An Australian real estate agent preparing for an open house viewing at a multimillion-dollar property accidentally burned it to the ground, News.com.au reported. The incident happened when Sydney real estate agent Julie Bundock was tidying up the four-bedroom home in Avalon Beach for an open house inspection. It was then that she noticed the current tenants of the house had left some bedding on the deck to dry. She removed the sheets and threw them in a downstairs room onto a shelf next to a wall-mounted light, which she then turned on.
Twenty minutes later, a fire broke out and destroyed the entire home, estimated to be worth $3 million. All the contents of the house were also destroyed. The fire is believed to be caused by the shelf and bedding heating up and catching fire due to the light.
The owner of the property, Peter Alan Bush, and the four renters who had their belongings destroyed by the fire took Ms Bundock to court over the incident.
''I had been doing some tidying up. I collected some sheets drying on the veranda and threw them on top of a freestanding metal shelving in the bedroom under the stairs. I just threw them there Pete, right up against the light on the wall. I think that's what started the fire,'' she said.
David Hammerschlag, the chief judge on the case, ruled on Tuesday that Ms Bundock ''actively created the risk of fire and the consequent harm''. He maintained that she was also liable for the consequent harm caused to the owner and the renters.
''That a fire might be caused by putting or throwing bedding up against a burning light is obvious. That risk was foreseeable, and Bundock ought to have known this'', Mr Hammerschlag said in his decision.
The judge also noted that Ms Bundock was an “aggressive and uncooperative witness” in court.
''Her evidence was clearly coloured by a heightened awareness that she had caused the catastrophe,'' he stated.
The judge ordered Ms Bundock's employer, Domain Residential Northern Beaches, to pay Mr Bush $483,736 for the loss of his house and a combined $79,339 to the four renters, Elise Coulter, Reggie Songaila, Lauren Coulter and Ella Eagle.
