Flood of disputes from upset renters
TOWNSVILLE renter Tamara had cleaned her West End home and was due to hand back the keys to the estate agent the day the Ross River Dam peaked, and by the time the property was accessible, it was covered in mould.
Tamara, who did not want her last name published, is one of about 436 renters who found themselves in bond disputes with real estate agents following the catastrophic February floods.
Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) figures reveal from February to the end of July, a total of 779 dispute cases had been lodged in the Townsville area. Of those, 56 per cent or about 436 were about rental bond refunds.
While nearly 70 per cent of rental bond refund disputes were resolved during mediation, 15 per cent of them have been taken all the way to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Tamara said her real estate agent had inspected the property on February 12 and told her there were a “few things that needed to be done”. Due to accessibility issues she wasn’t able to enter the property until some time later.
“When I walked in the front doors, the floorboards had mould on them, there was mould on the roof, on the veranda, mould everywhere,” she said.
The real estate argued she had to pay for the clean-up out of her $1000 bond.
The two parties could not come to an agreement during mediation and the case was taken to court.
Tamara ended up winning back $404 of her bond but said she was never given a proper opportunity to argue her case. Tenants Queensland chief executive Penny Carr said renters’ disputes following the floods were unsurprising.
“There is always an uptick of disputes relating to natural disaster events,” she said.
“If you’re going to leave a property, (renters) need to clean what’s reasonable to clean but in a situation like the Townsville flood, it is not their responsibility to do that.”
Caitlin Mcfawn, a senior property manager with Keir Property Management and a tenant in Idalia, said she was “baffled” that agents would attempt to dispute a bond refund.
“Any of our properties that were flooded, as soon as keys were returned to us, because the property is deemed unlivable it was just an instant bond refund,” she said.
“My property manager did the same.
“It absolutely baffles me that there were real estate agents disputing bond refunds, it’s insane that could even happen.”
Ms Mcfawn said it was possible that some rental disputes post-floods related to some sections of the house being unlivable or issues like mould.
She said in those cases property managers and renters would negotiate compensation periods like lower rent while the home was brought back to normal conditions.
A Rental Recovery Hub, which opened in February and remains located at the Rising Sun Shopping Centre, has handled 492 requests for assistance for people whose homes were impacted by the floods.
The RTA will hold a community forum in Townsville on August 26 and August 27 for renters, property managers and property owners.