Electrical repairs shock landlord

QUESTION: I’m a first-time landlord and have just started letting a small unit.  A few weeks after moving in, the tenants reported that a power point and a light  don’t work and the fan thingy above the stove is missing a couple of grill thingies. They asked that they be repaired.

This property is a new unit in generally excellent condition and seems to me clearly to be in a reasonable state of repair.  The repairs seem to be pretty minor and unless there’s some other problem it seems a bit unreasonable for me to have to spend a few hundred dollars fixing these things.  Any guidance from the rental or strata gurus would be much appreciated. – Superjames, via Forum

ANSWER: If the unit’s brand new then you should demand that the developer repairs the faults  Otherwise, I reckon your tenants  are entitled to assume everything in the flat would be in working order.

Have look at factsheet no 6 on Tenants.org.au for your responsibilities. And, as StrataGuru Whale notes. “there could be an electrical fault in the unit that may result in an injury to your tenant … and, as you’ve been made aware of the problem, you’d be in real strife.”

Read the whole storyand say your piece HERE.

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