NSW Charged for Rubbish and Perishable Removal That Previous Tenant Left Behind

[Vanna]

Hi,
We received a rental statement from our Real Estate Agents, we noticed that there was a deduction and a bill was attached to the statement for rubbish removal fee. We then rang our Property Manager to make enquiry for what it was for and the answer was it was the fee for hiring someone to remove some rubbish and perishable items that left behide by previous tenants. Probably the new tenants who have already moved in found it and asked the Real Estate Agent to remove it. The bond was already released to the previous tenants so we got charged for that fee instead.

My question is: Are we as a landlord is responsible for that fee under property law? The rubbish was not made by us, yet we were not aware of that charge until we received a statement from our Real Estate Agent.

The agent didn't check the propperty properly when the previous tenant vacated. One of the reasons we're using agent for over 10 years because we need someone to help us to manage the property on our behalf but looks like it didn't quite work out.

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you soon.

 

[Ivy]

Hi Vanna,

Am I to understand from this that you want to the Real Estate agent to absorb the cost of the rubbish disposal?

If so, you should call them and explain why you don't believe you should have to pay for the rubbish disposal. You commented that the agent didn't check the property properly; do you have evidence of this? Do you know where the rubbish was found and whether a reasonably prudent real estate agent would have found it when doing the final inspection of the property?

From there, if the real estate agent doesn't respond satisfactorily, you could call NSW Fair Trading and lodge a complaint. Contact us - NSW Fair Trading

You should consider how much the rubbish disposal has cost you when deciding how far you want to take this.

 

[Vanna]

Hi Ivy,

Thank you for your response. My husband rang the real estate agent and he said the rubbish was in the garage. He said it could be that the previous tenants came back and left the rubbish there the following day. I believe the final inspection should have been done when the tenants vacated and returned the key? The rubbish removal fee was $200. It's not a big amount of money which I don't think we should lodge a complaint with Fair Trading. It's just equal to my one day work.

Yes, I would like to know if in this case, do we have the right to request the agent refund us the money?
If not, we might consider changing a new agent.

Thank you

 

[Ivy]

Hi Vanna,

There is no cut and dry answer as to whether you have the right to have the agent refund the money. There is nothing stopping you from asking, especially if you have reasonable grounds to believe that they have been careless. You can explain that you aren't happy with the way they have handled the situation and will be moving to another agent- this may prompt them to absorb the cost of the rubbish disposal if the see the loss of you as a client to be greater than the value of the charge.

Also- what type and amount of rubbish cost $200 to dispose of? If it was a small amount of rubbish and they are charging you for their time then you could argue that they should have notified you and given you the option to dispose of the rubbish yourself.