I always paid rent on time, kept the apartment clean - and my bond was STILL held hostage for a petty reason... but the landlord lost out in the end

By SARAH BROOKES - SENIOR REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 11:02, 21 June 2026 | Updated: 11:18, 21 June 2026 I handed back the keys to my rental knowing the nightmare wasn't over. I'd refused to cough up the increased rent which was now $900 a week for a cramped, mould-ridden apartment in Sydney with no air-conditioning and a grim external laundry... but the real battle was still to come.   What followed was a masterclass in how some property managers treat tenants like second-class citizens - even after they've moved out. The agent arrived with back-up for the final inspection.   Together, they turned into CSI as they ran their fingers along every shelf, hunting for flaws. After combing through every nook and cranny, they flagged a streak on the shower and dust on the front door jamb. It made me wonder, if they were this forensic at the end of my tenancy, why was the place so dirty when I moved in? Even my teenager, who will happily live alongside a science experiment growing on a forgotten plate under their bed, noticed the state of the place when we arrived.   My old apartment (pictured) is advertised as a 'newly renovated beach pad' in reality it's nothing special and asking $900 a week is outrageous My shoebox apartment in Sydney was one of a smattering of options available when I moved here at the start of 2025 as the city was weighed due by record low vacancy rates In the forensic level final inspection two property managers hunted for every conceivable flaw and found....a dusty door jamb that is in fact just rusty (pictured) I went back and buffed the streak and dusted the rusty door jamb.  I even gave the place a fresh vacuum before the Saturday open home inspection. And the oven, when I'd finished with it, was shinier than a showroom model in Harvey Norman. But in reality, the pressure campaign started long before I moved out. Despite giving the landlord more than a month's notice, I was forced to endure a string of open inspections while working from home and a daughter with gastro battling through Year 12 exam prep. That was despite offering to organise private inspections from the start, even though I wasn't required to grant access until the final two weeks. One Wednesday morning, as I worked from home, the agent marched prospective tenants through the apartment. The couple looked visibly uncomfortable even though I had every right to be there.  When the woman asked what it was like to live there, I didn't sugar-coat it: sometimes a homeless man sleeps in the hallway outside our door; when it's 42 degrees outside, it's 42 degrees inside; do you like mould? With no ventilation in the bathroom, it runs rampant in winter.  A streak on the shower screen (pictured) and a dusty door jamb were the only issues raised when I did the final inspection with the property manager and her offsider My property manager blamed Sydney's 'unusually wet winter' for the rampant mould in the apartment while the Bureau of Meteorology described it as the wettest in 18 years This is what renting in Australia has become: pay top dollar, keep quiet (I decided not to) and hope you get your money back at the end.  In the brutal rental market, tenants are constantly told to be grateful - grateful just to have a roof over their heads. But my experience with a prominent real estate agency exposed just how warped that relationship has become, and why so many renters are too scared to speak up. I asked for my bond details so I could take control of the process. They ignored me. When I called, the property manager told me not to worry and that she'd handle it. I didn't back down. I contacted NSW Fair Trading and set it up myself. After fixing the so-called issues, the dust, the streaks, the oven, I received an email saying that the cleaning 'looks great'. I asked for my bond to be released.  When I moved into the apartment it was evident proper cleaning had not happened including these mouldly blinds (pictured) which I cleaned to as new condition The exhaust fan (pictured) in the external laundry downstairs could only be described as filthy The state of the sink in the external laundry  Instead, I was hit with a fresh round of queries this time about cheap aluminium blinds that had slightly curled at the ends. The same blinds I'd been forced to keep exposed to constant airflow because the unit had no ventilation and was riddled with mould. Then, silence. Day after day, nothing. No reply. No update.  I sat on edge, waiting out the two-week deadline for any claim against my bond.  When it finally passed, $3,400 was released. So was my stress. After being listed since April 28 and more than a dozen home opens in the middle of a housing crisis no one wants this apartment.  I only took it because there was nothing else available at the time.  The oven (pictured) looked brand new after I finished cleaning it  In trying to squeeze an extra $50 a week, or $2,600 a year out of me, the owner has lost far more in lost rent, advertising costs and re-letting fees. They lost a reliable tenant who always paid on time. For what? To see how far they could empty my wallet before I walked? It's unlikely the owner is struggling. The apartment was bought in 1995 for $178,000, and she owns two others in Erskineville.  Now, the market has spoken: first they dropped the rent on the apartment from $900 to $890. Then to $850, less than what I was paying. And while landlords chase every last dollar, tenants across NSW are losing theirs.  Data from the Tenants' Union of NSW shows 13 per cent of renters lose their entire bond - an average of $2,314. Nearly a quarter lose part of it, typically around $813. In other words, nearly four in 10 renters lose money when they move out. And yet, tenants are expected to stay silent for fear of a bad reference, or worse, not securing another home at all. In a state with more than two million renters, that fear keeps people in line. In a system like that, it's no wonder renters stay silent. Because speaking up often comes at a cost, and too many already can't afford it. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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