Attempted scam from real estate agent

Up until February I was in my very first rental property for 6 months. Before I handed the keys over to the real estate agent I asked if I need to fill a bond refund form and send to the RTA, they said they will take care of it and refund the bond within 48 hours. Week later the agent did a final inspection and emailed me informally stating that there were some damages and that I did not clean the house thoroughly (I mentioned all damages and marks on the entry report) and two weeks rent was missing.

I phoned the real estate agent and said that all damages were there before I moved in and mentioned on the entry report, and also requested a ledger for the missing rent.

Two weeks later I still did not receive the ledger, so I popped into the office and requested this again and still did not get receive the ledger.

I then filled out the bond refund form and sent it off to the RTA and nearly a month later I receive a call from them stating that the real estate agent is trying to claim half of the bond money. Apparently the real estate agent is only trying to claim the missing rent, but not the damages. The RTA had provided me with the ledger that I was trying to get from the agent and immediately saw the missing date.

I requested the transaction history from August to Feb from my bank and forwarded this on to the RTA. Yesterday the RTA told me that they spoke with the agent and they kept giving excuses that they still haven't received the transaction history and are having trouble getting it, so now they have up to 10 days to respond or they will give me the full bond back.

Also a month before I left they sent me an entry notice, and they stated just to ignore that letter as they will just do a final inspection after I leave. A few days later (on a Friday) while I was at work they did an inspection and locked the fly door. After I got home I was not able to use the front door for the entire weekend.

Now my question is, after I get my bond back can I take this further? What rights do I have? Legally if requesting a ledger from the real estate agent they must provide this within 7 days. And can I get a refund of the missing rent that is not listed on the ledger? Also can I take further action with the inspection, as technically they were trespassing?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • +1

    I understand you feel the agent has treated you shabbily, but on the scale of how tenants get stuffed around this barely moves the needle.
    I assume you haven't had dealings with many rental agents before? They are almost all barely competent, careless, and ignorant of the law.
    Unfortunately, your only real redress would be to sue them for any actual damages you have incurred, which sounds like inconvenience and a small amount of foregone interest, so not worth it.
    By all means bad mouth them to everyone you know, but you need to move on.

  • This is a VERY common tactic agents use… I've had it done to me in the past, and to heaps of people I know. With some rentals in the past I've stopped paying rent for the last 4 weeks and told them to keep the bond to cover it if I suspected they were going to try and rip me off. I'm not sure if you can get away with it these days though?

    • If this is something that can be settled in a tribunal then I'd definitely go ahead, but if it is something that will involve hiring a lawyer I will just let it go.

      According to the RTA the agent can get hit with a fine if they don't provide a ledger to the tenant within 7 days. I requested this and a month later the RTA had to forwarded this to me, and had a payment missing.

      Its a real shame that they are not doing their accounting properly, not only is it holding me back, but the property owners are not getting paid too and its tax dodging. I just hope they don't get away with what they are doing.

      • Have you contacted the tenants union?

        • No I haven't, are they separate from the RTA?

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