People have to move for many reasons and often move out of and into a rental home rather than their own. One of the main costs of a move is the bond. You cannot move into a new rental without paying a bond – and if your present rental is not left in spick and span condition, you won’t get back the bond you had to pay before moving in.
When it comes to the bond, it’s a good idea to look ahead. This will to some extent ensure that you will get the bond back when you leave. How? Not all rental homes are in a pristine condition before you move in.
They may have:-
- Stains on the walls or carpets
- Broken fittings
- Lights that don’t work
- Dripping taps or cistern
- Scratches on the flooring
- Cracked windows or torn flyscreens
- Loose towel rails or curtain fittings
- Ovens that don’t work
- Cracks in the walls
- Broken tiles or pathways
If you move in and take no notice of such things, when you move out you will get the blame for them and lose your bond. So what can you do?
These days, photos cost next to nothing to take. Once you are given an option on a rental house or apartment, take the real estate agent with you for another inspection before moving in. Try out all the taps, appliances, lights and other things mentioned above so ensure they work properly. If a refrigerator is provided, open it to check for broken shelves, especially the door shelf supports, as these can easily crack.
Make sure you point out anything that is broken anywhere in the house and yard and take a snap of it for proof. If you can’t take a photo, write a dated list and have the agent sign it. Keep the original and make a copy for the real estate agent to keep.
If you didn’t do this before moving into your present rental, you will need to fix everything that is broken and clean it all thoroughly before you move, if you want that bond back. Here is a list of things to clean that you may not think about.
Inside the home:-
- Inside cupboards and the oven
- Around hotplates
- On top of overhead cupboards
- Behind furniture
- Skirting boards
- Inside built-in wardrobes
- The grooves in sliding window and door frames
- The flyscreens of doors and windows and their grooves.
- Inside the laundry tub cupboard
Outside the home:-
- Hose down footpaths
- Brush down cobwebs from the cladding
- Wash the cladding if it is mildewy
- Weed the garden
- Mow the lawn, including the edges
- Clean out the garden shed/garage
