Australian real estate agent accidentally burns down property worth Rs 240 million

Her employer was ordered to pay more than $850,000 in damages.

An Australian real estate agent was preparing to visit a multi-million dollar property when he accidentally burned it down. australian news network the report said. Sydney real estate agent Julie Bundock was sorting out her four-bedroom home in Avalon Beach in preparation for an open house when the incident occurred. That’s when she noticed the house’s current tenant had left some bedding on the deck to dry. She took off the sheets, threw them on a shelf in the downstairs room next to the wall-mounted lamp, and turned on the light.

Twenty minutes later, a fire destroyed the entire home, worth an estimated $3 million. Everything in the house was also destroyed. The fire is believed to have started when shelves and bedding heated up due to sunlight and caught fire.

The property’s owner, Peter Alan Bush, and four tenants whose properties were destroyed by the fire took Ms Bondock to court over the incident.

“I’ve been doing a little tidying up. I collected some sheets that were drying on the balcony and threw them on a freestanding metal shelf in the bedroom under the stairs. I just threw them there, Pete, on the wall Under the lights. I think that’s what started the fire,” she said.

Chief Judge David Hammerschlag in the case ruled on Tuesday that Ms Bundock “actively created the risk of fire and consequent harm”. He insisted she was also responsible for the resulting harm to landlords and tenants.

“It was clear that the fire could have been caused by bedding being placed or thrown over burning lights. In his decision, Mr Hammerschlag said the risk was foreseeable and Bundock should have been aware of it .

The judge also noted that Ms Bondock was an “aggressive and uncooperative witness” in court.

“Her evidence was clearly driven by the growing awareness that she had caused this disaster,” he said.

The judge ordered Ms Bundock’s employer, Domain Residential Northern Beaches, to pay $483,736 in damages to Mr Bush and a total of $79,339 to four tenants, Elise Coulter, Reggie Songaila, Lauren Coulter and Ella Eagle.