A fed-up cleaner has unleashed on a real estate agent after she was called back to remove a ‘residue’ on an unused dishwasher that was still in its plastic wrapping.
Fiona Morris, the founder of the Better Clean Team, was asked to perform a routine end-of-lease clean at a rental in NSW last week.
Her team was called back to the same unit just days later after the agent threatened to withhold the tenant’s bond unless a ‘white sticky residue’ – which was dishwasher’s plastic wrapping – was removed from the door.
Ms Morris said she was ‘done with real estate [agents] forever’, in a video shared to her Cleaning Biz Coach TikTok account.
‘So next on the list of ‘we’re going to come and take your bond unless you come back and fix (stuff)’. Fun fact, this dishwasher has never been used,’ she said.
‘What they peeled off, they just left on the bench. That’s acceptable but this here is not. You ready, Mr Real Estate, you … wombat.
‘She’s never used the dishwasher,’ she said, adding an expletive.
Ms Morris then proceeded to peel off the protective plastic film on the dishwasher’s door and the contentious mark disappeared.
Founder of the Better Clean Team Fiona Morris (pictured) was called back to a rental for a second time after completing an end-of-lease clean
The real estate agent claimed a ‘sticky residue’ was left on the front of the dishwasher and if it wasn’t cleaned they would retain some of the tenant’s bond
Ms Morris, who has more than 30 years of experience cleaning rentals, said it was an example of how landlords lose good tenants.
‘You might think I am ranting and raving but imagine you’re this tenant and you live this clean,’ she continued.
‘Then you’re so paranoid as a tenant at the power the agent and landlord hold over your home that you would get called back when you have never used this appliance.’
Ms Morris said she had asked the tenant why she had not used the dishwasher while living in the rental, and that she had admitted she was ‘too scared’ to use the appliance due to the way the real estate agent and landlord acted.
Aussies praised the cleaning business for calling out the agent, with many sharing similar horror stories from their end-of-lease cleans.
One claimed they were called back because the dishwasher was not left ‘clean enough’ despite having installed the appliance themselves.
‘Our rental didn’t have a dishwasher and we installed a Bosch dishwasher. We left it when we left as we bought a house with a dishwasher, they complained that it wasn’t clean enough so we went back and removed it from the house and took it to the tip.’
‘Our real estate [agent] took some of our bond as there were leaves left on back patio. We did sweep, hose and clean our back patio, but wind kept blowing in leaves, which was out of our control,’ a second person wrote.
Ms Morris then proceeded to peel off the protective plastic film on the dishwasher’s door and the contentious mark disappeared (pictured)
A third person, who works as an end-of-lease cleaner, said they had issues with their agent because the vertical blinds were out of alignment.
‘When I left my last rental after six years, they couldn’t pick the cleaning… so they tried to take my bond for a vertical blind that was out of alignment,’ they wrote.
‘I returned and ‘rectified’ it (clicked the blind back into place). Agent returned and pushed them all back out of alignment.
‘Almost had to go to court to get my bond back. It’s actually ridiculous.’
A fourth person wrote: ‘How come real estate agents will pick on the smallest bit of dust but I’ve never moved into a clean rental’.
Other renters advised tenants to lodge a bond refund on the website Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) website as soon as the keys are handed back.
‘Always lodge your bond return the minute you return the keys and leave the agent. It’s more difficult for them to make a claim on the bond,’ one person said.
‘The minute you hand your keys back to the real estate [agent], request your bond back on RTA website. That way THEY have to fight for the bond back because you got to the refund first,’ a second person argued.
‘This is why I always, always lodge my bond refund as soon as I hand my keys back and if they don’t agree they have to dispute it,’ a third said.
‘When you tell the RTA the ridiculous stuff they pick at you’ll always win. I’ve never lost my bond because of this.’