Fresh twist after sister claimed real estate agency was withholding her dead brother’s bond in row over leaves in the driveway

A real estate agency accused by a woman of holding her late brother’s rental bond has hit back at the claims, saying the money was never withheld and returned in full.

Gerard Farmer was renting a two-bedroom apartment on May Street in Preston, in Melbourne’s north-east, when he died of blood poisoning on January 12 after a long battle with throat cancer.

Mr Farmer’s sister contacted tenants’ rights advocate and founder of the s***rentals.org website Jordan van den Berg, claiming her brother’s real estate agency, Harcourts Rata & Co, had returned the $1,695 deposit would not refund.

But Harcourts told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday that Mr Farmer’s bail was never retained or claimed by the agency.

In the initial correspondence between the sister and the property manager, a list of reasons was sent by email explaining why the deposit might be withheld.

The reasons included leaves being found in the driveway and ‘a lot of new dirt’ being discovered in the back garden – left by Mr Farmer, who had been a keen gardener.

Harcourt management intervened after the initial email and the matter was settled with Mr Farmer’s sister before Mr Van den Berg’s video was shared on his social media accounts under his name ‘PurplePingers’.

A spokesperson for Harcourts, who did not wish to be named, explained that Mr Farmer’s deposit was held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA) in a trust, pending the appointment of an authorized person to act on behalf of the deceased tenant to act.

The RTBA holds all Victorian rental bonds in trust, including those for rented properties, long-term caravans, rooming houses and caravan sites under site agreements.

When a lease ends, property managers or landlords, and tenants or residents, have equal say in how the security deposit is to be returned. The RTBA releases the money as agreed.

Harcourts added that once the sister emailed details of the person authorized to receive Mr Farmer’s deposit, it was fully released by the RTBA the following day.

Harcourt management intervened after the initial email and the matter was settled with Mr Farmer’s sister before Mr Van den Berg’s (photo)video was shared on his social media accounts under his name ‘PurplePingers’ .

The estate agency insisted the matter was resolved before Mr van den Berg shared his video, while the deposit was returned a week later after an authorized person was nominated to act on behalf of Me Farmer.

Mr Farmer’s rent was paid until January 27, so his sister quickly arranged for ten people, including professional cleaners and gardeners, to clean the property on January 23.

His sister told Mr Van den Berg that she had contacted Harcourts after the professional end-of-tenancy cleaning was completed so they could arrange for the deposit to be returned.

However, on January 30, Mr Farmer’s sister claimed Harcourts had contacted her to let her know they were shocked by the poor state of the property.

She claimed the estate agency had raised ‘a number of concerns’ after comparing the current condition of the property with the condition report prepared at the start of Mr Farmer’s lease.

The property manager listed 12 issues including further cleaning in the house, stains on the carpet in the master bedroom, curtains on the rear sliding doors in need of a thorough cleaning, removing 10 foot hooks, repairing a stuck sliding shower door and repairing the TV antenna point.

Mr Farmer’s sister also claimed the agency had objected to the garden, citing ‘a lot of new dirt’ about the grass in the backyard and garden beds and new plants that needed to be removed.

‘There is a lot of new dirt spread across the rear lawn and garden beds. This should never have happened and should be removed,” Harcourts’ email read.

‘Many new plants, including vegetable plants, have been planted in the backyard along the fence. These must be removed. (The yards were immaculate at the start of the rental. Further weeding is also needed.”

Mr Farmer’s sister also claimed that Harcourts’ email stated that items on the nature strip had to be collected or removed, full bins had to be put out for collection and the garage had to be swept again.

Mr Farmer, a keen gardener, died in January from blood poisoning after a long battle with throat cancer

Leaves in the driveway (pictured) were listed as one of twelve ‘areas of concern’ in the initial email sent to Mr Farmer’s sister detailing the condition of the property

The initial email also noted that “leaves in the driveway need to be cleaned” as a concern.

‘The exit report was prepared six days later [the clean] but I don’t know if you know anything about leaves, but they just appear,’ said Mr van den Berg.

Harcourts confirmed to Mr Van den Berg that a link to the condition report had been sent through the agency’s inspection system, but Mr Farmer’s sister claimed the link was not working.

Harcourts also informed Mr Van den Berg that no one was authorized to act on behalf of the deceased tenant.

“Once we have received the details from the competent person, we will endeavor to provide an amicable and acceptable outcome for all parties,” Harcourts told Mr Van den Berg.

‘We sympathize with the tragic circumstances of the tenants’ deaths and look forward to providing an outcome that does not cause unnecessary stress to the family.’