Part 1: Fraudulent Condition Reports

This is the first part of a series we are running on Gartea Property Management. Alice has been dealing with Bonnie Van Beek, the complex manager. Bonnie owns a few of the houses and is a member of the body corporate. We are going to explore how condition reports are used to exploit tenants.

 

When Alice moved in, her landlord made her sign the condition report without letting her make comments:

The day that I signed the lease, I came to inspect the property again so that I could complete the entry report (take photos; write down comments, record any damages, marks, etc). My landlord approached me and told me not to worry about the Condition Report because everything that needed to be noted had been done so, and I believed her. She then made me sign the Condition Report and off she left, without giving me a copy. Little to her knowledge I had already taken a few pictures when I initially came to the viewing (unfortunately they are not as detailed as they would have been had I taken photos for the entry report, but I have them). Nine months later, I remembered that I never received a copy of the Condition Report.

This is a clear breach of Queensland’s tenancy law. Tenants must be provided with a signed copy of the condition report before they move in so they can protect themselves legally by noting any issues.  Alice did the right thing taking photos when she first looked at the property. If you think you are dealing with someone dodgy, and you have the time and the inclination, it's worth doing.  

Here are the photos Alice took when she first inspected the property:

 

 

 

 

The plot thickens. When Alice eventually received a copy of the condition report, she realised there were many inconsistencies:

The house looks okay, its looks clean, there does not appear to be any problems. But there are no close-up pictures of marks on the walls, and it seems the camera was angled purposely to insure that any marks or damages cannot be seen. You can clearly see that the Entry Report was falsely filled out on purpose.

 

Here are the photos taken by the agent:

 

 

Alice has listed all the differences between the condition report and photos and the actual condition of the house and yards:

• Almost everything in the report had been checked off as clean and undamaged. A lot of issues, such as marks on the wall, aren’t even mentioned.  
• The photos that the landlord supplied are few and not in detail (no close-ups). They are printed onto paper with each photo being small in size and not very clear. It is almost impossible to see any traces of smudges, marks or damage due to the poor quality of the photos. It is also noticeable that the areas where I HAVE found there to be problems, have been purposely avoided.
• There are also photos missing of the back yard, where there are large dirt patches from the previous tenant. 
• In Bedroom 2 there are cigarette burns on the window sill. The blinds were deliberately closed in the photos so they could not be seen.
• There are four blinds missing in Bedroom 3. There is no mention of this in the Condition Report.
• The Condition Report also refers to “New Carpets”. There were no new carpets when we first moved in, although landlord did mention that she might put in new carpets. I sent an email requesting receipts to which she never replied.
• The place wasn't in the best state when I moved in and I know it wasn't professionally cleaned either. When I asked for a receipt from the cleaners I was ignored. There were marks on the walls which I had to scrub off before moving in (unfortunately they can't be seen in my photos) and when I told my landlord, she said that the house was newly painted before I moved in. When I requested a receipt from the painter and the date I was again ignored.

 

 

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There is definitely a difference between misleading the tribunal and presenting your case in a favourable light. I looked at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld). Under section 216, a person must not state or prove a document to the tribunal that is "false or misleading" in a material particular. In this instance, the evidence shows that the claims are factually incorrect.

 

This is not a trifling matter. A few blinds, some tiles, a paint job, and new carpet - and you're definitely losing your bond. If you don't get your bond back, you've got to come up with all that money to pay for the new place. If estimated damages are more than the bond, then you could easily end up on a tenant database. And you could end up homeless. In exchange, the landlord gets a windfall and a free renovation. The worst thing is you don't even know if the money goes to repairs (unless you're friendly with the neighbours). This is probably why the housing stock in Australia is of such poor quality.

 

But Alice is going to fight this injustice. In the next instalment, we are going to look at strategies property managers use to keep tenants browbeaten.

 

Takeaways

• Don't trust your agent to do the right thing
• Remember to take photos of the property when you move in
• Make sure the photos are time-stamped
• Note every tiny little issue on the condition report