Policy: Agency Policy – Bedding Management & Standards

Company Position:

Property Providers’ vision is to “Help People Live Better” by being Sydney’s most flexible residential rental company. This vision is driven by three core values: Passion, Performance and Partnership. This policy has been created based on our belief in our guiding principle, that all great long-term partnerships have a solid foundation of mutual respect, mutual reward, mutual investment, and mutual risk.

Document Purpose:

This policy sets expectations for the care, protection, cleaning, replacement, and cost management of bedding in Property Providers™ managed properties. This policy applies to all bedding supplied in a Property Providers™ managed property, including items provided for guest, tenant, owner, or occupier use and supports a professional, fair, hygienic, and respectful approach to bedding matters.

For this policy, bedding includes mattresses and their frames or bases; mattress and pillow protectors used for hygiene or allergy management; pillows; blankets; doona; quilts; throws; toppers; linen; spare bedding; and related items used on or to dress a bed. The policy aims to maintain clean and hygienic sleeping standards and enable Property Providers™ to manage bedding issues with reasonable judgement and sensitivity.

Background:

Beds are central to furnished accommodation. Occupants of all ages use them, and accidents can occur, including spills, stains, odours, illness-related events, hygiene issues, or other incidents affecting bedding.

Because bedding matters can be personal or sensitive, Property Providers™ expects incidents to be assessed calmly, documented clearly, communicated respectfully, and resolved fairly. These situations must be managed efficiently, professionally, and discreetly. A balanced response considers the nature and severity of the issue, health and hygiene risks, fair wear and tear, asset protection, the appropriate remedy, and reasonable cost allocation.

Objectives:

Establish clear communication guidelines and expectations for all parties.
Set clear requirements and standards for all bedding and related items for furnished, managed properties.
Manage cleaning, replacement, disposal, labour, insurance, bond/security deposit, owner, and occupant cost implications fairly and transparently.
To maintain clean, comfortable, hygienic, and professionally presented sleeping environments and to protect health, safety, privacy, dignity, and emotional sensitivity where bedding incidents involve personal or sensitive circumstances.
To support Property Providers™’ values of Passion, Performance and Partnership by responding to bedding matters with care, accountability, and commercial practicality.

Policy:

This policy applies to owners, guests/tenants/occupants, staff, housekeepers, and relevant service providers.

All bedding must be clean, hygienic, well presented, properly protected, and suitable for the property’s standard and use.

Owners provide and maintain appropriate bedding assets; Property Providers™ coordinates reasonable operational management, reporting, advice, and suppliers where required; and occupants have a duty of care to reasonably use the bedding appropriately and to notify Property Provides of any issues or concerns.

Owner’s Responsibility:

1. Owners must ensure that all bedding supplied with the property:

Is of a standard size for pillows and/or mattresses (single, double, queen, king) to fit commercial grade linen, and not extra deep or uncommon sizes (super king or king single or European sizes);
Each bed itemised on property listing should have a clean, supportive, odour-free mattress on a suitable frame or base for occupant usage;
Each bed should have clean, serviceable standard-sized pillows as follows:
- King & queen size bed – 4 pillows
- Single size bed – 2 pillows
Each mattress and pillow should have two waterproof, washable protectors: one fitted to the item from onboarding/owner exit, and one spare stored neatly in the bedroom robe, closet, or drawers;
Includes spare blankets, doonas, quilts, and spare bedding suitable for the property’s maximum occupancy, seasonality, and market positioning; and
Any changes to bedding configurations or accessories to be immediately advised to Property Providers™.

2. Owners must agree that:

Owners acknowledge that ordinary bedding use, reasonable wear and tear, and unavoidable incidents are normal operating risks. An incident is not treated as occupant damage unless the evidence establishes a failure to exercise reasonable care.
Owners acknowledge that bedding and related items may be used, moved, removed, or disposed of by occupants or other persons outside the Manager’s reasonable control.
Unless damage is reasonably attributed to a specific occupant within the first seven days after check-out, the owner may not attribute the item’s rectification or replacement cost to the guest, Manager, affiliates, or contractors. Where attribution is established, recoverable costs are limited to the reasonable cleaning or replacement value, whatever is less, after allowing for fair wear and tear and the item’s remaining useful life, as defined by the Australian Taxation Office contents depreciation schedule;
Bedding may need to be replaced with a reasonable functional replacement, at the owner’s cost, if supplied bedding is stained, damaged, unhygienic, heavily worn, odorous, unsafe, or inconsistent with property standards;
The owner’s recoverable amount is determined under the attribution and replacement-value rule above.
Reasonable cleaning methods may be deployed to restore an item to a hygienic standard, which may not always be successful to restore such item to its original or ‘as new’ condition.
Bedding and related contents remain at the owner’s risk, subject to the terms of the management agreement and the cost-allocation provisions in this policy.

3. Authorisation to Manage Bedding:

Owners authorise Property Providers™ to make reasonable decisions to manage, clean, replace, or dispose of bedding and related items where reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, hygiene, and comfort of guests.
Property Providers™ conducts visual property inspections. Where a bed is already made, the mattress may not be inspected because doing so requires the bed to be fully unmade and remade. A more detailed mattress inspection may be arranged where required, with the associated service cost charged to the owner.

Property Providers’/Manager’s Responsibilities:

Cleaners and suitable trades may manage soiled items in accordance with the Housekeeper Response and Professional Cleaning procedures.
To manage incidents fairly and consistently in accordance with the assessment and cost-allocation procedures below.

Cleaners & Partner’s Responsibilities:

To notify Property Providers™ immediately when bedding or linen is soiled, taking documentary photo evidence of the item/s and its context in the room;
On every changeover clean, the housekeeper should confirm that the required protectors are fitted and that spare protectors are stored in the relevant bedroom. Soiled washable items may be cleaned on site following reasonable item cleaning instructions after consultation with Property Providers™;
To only remove Property Providers™ or contractor’s supplied linen from the property and to keep all other bedding in-situ, unless directed by Property Providers™;
In consultation with Property Providers™, cleaners and partners may dispose of and replace an item only where cleaning is impractical, uneconomical, unhygienic, or ineffective.
To manage incidents in consultation with Property Providers™ as directed.

Occupant’s Responsibilities:

Occupants accept that they are expected to be responsible, ethical and accountable for using another person’s property (i.e. duty of care) and may not remove or dispose of bedding unless in consultation with Property Providers™.
Occupants, including guests, tenants, parents, and other occupants, must promptly notify Property Providers™ of known bedding issues, including accidents, illness, spills, hygiene matters, or other sensitive incidents. Early notice allows responsibility to be assessed, practical solutions to be agreed, costs to be contained, and reputational risk to be reduced.
Occupants must ensure that no pets/animals are allowed to use bedding at any time. And will be fully liable for all associated costs to remove pet hair, stains or treatments associated with an animal, whether authorised or not.
For assessed occupant-attributable soiling or damage, not attributable to fair wear and tear, all reasonable disposal, cleaning and/or replacement costs, including management labour, are the guest’s responsibility.

Mechanics:

Minimum Bedding Requirements: Each bed must meet the owner-supplied bedding requirements stated in the Policy section and remain suitable for the property, occupancy, season, and market positioning.
Mattress, Pillow and Bedding Protectors: Before each stay, the housekeeper should confirm that the required protectors are fitted and that spare protectors are stored in the relevant bedroom. Soiled, washable items may be cleaned on site or disposed of and replaced, in consultation with Property Providers™, where cleaning is impractical, uneconomical, unhygienic, or ineffective. Guest-attributable soiling may be charged to the guest where recoverable.
Incident Reporting and Assessment: Housekeepers and occupants should promptly report and photograph bedding incidents where appropriate. Property Providers™, should assess the available evidence, determine whether cleaning, repair, disposal, or replacement is required, and record the resulting action.
Housekeeper Response: Housekeepers who identify soiled bedding should photograph the issue, inform Property Providers™, immediately to advise additional costs or actions, attempt on-site cleaning where suitable supplies and equipment are available, and carry spare linen, where possible. Additional services related to linen cleaning, treatment or disposal should be billed to Property Providers™, as a separate line item. If no spare is available, a reasonable replacement may be purchased from the nearest suitable store to avoid delay, with costs reimbursed on invoice.
Professional Cleaning: Linen supplied by Property Providers™, is professionally cleaned on every changeover. Bedding supplied by owners’ is cleaned only as required or where necessary where there are visible stains or damage. If bedding protection fails and a mattress, pillow, doona, blanket, quilt, or other item requires professional cleaning, Property Providers™, will arrange. Where attributable to a guest, the guest is responsible for the cost of cleaning and associated labour, including a return visit once the item is dry and the bed can be remade.
Severe Soiling and Replacement: Severe soiling, contamination, odour, hygiene risk, or damage may justify replacement rather than cleaning. Where a bedding item must be replaced and the purchase date can reasonably be established, its recoverable value will be calculated considering wear and tear, depreciation and effective life.
Health, Safety and Hygiene: Where bedding presents a hygiene, odour, contamination, pest or safety concern, Property Providers™ may remove it from use without delay and arrange the action identified through the incident assessment process.
Cost Allocation: Costs may be allocated to the responsible party using funds on ledger or bond/security deposit as necessary. Property Providers™ will determine the allocation using the incident assessment, the applicable replacement-value rules, the timing of notification, and commercial practicality.
Sensitive Communication: Communications must be factual, discreet, and respectful, avoiding unnecessary detail, judgement, or speculation, especially where illness, children, accidents, bodily fluids, or other sensitive circumstances are involved.
Owner Approval and Urgent Action: Property Providers™ will seek owner approval before significant replacement expenditure, where practical. If bedding is unfit for immediate use or could affect an occupant, guest/tenant comfort, safety, or presentation, Property Providers™ may act without prior approval and recover reasonable costs from the owner ledger.

Rationale:

Good bedding supports a professional accommodation experience and protects owner assets. This policy provides a consistent framework for managing bedding incidents and distinguishing damage from ordinary use, fair wear and tear, and asset deterioration.

Early reporting supports timely assessment and practical resolution.

Timing:

Bedding requirements should be checked, where reasonable, during onboarding, preparation, inspections, housekeeping visits, and whenever a bedding incident is reported or found. Any inspection is limited to a visual inspection only and does not include inventory of every item left at the owner’s risk in the property; nor involves removing in-situ linen or inspection of every cupboard or drawer on every changeover or routine inspection.

This policy is last updated August 2026