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End of lease: clearing out without losing your bond

Big cleanouts · 7 minute read

Rubbish left behind is one of the most frequent reasons for bond deductions, and one of the easiest to avoid. Landlords are entitled to charge for removal, and the amounts claimed are often well above what you'd have paid to deal with it yourself.

What has to go

Everything that wasn't there when you moved in. That includes items you consider improvements — a shed you installed, a garden bed you built, shelving you mounted — unless the landlord has agreed in writing that they stay. Check your entry condition report; it's the reference point for any dispute.

Commonly missed: the garage or carport, the garden shed, under the house, side passages, the top of built-in wardrobes, and behind or under appliances.

Timing it properly

The sequence that works:

1. Two to three weeks out: sort and start moving out anything you're donating or selling.
2. One week out: book your rubbish removal or check your council's hard waste availability. Council collections often have multi-week waits, which is exactly the mistake that causes last-minute panic.
3. Moving day: furniture and possessions out.
4. After the furniture, before the clean: rubbish removal. Cleaning an empty property is far faster and produces a better result.
5. Last: the bond clean, then the inspection.

Doing the clean before the rubbish is gone means doing it twice.

The bin trap

Kerbside bins hold far less than people expect and are collected on one fixed day. Overfilled bins with lids that won't close are frequently left uncollected, which leaves you with the same rubbish and less time. If you're generating more than a bin's worth, plan a different route from the start.

Using neighbours' bins without asking is both antisocial and, in many council areas, an offence.

Items that need planning

Mattresses, lounges, fridges and washing machines can't go in a bin and often can't wait for a council collection date. These are the items that most commonly get abandoned in a garage on the final day. Deal with them first, not last.

Documentation

Photograph every room, the garage, the shed and the yard once emptied and cleaned. Date-stamped photos are the most effective evidence in a bond dispute, and they cost nothing to take. Keep any receipt from a rubbish removal service — it demonstrates the property was cleared.

If a deduction is claimed anyway

Bond disputes are handled by the residential tenancy authority in each state, and the process is designed to be accessible without a lawyer. Landlords must substantiate deductions with evidence and actual costs, not estimates. Your entry condition report and exit photos are what decide most of these matters.