Property managers who verify ABN, insurance and invoicing compliance of cleaning providers tend to have fewer issues with their cleaning contracts.
Vetting a cleaning company usually means the property manager checks:
- active ABN and GST registration;
- public liability insurance and workers compensation insurance;
- photo ID and right-to-work checks; and
- an acceptable warranty and re-clean process.
Urgent Pro does all of the above before adding a cleaning company to the platform. Cleaning services through the Urgent Pro platform are available to real estate professionals and property managers across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast.
A Caution on Receipts in Place of Tax Invoices
A receipt signed by an agent or representative of a party to a transaction is not a tax invoice and will not be accepted by a tribunal as evidence of the transaction. Similarly, a document that does not set out the ABN of the provider will not be accepted.
Consider the costs associated with using a substandard cleaning provider. Those costs include losing the ability to exit a client relationship cleanly, a warranty that disappears, and an invoice your agent or tribunal will not accept as evidence.
Why Property Manager Vetting Is Different
A tenant requires a cleaning service that will clean and be contactable for any issues. A relationship beyond the clean itself is unnecessary for a bond or lease clean.
A property manager’s relationship with a cleaning service is not the same as a tenant’s. A cleaning service provider that does not perform or is uncontactable creates a problem across every property in the portfolio that the service is positioned to clean. An invoice for a cleaning service that is not compliant creates problems for all portfolios and is problematic for record keeping and audit trails, especially if a bond claim needs to be defended at a tribunal. A property manager’s vetting process for a service provider should be compared to that of other professional service providers, not adjusted downward because cleaning is considered routine.
What Urgent Pro Reviews Before Activating a Cleaning Provider
Prior to activating any cleaning service provider, Urgent Pro reviews at least six things.
1. Active ABN and GST registration in the provider’s business name on the invoice.
Verify the ABN and GST registration status for the provider’s business name on the Australian Business Register at abr.business.gov.au. In documented cases of failed end of lease cleaning complaints in Victoria and bond cleaning complaints in Queensland, service providers had registered their ABN under their personal name rather than under the business name. In both states, tribunals and agents reviewing the complaints rejected the invoices due to the business name registration discrepancy. Verify the registration date of the ABN. A recently registered ABN alongside a claim of many years of service raises a conflict worth investigating.
2. Public liability insurance and workers compensation insurance.
Public liability insurance protects a service provider from claims arising from personal injury or property damage caused by the provider in the course of their work. Workers compensation protects the provider and the property owner from claims arising from personal injury or illness sustained by the provider’s personnel on site. Both forms of insurance protect the interests of the property owner. For bond cleaning service providers, both forms of insurance should be confirmed via a current Certificate of Currency before activation.
3. A government-issued photo ID and right to work in Australia.
A provider’s identity and right to work in Australia are verified as part of the due diligence process.
For NDIS and aged care properties, an NDIS Worker Screening Check and National Police Check are mandatory, and results must be provided prior to placement. On the Urgent Pro network, a current police check is also required for providers doing in-home cleaning or any work with unsupervised access to a property, not only NDIS and aged care placements. White Cards may be required to gain site access for properties under construction or renovation. Prospective placement of individual cleaners at your properties warrants reference checks, which further protects your interests if the cleaner provides false identification.
4. A verifiable trading history and consistent identity.
A provider who lacks reviews and a track record of doing business is unaccountable, and therefore of greater concern. It has been documented that some providers, when they have accumulated a significant number of negative reviews, change their business name to avoid negative publicity. If a business appears to have been operational for three years but the ABN was registered six months ago, that discrepancy warrants investigation before engaging the service.
5. A written warranty or re-clean policy with clear timeframes.
Most providers who offer a re-clean guarantee state they will re-clean within 24 to 72 hours. For routine house cleaning, that timeframe may be sufficient. For bond and end-of-lease cleans, where agents sometimes cannot re-inspect within that window, a fixed 24 or 72 hour limit may expire before the inspection can occur. Ask the provider directly: what happens if the agent cannot re-inspect within the standard window? If the person you are speaking with does not know the answer, the warranty has likely not been tested in practice.
6. Documentation capability at handover.
In the property management industry, record-keeping requirements apply at multiple points in the tenancy lifecycle. One of those points is immediately after a clean. At that stage, confirm whether the service provider can offer completion documentation: a signed cleaning checklist, photographs showing the condition of the premises, or a carpet cleaning certificate where applicable. A provider who offers documentation at completion is supporting your property management process in a way that a provider who simply confirms the service verbally does not.
Red Flags That Signal an Unreliable Operator
There is no written evidence to support the warranty. A property manager who relies on a verbal warranty to support a bond claim will likely lose the dispute. A warranty that costs the provider nothing to offer and nothing to avoid honouring is not a genuine warranty.
A bond clean should result in written documentation. A verbal statement of completion leaves a gap in the property file, and a property file with a gap is a liability when a previous bond claim is disputed.
What the Warranty Structure Tells You
A warranty stated in writing, with a defined re-clean window, is rarely invoked by a provider who is confident in their own work. A provider who makes exceptions or does not commit to firm timeframes when presenting a quote is pricing their confidence in their ability to deliver.
When bond or end-of-lease cleans are required, the service window is tied to when the agent is available to re-inspect the property. If the agent is not available to re-inspect within the period the warranty is in effect, the warranty is effectively worthless. Urgent Pro coordinates the warranty and re-clean process with the agent’s re-inspection schedule, not against a fixed expiry clock from the date of the clean.
Invoice Compliance for Your Records
When a service warranty is issued for a cleaning service, it must be issued by a business that is legally registered. In bond dispute hearings at NCAT, VCAT and QCAT, the invoices provided as evidence are cleaning service invoices issued by a business legitimately registered to conduct business.
Information from an unregistered business, or a business whose ABN does not match the name on the document, will not be accepted as evidence.
The name and ABN of the provider are displayed on all Urgent Pro booking confirmations before a job is carried out. The Urgent Pro booking confirmation is not itself a tax invoice. A compliant tax invoice is issued by the provider upon completion and is required as a condition of provider activation on the Urgent Pro platform.
Vetted Marketplace Versus Direct Hire
Hiring a provider directly shifts the verification responsibilities to you, including ABN and GST registration, public liability and workers compensation insurance, and right to work in Australia. The Urgent Pro provider verification process lessens that burden on you and your staff. Providers activated through Urgent Pro have undergone the verification process described above, and the names and ABNs of providers are listed on every booking confirmation before a job begins. How Urgent Pro verifies its providers is explained in full on our website.
For more on what to include in a brief once a provider is confirmed, see how to write a clean brief for property managers.
Setting realistic turnaround times is vital to effectively managing concurrent property changeovers. For more on this, see our guide on realistic turnaround times between tenancies.
FAQs
What documentation should a cleaning company provide before starting work?
A copy of their current public liability insurance and workers compensation insurance certificates, with the limits of cover shown, should be provided. The public liability insurance must name the company as the insured party, not an individual employee. The company should be registered for GST and their ABN should be active. For properties with aged care or NDIS tenants, confirm a current Working with Vulnerable People clearance and a current National Police Check before placement.
How do you check the validity of a cleaning company’s ABN?
The ABN can be checked at the Australian Business Register, where the company name, registration date and status are shown. If a registration is held in an individual’s name, or the company is less than two years old, review this before engaging their services. A discrepancy between the ABN registration name and the business name on the company’s invoices is treated as an irregularity in a bond dispute.
How should I verify a cleaning company’s insurance?
Verify the dates and level of coverage through the Certificate of Currency. Do not rely on verbal assurances or website statements. Confirm also that the insurance coverage applies to the type of work being performed at your property.
Why is the re-clean window important for end-of-lease and bond cleans?
A re-clean guarantee may be of little value if the re-clean window expires before the dispute can be resolved. Most providers allow 24 to 72 hours to report a problem and re-clean. Ask providers to adjust their re-clean window to align with the time an agent will take to perform a final inspection, not a fixed period from the date of the original clean.
What documents should a property manager request after a bond or end-of-lease clean?
Ask the provider to supply a compliant tax invoice, along with any available evidence of the work performed: a completed cleaning checklist, photographs of the property, or a carpet cleaning certificate. These documents support your property record and provide evidence if a dispute about the clean arises at a later date.