Cleaning guarantees in Victoria, and what to do if a clean fails
If a bond clean we did gets flagged, forward the inspection report and we re-clean the listed items free within 72 hours of the inspection. That is a workmanship guarantee, not insurance and not a legal right. Underneath it sits the real protection: the Australian Consumer Law guarantees that any service is carried out with due care and skill and is fit for purpose, and it has no expiry date printed on it. There is no cleaner licence in Victoria, so your paperwork is what decides a dispute.
What is covered, by whom, and for how long
Four different things get called a “guarantee” in this trade and they are not interchangeable. This is what each one actually is, who stands behind it, and how long it lasts.
| Cover | Who stands behind it | How long | What it covers | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bond clean re-clean guarantee Workmanship | Us, contractually | 72 hours from the final inspection | Any item on the written scope the property manager flags as not clean. We return and re-clean it at no charge. | Wear and tear, pre-existing damage, anything outside the agreed scope, a property occupied or moved into since the clean. |
| Regular clean workmanship guarantee | Us, contractually | 24 hours from the visit | Anything missed on a scheduled house or office clean. Tell us and the next visit fixes it, or we come back. | Items you asked us to skip, and areas that were blocked by furniture or belongings on the day. |
| Consumer guarantees Australian Consumer Law | The law. Enforced by Consumer Affairs Victoria and the ACCC | No fixed expiry. It applies for a reasonable period given the service | Every service must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for the purpose you made known, and be delivered in a reasonable time. | Outcomes nobody promised, and problems caused after the service by someone else. |
| Public liability insurance | Our insurer | The policy in force on the day. Report the damage as soon as practical | Accidental damage to your property caused by us, such as a cracked cooktop or a marked floor. | Damage that was already there, fair wear, and items you were told were at risk before we started. |
| Manufacturer product warranty | The appliance or flooring manufacturer | Typically 1 to 10 years | The oven, the floor, the tapware itself failing. | Damage caused by cleaning method. Steam on a floating floor and abrasives on gloss finishes void most of these outright. |
| Carpet cleaning receipt | Us, as evidence | Permanent record. Re-clean within the same 72 hours | Proof for the agent that hot water extraction was carried out and on what date. | Traffic wear, permanent dye stains and delamination, none of which are cleaning faults. |
| Your bond | Residential Tenancies Bond Authority | Held for the tenancy. Claimed after it ends | Your money, released when both parties agree or when VCAT decides. | Nothing is deducted automatically. A rental provider has to justify every claimed dollar. |
| Rental obligations Residential Tenancies Act 1997 | Consumer Affairs Victoria, decided by VCAT | The tenancy, and the bond claim period after it | The renter must leave the property reasonably clean, allowing for fair wear and tear, measured against the entry condition report. | Any expectation that a property be returned better than it was handed over. |
| Registered builder and domestic building insurance | Victorian Building Authority and the state insurer | Applies to domestic building work above a set dollar threshold | Building work, not cleaning. | Cleaning entirely. This scheme is listed here so you know it is not your remedy. |
We publish our scope before every job so this table has something to measure against. Our service list and rates are on the pricing page.
Escalation steps in order, with the timeframe for each
Work down this list. Almost everything is resolved at step one or two, and the later steps exist so that you know the path is there rather than because anyone expects to use it.
| Step | When | What you do | What should happen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Say something on the day | Before the crew leaves, or the same day | Call (03) 9003 0108 or walk it with the crew and point at the item. | Fixed on the spot in most cases. Nothing beats catching it while the gear is still in the van. |
| 2. Forward the inspection report | Within 72 hours of the final inspection | Email the report and any agent photos to us, unedited. | Re-clean of the listed items at no charge, usually booked within 24 to 48 hours. |
| 3. Written defect notice | Within about 7 days of the service | Email a dated notice with the address, service date, the specific scope items and dated photos. | A written response and a booked remedy. Allow 2 to 5 business days for the remedy itself. |
| 4. Formal complaint under the consumer guarantees | If step 3 goes unanswered | Write stating the guarantee you say was not met and the remedy you want, and give a deadline. | Allow 10 to 14 days for a response. Keep the email trail intact. |
| 5. Consumer Affairs Victoria | After a written complaint has been made and not resolved | Lodge the dispute with Consumer Affairs Victoria and ask for conciliation. | A free conciliation process. It usually takes a few weeks and settles most service disputes. |
| 6. VCAT civil claim | Last resort for the money | Apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a goods and services claim. | An application fee applies and hearings are typically weeks to months out. Your documents decide it. |
| 7. Bond dispute path Renters only | As soon as the tenancy ends | Lodge your bond claim with the RTBA. If the rental provider claims first, respond by the date printed on the notice. | The other party has a short statutory window, currently 14 days, to dispute by applying to VCAT. Miss it and the claim can be paid out. |
| 8. Damage rather than dirt | As soon as you notice it | Photograph it, tell us in writing, and ask for the public liability insurer details. | An insurance claim runs on its own timeline and is separate from any re-clean. |
Want the written scope before you commit?
Every quote we send lists exactly what is included, so there is something concrete to hold us to.
The framework that actually applies to cleaning in Victoria
Cleaning sits in an unusual regulatory position, and it is worth understanding before you argue with anyone about it.
There is no cleaner licence. Plumbers, electricians and builders in Victoria are licensed or registered and can be struck off. Cleaners are not. Anyone with an ABN can print cards tomorrow. That is not a scandal, it just means the checks fall to you: an ABN you can look up, a public liability certificate of currency, and current police checks for everyone who will be in your home. Our page on how to choose a cleaner in Pakenham lists the questions worth asking.
The building work schemes do not apply. Victoria requires builders to be registered and requires domestic building insurance for domestic building work above a set dollar threshold, administered through the Victorian Building Authority and the state insurer. Cleaning is not building work, so none of that protects you here. We mention it because people reasonably assume a similar scheme exists for every trade, then go looking for it at the worst moment.
The Australian Consumer Law does apply, to every job. The consumer guarantees are automatic, cannot be excluded by anything in a quote, and cover services as well as goods. The three that matter for a clean are due care and skill, fitness for a purpose you made known, and delivery within a reasonable time. Whether you can demand a refund or only a re-clean turns on whether the failure is major or minor. A minor failure means the provider gets to choose the remedy, which is normally to come back and fix it. A major failure, meaning the service is substantially unfit or would not have been bought had you known, lets you cancel and seek a refund or compensation for the drop in value. Consumer Affairs Victoria is the agency that handles the complaint.
The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 governs the tenancy side. A renter must leave a property reasonably clean, allowing for fair wear and tear, measured against the entry condition report. Your bond is held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority rather than by the agent, so nobody deducts anything on their own say so, and every claimed dollar has to be justified or agreed. If it is not agreed, it goes to VCAT.
The documents to keep, and what a defect notice should say
Disputes about cleaning are won on paperwork, not on who is more annoyed. Keep these seven things, and keep them in one email folder or one album on your phone.
- The written quote and the scope of works, showing exactly what was and was not included.
- The tax invoice with an ABN on it, and proof of payment.
- The carpet cleaning receipt, separately, because it is the document agents ask for by name.
- Your own dated photos taken after the clean, wide shot then close up, especially of the oven, the shower screen, the window tracks and the carpet.
- The entry condition report from the start of the tenancy, with its photos. This is the single most valuable document a renter has and most people cannot find it.
- The final inspection report from the agent, unedited, including the date it was issued.
- The full email trail. Text messages count too, but export them.
A defect notice does not need legal language. It needs to be specific. Include the property address, the date of service, the exact scope items you say were not met and where they are (“grease between the oven door glass” rather than “the kitchen”), dated photographs of each, the remedy you want, and a reasonable deadline. Reasonable for a re-clean is 2 to 5 business days, not 24 hours. Send it by email so it is timestamped, keep the tone factual, and avoid listing anything you know is wear rather than dirt, because one weak item invites the whole notice to be argued.
Defect or fair wear and tear? The honest line
This distinction settles more bond arguments in Pakenham than anything else, and it cuts both ways. A defect is dirt that a competent clean should have removed. Fair wear and tear is the condition a surface reaches after years of ordinary use, and no clean will change it.
- Defect: grease between the panes of the oven door glass, a range hood filter still furred with fat, grit in the window tracks, soap scum on the shower screen, cobwebs in the ceiling corners, dust on top of door frames, a dirty laundry trough.
- Fair wear: traffic lanes worn into carpet down a hallway, shower glass permanently etched by years of minerals, grout that has gone porous and no longer whitens, paint faded by sun on the north side, scuffed floorboards, a bath surface that has lost its gloss, curtains faded at the fold.
- Neither, and often confused: damage. A chipped benchtop, a cracked tile or a torn flyscreen is not a cleaning item at all, and it belongs in a different conversation with a different remedy.
If an agent claims against your bond for something in the fair wear column, that is a matter for the RTBA and VCAT, and the entry condition report is your evidence. Our page on why bond cleans fail inspection lists the items agents genuinely check, and the bond cleaning checklist is the same list in a form you can tick off.
What our guarantee does not do, and why most disputes never start
Being straight about the limits is more useful than a bigger promise. Our re-clean guarantee does not cover work that was never in the scope, so if you declined external windows to save $80 and the agent flags the windows, that is not a warranty claim. It does not cover a property that has been lived in, moved into or used for storage since we cleaned it, because we cannot tell our work from a week of someone else. It does not cover damage, which is an insurance question rather than a cleaning one. And it will never be used to claim that worn carpet or etched glass can be made new, because it cannot, and we would rather say so at the quote than argue about it at the inspection.
Here is the part nobody puts on a website: almost every cleaning dispute we have seen, ours or anyone else’s, traces back to a scope that was never written down. Two people had different pictures of the same job and only found out afterwards. A written scope kills that. Before you book anyone, get in writing whether the oven, the range hood filter, the external windows, the flyscreens, the garage, the blinds, the walls and the carpet are in or out, and what the re-clean policy is. That single email is worth more than any guarantee badge on a website.
If you want to see the scope we work to, it is the same list on our end of lease cleaning page. If you are a rental provider rather than a renter, the rental property cleaning page covers the same ground from your side, and the bond clean day timeline shows what actually happens on site. If cost is the pressure point, the budget guide is honest about where cutting is safe.
Frequently asked questions
What does the 72 hour bond back guarantee actually cover?
Do I have legal rights beyond the cleaning guarantee?
Do cleaners need a licence in Victoria?
What should a cleaning defect notice say?
What is the difference between a cleaning defect and fair wear and tear?
How long do I have to dispute a bond claim in Victoria?
Get the scope and the guarantee in writing
Send us the job and you will have a fixed price, a written scope and the re-clean terms in one email within one business day.
A written scope, a fixed price and a real re-clean window
Insured, police checked, and clear about what the guarantee covers before you book, not after.