Expenses or outlays
If you have lost money due to the property or just going to the Tribunal has resulted in you outlaying money then we would like to add it to your Statement of Evidence. This is not claim of sorts, just a way of highlighting to the Tribunal/Magistrates Court that this has cost you also. Your outlays are important and need to be highlighted to the Tribunal. There is a section in the legislation that requires the landlord/agent/owner to mitigate unnecessary costs the tenant which may incur due to their actions.
Please be aware that Aussie Renters does not offer any advice or support for counter-claims. The offer to include this information is to highlight the level of expense you have had so far, to make the Tribunal aware rather than an actual claim for reimbursement. If you pay for anything related to this matter, take a picture/snapshot of the receipt and complete the form, uploading the image.
For example, printing your Court File can be expensive especially if you need to print it in colour. Add this outlay with a picture of the receipt and it will appear in your Statement of Evidence. If you laid turf because the landlord said they would refund you the bond money by doing so, highlight your compliance to their request and their reneging!
Here’s how you enter this form
Email = is the identifier. We use it to find you in the master database to ensure you are a member (approving our service to you)
Date = use the date the event or incident happened. We sort your data into chronological order so the Statement of Evidence flows in a logical manner.
Action = all about money whether it is being claimed or outlaid. Use the following types of action to show the exact amount of money being outlaid instead what is being claimed only, it is important to present the whole story!
Compensation – If you believe you should be compensated, use this action type. Please seek legal or professional advice to make a compensation claim.
Expense – List all of the out of pockets you have paid to assist with like a professional cleaner who did the carpets and an awesome bond clean. If you have to replace the turf because your dog made run marks in the grass. The expenses show what you have done to rectify the issues presented at exit. There is an option of uploading an image, you can take a picture of the freshly laid turf or the receipt/invoice. The landlord must mitigate your outlays/losses and by presenting how much you have already outlaid may help secure your bond money.
Loss – This form is used for the personal property you may have lost due to the property failing or neglect by the landlord. For instance, the kitchen flick mixer tap becomes wobbly and you have reported it a couple times. You come in from work one afternoon and find your home flooded, table, chairs, couch, rugs, coffee table, all saturated and water logged. The water bill will be the next item to follow…
List the losses you have had due to the landlord not maintaining the property. This will also help if you have to prove you did not breach the tenancy agreement while you still had possession of the property. If you replaced turf because the landlord blamed your dog instead of no decent topsoil then this should be noted as a loss.
Outlay – This is for costs that you may have had during your tenancy. For instance, I frequently lay sugar cane mulch ($18 a bag) down on the garden bed as the sun is hard and too much water evaporates. The landlord expects the gardens to be maintained but does not provide mulch to keep the moisture at the roots of the plants. The property was new when we moved in and the gardens were not established making it difficult to keep the plants alive. I was expected to water them with no decent soil and the hard rocks did not help. Two years later, they haven’t grown much but at least the majority of plants are alive. We even lost a strip of turf, it had no top dressing. If we strike any trouble when vacating, the estimate water costs will be added to our expenses along with the sugar cane mulch and a picture of the receipts. I also enter a Note when I “weed ‘n’ feed” the lawns and during the dry times, another Note if I had to water the garden or lawns for a long time. If you wish to claim water for maintaining the gardens, do a water meter read when you start and another when finished and record a Note. See Made a Filenote for more information.
About = are the categories of what the claim in is for being Cleaning, Damages, Financial, Maintenance, Privacy, Rent, Repairs, Replace, Tenancy agreement and Utility charges.
Regarding = a list of rooms appear along with General – exterior, interior and property. If your response is about “other” items, use the General – property response as it covers everything regarding the property.
Response = this is a mixture of items in the property (cupboard, walls etc) and general items (break lease fee, bond and carpet). If you need a different response, please add one of these selections and sync the data then send us an email with the Response you require and we will adjust your data manually as well as adding your new Response to our dropdown list for other members to use.
Claim no = our Bond Dispute Worksheet comes in handy here as you need to assign a number for each entry. The form requires just the number as our system will complete the type and place it before the number. If you have more than 20 claims, keep using Claim 20 and we will sort it out for you, adjusting it to your requirements.
Evidence = this is the most important requirement when a claim is being made. Supporting evidence should be given to you showing the exact amount being claimed. Each state requirements are listed in the legislation however they vary from strong to limited. We believe every state should stipulate evidence is to be provided when claiming your money. Our letters make formal requests for the evidence being relied on however some states allow for it to be provided before you walk in to the court room. Request it at all times then examine what has been provided. Look for anything that may discredit the evidence provided. Tax invoices (ATO) - is the invoice valid?
Tax invoices include GST and an invoice does not claim GST AND all documents must provide ABN, contact details etc. Quotes should contain the same as well as details of what work is to be carried out. Writing “replace the ceramic stove top” is not satisfactory, what is the brand and model? How much does the stove top cost? What are the costs for having it installed? Run a Google search and see what the cheapest price is.
Aussie Renters completed a large claim against a tenant recently were the quote to replace a ceramic stove top was $2,155 due to the tenant accidently cracking it, very small crack on the corner but it still worked. We presented 3 different prices for the stove top that were all a third of what was provided by the landlord and the claim was denied by the Tribunal as it was 15 years old and seen as the landlord’s responsibilty to replace it. Discrediting the amount being claimed (this one was excessive) would have helped if the stove top was newer however insurance companies charge premiums that replace new for old, not tenants!
Name on doc – if you have a receipt, tax invoice, quote etc, enter the name listed on this document. We have left this field as non compulsory so if you do not have a name, you do not have to complete it.
Amount being claimed = pretty straight forward.
Issue = select from one of the dropdown responses (this field may be removed depending on how useful it is).
Your notes = we have made this a large memo size text field so you can add your comments here.
Image = screenshots and pictures can be uploaded. If you have a copy of a receipt or you want to show a section of your entry report, take a picture with your mobile phone. Documents are not accepted and can be emailed to us or uploaded in the shared Google Drive folder supplied by us.
Click Save after locating your image and Sync (it will sync itself if left) to prevent your image being detached (if using a web browser). 
Outlays Defending Claims against Bond Report
We will merge your data into a report making it easy for you to be organised and the images uploaded will appear in this report. We will also provide a copy of the images, full size and in colour in the same order to show your evidence for the hearing and this document will be included in your court file.