Bondi Living — Hotel in Sydney

TERRIBLE. Please do your self a favour and do not use this agencey. We are STILL owed our bond back months later, they promised us it back and then after we moved out they sent us countless emails trying to charge us unnecessary fee’s to get out of paying it back such as $200 for the keys even though we handed the keys back the day before. $200 cleaning fee even though we cleaned the apartment top to bottom and left it 100 times cleaner than the state it was when we moved in (DISGUSTING) and they had claimed cleaners had been in to clean it before we would move in. Also they told us if we cleaned it ourselves we wouldn’t have to pay this fee. The staff are SO rude and unhelpful. Also tried charging us $400 for a bill that was invalid. I have not one good thing to say about this company was appalling from start to finish. Would just like my money back that I am owed now. ...

In response to your response: When we moved into the apartment it was disgusting, we spent two whole days cleaning it (literally). Dirt and dust gathering on the floor, crumbs in the kitchen, dirt in the cupboards and on the dishes (Also infested with cockroaches). So there was clearly 100% no cleaning done before we moved in as you promised there would be ( EVEN THOUGH the last people were also charged $200 cleaning fee). And before we left we had an agreement with you that if we cleaned it you would not charge us for the cleaning fee. I have photographic evidence with dates on that show the state of the pig sti apartment when we moved in and also the clean and tidy condition we left it in when we moved out. I am happy to post them also. The $400 you are now adding on was never, not once mentioned. You said you would be able to give us our whole bond back and we have that written in email from you. It was only after we moved out you tried charging us for so many unnecessary things. Another thing is you are telling us to come into the office but every single time we did that before your staff at the office were so rude and actually refused to speak to us and told us to go away...

Our experience with Cornell and Bondi Living was extremely disappointing and stressful from start to finish. During the bond refund process, Cornell accused us of causing damage, leaving the apartment dirty, and even stealing items — things we had actually asked the agency to remove before moving in. All the issues he mentioned were clearly visible in the initial condition report, proving he hadn’t even looked at it before making those accusations.

After nearly ten days of back-and-forth emails, he eventually offered to deduct a small “cleaning fee,” which we accepted just to end the situation, even though the whole process felt unfair and poorly handled. He also warned that disputing the bond through NSW Fair Trading could delay the refund for up to six months — something completely false and misleading. We later discovered the bond had never even been lodged with the NSW authority, adding even more stress to an already frustrating process.

Now that we’ve started sharing our experience publicly, we’ve noticed a sudden wave of overly positive, suspicious reviews appearing online — and even received phone calls asking us to remove our review. Please be careful: these practices are not trustworthy, and our experience was far from what those fake reviews describe.

Overall, this was one of the most unprofessional and stressful rental experiences we’ve ever had. We strongly do not recommend Cornell or...

Our experience with Cornell and Bondi Living was extremely disappointing and stressful from start to finish. Throughout the bond refund process, Cornell repeatedly accused us of having caused damage, left the apartment unclean, and even of missing items, items that we had actually requested the real estate agency to remove before moving in because we already had better replacements.

What made the situation worse is that Cornell made all these accusations without even reading the initial condition report. That report clearly showed that the marks, dirt, and wear he mentioned were already present when we moved in.

After almost ten days of back-and-forth emails and explanations, he finally proposed deducting a small “cleaning fee” from the bond. We accepted it only to put an end to the situation, even though we were completely dissatisfied with the way everything was handled.

In that same message, he stated that if we decided to dispute the bond through NSW Fair Trading, the refund could be delayed for up to six months, which is completely false and illegal.

Later, we also discovered that the bond had never been lodged with the NSW bond authority and added even more stress to an already unfair process.

Overall, this was one of the most unpleasant and unprofessional rental experiences we have ever had. We strongly do not recommend Cornell or his management practices under any...