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

Role Play Scenario - 'Bond Trouble'

This role play is based on above scenario

You are required to have a 3 person role-play(write script).

You are the conciliator representing the RTA.

The other 2 people need to play the roles of the Tenant and the agent acting for the Principal.

Refer to the information you prepared on the key disputes and arguments for and against them.

The role play will focus on just 3 of the items that you choose to discuss.

List the 3 items below on the table;[No Model answer required as student/scenario specific]

Discuss the items with the other 2 role-play individuals so that they have a good idea of the issues and arguments.

Observation Checklist - Role Play 1

The following checklist will be used by your assessor to mark your performance against the assessment criteria of your role-play. Use this checklist to understand what skills and/or knowledge you need to demonstrate in your submission/presentation. All the criteria described in the Assessment Checklist must be met. The assessor may ask questions while the submission/presentation is taking place or if appropriate directly after the task/activity has been submitted/completed.

The role play should take about 15 minutes maximum. If you cannot reach agreement by then then it is likely that conciliation is going to fail.

You can provide video recording or podcast for this assessment if distance learning and there Is no teacher to participate in the activity

Step One

i) Start off by the conciliator setting the scene in simple terms and outlining what the conciliation event is about and how it fits in the legislative framework for tenants and landlords.

ii) List the 3 items that you are going to try to reach agreement on.

Step Two

The agent presents their arguments for the 3 items simply and with any evidence that they have available from the scenario. The conciliator asks any questions to help clarify the agents materials or arguments only.

Step Three

Allow the Tenant to feed-back and present their evidence/ counter position. The conciliator asks any questions to help clarify the tenants materials or arguments only.

Step Four

Allow the conciliator an opportunity to help in resolving the differences of opinion, by asking questions and looking for any common ground.

Step Five

If you reach an agreement on the 3 issues then have the Conciliator note the agreements and include them with your answers submission.

Now answer the following additional questions

1. What types of behaviours did you try to show during the conciliation? What went well and what could have been improved
2. How did the conciliator role add value to the process of reaching an agreement?
3. List three benefits of agreeing at an RTA conciliation versus going to QCAT?