard”.’
While another said an agent had kept their bond because the house was ‘dusty’.
‘They didn’t inspect until 2 wks after we left… & wouldn’t let us go back and clean bcos the owners were residing in the house,’ they said.
‘Also claimed they had to paint an entire wall for a small mark they couldn’t suplly a photo of.’
According to the NSW Goverment, any bond paid at the beginning of a tenancy will usually be refunded in full, unless a tenant owes the landlord or agent money or there is damage to the property.
In that case, a tenant may get only part of the bond back.
