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I am a tenant and my front door security electronic lock is broken preventing me from letting visitors into the unit without having to go down and open the doors manually. I have advised the real estate firm who leases the apartment who advise that it is a strata body issue and the strata has not attended to. What action can I take to get the strata to repair the security electronic lock repaired as other tenants routinely chock open the door making it a security issue.

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[Jimmy-T]

Hmm. A typical and all-too-common passing of the buck there and it won’t wash if you don’t want it to.  The Owners Corporation has a statutory responsibility to maintain and repair common property and the owner (but not the tenant) has the right to seek orders compelling them to do that.

Or, look at this the other way, the owner has the responsibility to the tenant to provide “reasonable security” whaich means they should be taking the necessary action to compel the OC to fulfil its duties, if need be by taking action at Fair Trading and NCAT.

The standard residential tenancy agreement says this:

LOCKS AND SECURITY DEVICES

32. The landlord agrees: 32.1 to provide and maintain locks or other security devices necessary to keep the residential premises reasonably secure.

Section 106 of the strata schemes management Act says this:

106   Duty of owners corporation to maintain and repair property

(1)  An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.

(2)  An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.

So your owner should be hassling the OC to fix the lock and they have the power to ask the Tribunal (NCAT) to issue orders compelling them to do so. The owner should at the very least be seeking mediation as a first step to seeking orders under section 106.

If they don’t then they have breached the conditions of your lease and you are entitled to ask for a rent reduction.  You might also tell other tenants in the building that they can ask for rent reductions too.

Your rental agent has zero interest in asking the landlord to do anything except take your rent so you have to give them a form of encouragement, perhaps by telling them that if there is no sign of the landlord insisting that the lock be fixed, you will want a rent reduction and you are prepared to go to Fair Trading to get one, if need be.

I would lay odds that your landlord isn’t even aware of this issue, so proceed politely and civilly, at least to begin with.  And have a look at this page on the Tenants Union website which doesn’t refer directly to strata but the principles are the same.

And when the rental agent says the problem is the Owners Corp, you can say no, the problem is the lock and that’s the landlord’s problem.  If the landlord has a problem with the OC, it has nothing to do with you.

 

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[Quirky]

Yes, Jimmy-T has the right information. But it’s not possible to know whether your rental agent or the strata manager, or the strata committee, or a combination, is the cause of the lack of a suitable response…

As a strategy to ensure that the problem is dealt with quickly, you should be raising the problem with the building’s strata manager, directly, and CC them in with your correspondence. (You can normally find out who is the strata manager using the NSW Strata Hub enquiry database for your building.)

Another important strategy is to use the magic words in your correspondence about the broken intercom and security system, which is that it is a “health and SAFETY” issue. A faulty intercom and lock on the building is a “serious safety and security” problem, and you should stress this in all correspondence. Nothing worries  a rental agent or strata manager more than them delaying dealing with a security and safety issue – and this is one area where a strata manager can overrule a recalcitrant strata committee and arrange urgent repairs. So continually remind the agent and strata manager that the faulty security and intercom system is a serious safety and security problem, because if an ambulance or police were called to your Unit there would be no way for them to get access to you.

Also, to add some encouragement to the rental agent to act, request that the agent provide you with a rent reduction while the fault exists. The law firm Muellers states that in NSW, landlords must legally provide a property that is reasonably secure. If broken common area doors increase security risks or cause daily inconvenience, your landlord is breaching this duty. They can claim the lost rent back from the Owners Corporation. So both parties will have a reason to fix the problem, as both are at fault and will be out of pocket.

The agent has to take the request for a rent reduction to the owner, who will also have reason to pressure the OC to fix the problem, and also to prod the agent into action as well. But gather evidence of the problem, such as dates and time, and photos, and keep a record of visitors who could not contact you, to back up the request…

Remember that a “safety” issue is a red flag to Owners Corporations, agents and strata managers, and if your problem (reasonably) involves a safety problem,  this escalates the speed of the response significantly.

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