Sigh, I put in a lot of work to make sure the old place was well and truly clean and orderly, I had the few bits of damaged plaster repaired flawlessly and painted, the gardens were good and the agent said the place was great, "damage free" and asked me to go back and dust again and "remove the spiders" 2 weeks later and to re-mow which we thought was absurd but we did everything they asked and the place really was in much better condition than it was when we moved in.

So today I got a call from a kind of nervous sounding agent to tell me the landlord is demanding $300 because he spent "10 hours" in the garden and he was "furious". This is an outright lie; the landlord doesn't know that I am living next door and actually saw them come and go; they were there for about 3 hours pruning trees and pulling out bushes that were there, well over-grown when we moved in, and they mowed the lawn again. They weren't furious either, E (my landlady) was even over there chatting with them when one of the goats jumped the fence and I was on the other side of the fence; they were quite happy, pottering in the garden doing garden work of their choosing and left 3 hours later. I had been back to the property and cleaned the outside of the property and left it as neat as a pin thank-you very much, in fact when we moved in there were bushes and grass growing in the roof gutters and we also cleared those completely. So basically this claim is just pure greed and completely false. Eis also horrified and says she will come and be a witness at the tribunal as their claims are utterly false.

Luckily I kept the photos the agent took of the day after we moved out and it clearly shows the lawn was mowed and neat. These photos have already been lodged with the final condition report and signed off by the agent. I also have an email from the agent saying that the house looked good and that the gardens were "fine" and that the landlord had just asked that we go and dust inside again and remove some tinsel etc that had been left tied to a tree and a few very small items left about the place. They had requested that we mow again, and she agreed it might cost $40 to have this done so I was prepared to pay that amount although the lawns had been mowed when we left.  I did remove the few items myself too and re-swept the paths etc for good measure. The yard looked great. So this claim...almost 4 weeks after we left the premises that the gardens were "disgusting" and it took them 10 hours to clean up is so dissapointing.

So anyway here's the good bit. I handled the conversation calmly and didn't get upset. Normally I would be shaking and breathless and unable to speak because that's how I react to confrontation; I almost pass out if i need to raise my voice or assert myself but instead I just said calmly "the landlord is being very dishonest. I won't be paying them $300 for work I already did myself and that you agreed was up to standard. Of course the lawns needed mowing again, it has been almost 4 weeks since we left and it was their own choice to start landscaping and removing bushes that were there when we moved in so, I think we will have to let this go to court". She said she thought that was a good idea and I asked that she make available the pictures that were taken of the property before we moved in. I collected them this afternoon and they show very clearly that the gardens were in fact much more unruly and overgrown when we took possession of the property and  very neat when we left it.  All of these pictures have been signed and dated and lodged by the agent so they cannot be disputed. So if they decide to pursue this in court I'll be very surprised if they have any success and also we have witnesses to the fact that we did all of the work requested and left the property in very good order. I would have been prepared to pay for one of the carpets to be re-cleaned as it had some stains but that wasn't mentioned and certainly wouldn't equate to $300 anyway.

So, it's not great for me because I wanted a clear renting reputation, not a messy little squabble in court at the end of my tenancy but, I am not going to be bullied into paying all that money when I know it is completely unjust and they are being greedy and dishonest. So I am going to be calm, take the evidence to the tribunal and trust that it's OK to stand up for myself this time and it will work alright, somehow.

Old me would have been terribly upset and angry, playing into the drama and wailing and wringing my hands because "it's so unfair, I'm damned if i do and damned if i don't" and"now I have to pay all of that money or else i won't be able to rent and blah blah blah blah blah". And i would have paid the money and cried about it. Not this time. I know I have behaved honestly and fairly and worked hard to return their property to them in better condition than I found it in. So I just have to have faith in my own integrity and trust it will be resolved fairly and take each step as it comes.

Still, GRRRR! What a pain and now a waste of time at the rent tribunal to come, if they decide to go after their pound of flesh. And not a nice thing to have on my record now. Ugh!