Property Maintenance - Who is Responsible?

Every time you enter into any legal, contractual agreement, you are bound by the requirements laid out in the agreement that you signed. So, before you sign your next lease, make sure you understand who does what when it comes to rental property maintenance and not only what's expected of you as a tenant, but also what you can expect from your landlord.

The Victorian Tenancy Agreement states:

Property Maintenance: Urgent repairs:
If a tenant or resident requests urgent repairs, the landlord or owner must respond immediately.

Urgent repairs are:

• burst water service
• blocked or broken toilet system
• serious roof leak
• gas leak
• dangerous electrical fault
• flooding or serious flood damage
• serious storm or fire damage
• failure or breakdown of any essential service or appliance provided by a landlord or agent for hot water, water, cooking, heating, or laundering
• failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supply
• any fault or damage in the premises that makes the premises unsafe or insecure
• an appliance, fitting or fixture that is not working properly and causes a substantial amount of water to be wasted
• a serious fault in a lift or staircase.

Visit Consumer Affairs Victoria for more information on urgent repairs.

Property Maintenance: Non-urgent repairs:

For non-urgent repairs, you must notify the landlord or owner in writing, advising them what needs to be repaired and giving them 14 days to carry out the repairs.

• Tenants should use  Notice to Landlord of Rented Premises (PDF, 2.3MB).
• Rooming house residents should use  Notice to Owner of Rooming House (PDF, 1.7MB).
• Caravan park residents should use  Notice to Owner of Caravan or Caravan Park (PDF, 2.3MB).

Once a landlord or owner receives a notice that repairs need to be done, they have 14 days to carry them out.

If they do not carry out the repairs within that time, you may send Consumer Affairs Victoria a copy of the written notice with a letter requesting a Consumer Affairs Victoria inspector to visit the property and fill out a report.

You have 60 days from when you receive a copy of the report to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for a repair order if the repairs have still not been carried out by the landlord or owner.

You must continue to pay rent or hiring charges even if the landlord or owner has not arranged for the repairs. However, if the matter has already been heard by VCAT, you may apply for the rent to be paid into VCAT’s Rent Special Account while the matter is sorted out.

Landlords and tenants alike are often confused over who is responsible for maintenance on rented property. The rule is that Landlords have responsibility for repairs that are referred to commonly as “fair wear and tear”, and Tenants have responsibility for repairs caused by them, their flatmates, family or visitors.

Tenants can also be responsible for to items such as tap washers, light bulbs and stove elements, depending on what is detailed in the Tenancy Agreement. Section 40 and 45 of Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) details Landlord and Tenant responsibilities.

Property Management: Planned Maintenance

Planned Maintenance includes items of a more major or regular nature. This includes items that may be required seasonally, i.e. gutters cleaned out annually in early winter. Maintenance such as painting or exterior cleaning are major items that will help ensure the property is maintained in a rentable condition and to avoid serious deterioration of the property.

Often the period between tenancies is a good time to have planned maintenance completed. It is preferable that a planned maintenance programme be undertaken annually for each property.

A landlord’s reaction time to a maintenance issues will vary according to the type of problem, but a good time frame would be, immediate for urgent repairs, 48 hours for moderate repairs and 5-10 days for normal repairs.

Certain repairs may require an Insurance Claim and it is good practice to contact the Insurance Company immediately you suspect that a claim might be possible.

For information on how to request or report a maintenance issue, send us an email.  If you have a specific question, comment below and we will answer it for you.