Rule 32 of the Rules of Conduct for Real estate agents and Property managers states:
“32. Maintenance or repairs of rental property
An agent managing a rental property must promptly respond to and, subject to the principal’s instructions, attend to all requests by a tenant for maintenance of, or repairs to, the property.
If the principal has instructed that a repair not be carried out, the agent must inform the principal if the principal’s failure to carry out the repair would constitute a breach of any tenancy agreement in force in relation to the property.”
The RTA 2010 states at Section 70:
(1) A landlord must provide and maintain the locks or other security devices necessary to ensure that the residential premises are reasonably secure.
This section would include foyer locks, garage locks, door locks, window locks, storage cage locks and any other locks connected to the Lot such as letter box locks.
Even though the locks are technically the responsibility of the OC the obligation for their repair under the RTA lies with the landlord i.e. the Owner.
Section 62 defines “residential premises” as “everything provided with the premises (whether under the residential tenancy agreement or not) for use by the tenant.”
A letter box is used by the Tenant.
Section 62 defines “urgent repairs“ as “any work needed to repair any one or more of the following:
(k) any fault or damage that causes the residential premises to be unsafe or insecure”
(1) A landlord must, not later than 14 days after being given a written notice from the tenant, reimburse the tenant for the reasonable costs of making urgent repairs to the residential premises.
(2) A landlord is required to reimburse the costs only if:
(a) the state of disrepair did not result from a breach of the residential tenancy agreement by the tenant, and
(b) the tenant gave the landlord or the landlord’s agent notice of the state of disrepair or made a reasonable attempt to do so, and
(c) the tenant gave the landlord or landlord’s agent a reasonable opportunity to make the repairs, if notice was given, and
(d) the tenant has made a reasonable attempt to arrange for a licensed or otherwise properly qualified person nominated in the residential tenancy agreement to carry out the repairs, if such a person is so nominated, and
(e) the repairs were carried out, if appropriate, by licensed or otherwise properly qualified persons, and
(f) as soon as practicable after the repairs were carried out, the tenant gave the landlord or landlord’s agent, or made a reasonable attempt to give the landlord or landlord’s agent, a written notice setting out details of the repairs and the costs of the repairs, together with the receipts or copies of receipts for costs paid by the tenant.
(3) The maximum amount that a tenant is entitled to be reimbursed under this section is $1,000 or such other amount as may be prescribed by the regulations.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents a tenant, with the consent of the landlord, from making repairs to the residential premises and being reimbursed for the costs of those repairs.
(5) This section is a term of every residential tenancy agreement.
It is for these reasons that the Tenant should have the authority to undertake the repair of the letterbox lock and go through the Agent rather than the Strata Manager to seek compensation.