Exit Condition Report: The Bond Cleaner's Guide (Australia)

The exit condition report is the final record agents use to release the bond — and to judge whether your bond clean passed. This guide shows Australian bond cleaners how to complete one to agency and tribunal standard, separating your cleaning work from fair wear and tear.

What is an exit condition report?

An exit (or outgoing) condition report is the formal record of a property's condition when a tenancy ends, compared line-by-line against the entry condition report the tenant signed at move-in. Agents use it to decide what is the tenant's cleaning or damage responsibility versus the landlord's fair wear and tear. The more professional and objective your on-site record, the harder it is to be sent back for an unpaid re-clean.

6 steps to a professional exit record

1. 1. Read the ingoing condition report first

   The exit report is compared line-by-line against the ingoing report the tenant signed at move-in. Note anything already marked as damaged, stained or worn — those items are pre-existing and can never be attributed to your clean.

2. 2. Photograph before you touch anything

   Take a walkthrough sweep of every room before work begins. Timestamped arrival photos establish the property's baseline condition — the single strongest protection against being blamed for historic marks, carpet burns or chipped benchtops.

3. 3. Separate 'cleaning' from 'fair wear and tear'

   Every state tenancy act excuses fair wear and tear. Mould embedded in degraded silicone, baked-in grease between oven glass panels, and limescale etched into aged tapware are material ageing — not cleaning failures. Record them as observed conditions with photos and objective wording, never as items you failed to clean.

4. 4. Use objective, agent-standard wording

   Write what you observed and what you did — not opinions. 'Heavy baked-on grease deposits between oven door glass panels; panel disassembly is beyond standard bond clean scope' will be accepted. 'Oven was too dirty, not my fault' will not. Match the neutral, factual tone of the agent's own condition report.

5. 5. Itemise every completed work area

   List completed works room by room: oven and rangehood, bathrooms and grout, carpets, windows and tracks, skirting boards, walls spot-cleaned. Attach a timestamped photo for each area so the agent can verify completion without a re-inspection dispute.

6. 6. Send it before you leave the property

   Deliver the report to the tenant or property manager while you are still on site or immediately at pack-up. A report received the same day, carrying same-day timestamps, is very hard to challenge later — and it closes the job before a call-back list appears.

State-by-state tenancy law

General information only, not legal advice. For live disputes, refer to your state tribunal (VCAT · NCAT · QCAT and equivalents) for current guidance.

Statutory agent inspection & response windows

If the agent misses these windows, the exit condition is often taken as accepted — your same-day timestamped report is the strongest closing evidence.

Photo evidence standards tribunals expect

• Timestamp and address on every photo, captured at the property — not screenshots or edited images
• Wide shot for context plus a close-up for detail on every defect
• Photos taken before cleaning begins and after it ends, so both states are on record
• One objective sentence per photo describing the material, the condition and the cause category

The 5 costliest mistakes

• ✕No arrival photos — nothing to prove historic damage existed before your clean
• ✕Emotional wording ('disgusting', 'not my job') instead of objective condition statements
• ✕Accepting blame for fair wear and tear items like aged silicone mould or faded paint
• ✕Sending the report days later — timestamps no longer align with the job date
• ✕Only photographing defects, not the completed work that proves the clean was done