Scenario - 'Bond Trouble'

You are the property manager at a real estate agency Seven Star Real Estate with four property managers, five sales staff and three admin staff plus the managing Real Estate Licensee.

You have just been asked by your licensee to take over a disputed bond case with a property, as a staff member Shirley Valentine has recently left.

The final inspection of the residential rental property that has been tenanted for approximately 18 months has taken place and you understand from the principal that the Condition Reports have all been completed, but that the return of the bond to the tenants is in dispute by the Landlords [See reference S1a - Exit Condition Report and Entry Condition Report - located in Appendix 1].

The case has not been to QCAT as it is just last week that the tenancy ended.

The main details of the property, tenants and landlords are as follows:

The property is 14 Sunnyside Avenue, Bay Heights. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, double garage house set on a fairly steep slope with shared driveway access that also serves 2 other properties behind it.

The tenant concerned is Adam George and he lived in the property for 18 months with his family.

The landlords are Fran and Graham Jones.

You have an email print out from the landlords that lists the following grievances and dispute with the bond release. [See reference S1b - Landlord email - located in Appendix 1.]

The bond is $2,200 and the landlords are claiming it all for a variety of reasons described.

This is a common scenario that agents face and has the potential to be resolved directly, resolved with conciliation or to end up going to QCAT. There is no set answer for this scenario response, and the assessor is looking for you to demonstrate your knowledge and grasp of the subjects covered overall and adherence to procedures and legislation. As with most disputes the actual way they go can vary

For each of the key items that might be disputed what are the potential ambiguities or observations that you would make regarding the strength or weakness of all the landlord and agent identified items based on the differences between the entry and exit reports ?