Rental repairs: what counts as urgent and what to do when nothing happens

The single most common reason a repair does not get done is that it was never formally requested.

A text message to the agent, a comment at an inspection, or a phone call that nobody wrote down does not usually start anything. In most Australian jurisdictions the clock on a repair starts when the landlord or agent receives the request in writing.

So before anything else: if you have not put it in writing, that is the first move, and everything below assumes you have.

Urgent and non-urgent are different systems

This is the distinction that decides your timeframe and your options, and it is worth getting right.

Urgent repairs are things that make a property unsafe, insecure or unusable. The categories are set out in each state’s legislation and the common list includes:

• A burst water service or a serious water leak
• A blocked or broken toilet, where it is the only one
• A serious roof leak
• A dangerous electrical fault
• A gas leak
• Flooding or serious flood damage
• Serious storm, fire or impact damage
• A failure of an essential service: no water, no electricity, no gas, no hot water
• A broken or failed heater in cold weather, in several jurisdictions
• Anything that makes the property unsafe or insecure, such as a broken external lock
• A failed appliance or fitting that causes a substantial waste of water

The standard for urgent repairs is fast: commonly arranged within 24 to 48 hours, and immediately where safety is at risk or the property could be seriously damaged.

Non-urgent repairs are everything else: the dripping tap, the cupboard door, the oven element, the flyscreen. The standard is a reasonable time after written notice, which tribunals commonly treat as around 14 days, with some jurisdictions using 14 to 21 days.

Check your own state. The urgent list, the timeframes and the process differ, and your state or territory tenancy authority publishes the current version. Most run a free information line.

What to write

Keep it short, factual and dated. The purpose is to create a record, not to make a case.

Include:

1. The address and your name
2. The date
3. What is broken, plainly. “The hot water system is not producing hot water” rather than “the hot water is playing up”
4. When it started
5. Whether you consider it urgent, and why, if you do
6. Photographs or a short video, attached
7. Your availability for access, which removes the most common stalling reason
8. A request for written confirmation of what will happen and when

Send it by email so there is a timestamp. If your state has a prescribed repair request form, use it, because using the form removes any argument about whether notice was valid.

Keep a copy of everything. A folder, an email label, anything. The tenant who has dates and screenshots is in a materially different position from the one who remembers approximately.

If it is urgent and nobody responds

Every state has a process for this and the detail differs, so treat what follows as the shape rather than the rule.

1. Contact the landlord or agent by the urgent contact method, and follow up in writing
2. Try the emergency contact if your lease or the tenancy legislation names one
3. If you still cannot get a response, most jurisdictions allow a tenant to arrange urgent repairs up to a capped amount and seek reimbursement, subject to conditions
4. The conditions matter. There is usually a cap, a requirement to have made reasonable attempts to contact the landlord first, a requirement to use a suitably qualified tradesperson, and a requirement to provide receipts
5. Do not skip straight to step three. Reimbursement is refused most often because the tenant did not document the attempts to contact first

Anything involving gas, electricity or structural safety is not a wait-and-see. A suspected gas leak is an immediate call to the gas emergency number and out of the building. An electrical fault that is sparking or has burnt anything is an immediate call to an electrician or the distributor. Safety comes before process.

If it is non-urgent and stalls

In order:

1. Follow up in writing at the two-week mark, referring to your original dated request
2. Ask for a specific date. “Please confirm a date for this repair” is harder to leave unanswered than “any update?”
3. Use your state’s formal process. Most states have a formal breach or repair notice that a tenant can issue, which creates a legal step rather than another email
4. Contact your tenancy authority. Free information, and in many states a conciliation or dispute resolution service before any tribunal step
5. Tribunal. Every state has one, applications are low cost, and orders can require the repair to be done

Do not stop paying rent. Withholding rent is the most common serious mistake tenants make here. In most jurisdictions it puts you in breach and can put the tenancy at risk, and it rarely helps the repair. If rent reduction is warranted, there is a proper process for it, and your tenancy authority will explain it.

The things that most often become disputes

• Mould. Whether it is a building fault or a use issue decides who is responsible, and that distinction is genuinely contested. Mould behind the wardrobe explains how to tell, and why reporting early and in writing matters so much here
• Hot water. Usually urgent as a failed essential service
• Heating and cooling. Varies significantly by state, and several jurisdictions now have minimum standards
• Smoke alarms. Generally the landlord’s obligation to supply and maintain, with testing obligations that differ by state. Smoke alarms covers those rules
• Pests. Depends on whether the problem predated the tenancy or arises from how the property is used
• Locks and security. A broken external lock is typically urgent
• Wear and tear versus damage. This is the bond argument in advance, and getting your bond back is the article for that

Minimum standards, which are changing

Several states have introduced minimum rental standards covering things like functioning heating, hot water, ventilation, structural soundness and window coverings in bedrooms. Where these apply, a property failing them is not a matter of goodwill; it is a compliance issue.

This area has changed materially in recent years and it continues to. That is another reason to read your own state’s current page rather than an article from three years ago.

What not to do

• Do not withhold rent
• Do not organise a non-urgent repair yourself and send the bill. Reimbursement rules apply to urgent repairs and to specific conditions; outside those, you will usually wear the cost
• Do not do the repair yourself if it involves electrical, gas, plumbing or anything structural. That is licensed work, it is dangerous, and doing it can make you liable
• Do not let it go because you are worried about the lease. Retaliatory action for exercising tenancy rights is prohibited in most jurisdictions, and your tenancy authority can explain how that protection works
• Do not rely on a phone call

Common questions

Does the clock start when I noticed it or when I reported it? When the request is received, which is why the written record matters.

What if the agent says the owner will not approve it? The obligation generally sits with the owner regardless of their preference. That response is a reason to move to the formal process rather than to accept it.

Can I be evicted for asking? Retaliatory action is prohibited in most Australian jurisdictions, and there are avenues if it happens. Ask your tenancy authority.

What if it is a strata building? Repairs to common property are the owners corporation’s responsibility rather than the landlord’s, which sometimes explains a delay. Your landlord is still your point of contact.

I am in a share house and not on the lease. Your position differs. Speak to your tenancy authority, because rights under the lease generally attach to the named tenants.

The short version

Put it in writing, dated, with photos, and keep a copy. Urgent means unsafe, insecure or an essential service gone, and the standard is 24 to 48 hours. Everything else is a reasonable time, usually around a fortnight.

If it stalls, follow up in writing with a request for a specific date, then use your state’s formal notice, then your tenancy authority. Do not withhold rent, and do not do licensed work yourself.