#28045
Question
Flatchatter
Chat-starter

    @Lady Penelope said:
    Being that you have had your credit card stolen as a result of the faulty lock on your common property letter box and you have notified your Agent but have not received any response then you might consider having the letter box lock repaired at your expense and then forwarding the Bill to the Owner via the Agent.

    The Owner has let the property with a letter box therefore the letter box should be secure and functional. The owner is obliged to pay you within 14 days.

    The Owner can then take this matter to the Strata Manager and the Owner’s Corporation to claim their money back. It could possibly be a small amount of money to have a locksmith fix the lock.

    The fact that the security of your property has been put at risk may categorise the issue as an Urgent Repair.

    Take photos before and after and ensure that you have kept all of the correspondence, records of phone calls etc.

    The following is an extract from https://tenants.org.au/factsheet-06-repairs-and-maintenance

    “Urgent repairs

    Urgent repairs means any work needed to repair any of the following:

      • a failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supply

      • a failure or breakdown of any essential service for hot water, cooking, heating, cooling or laundering

      • any fault or damage that makes the premises unsafe or insecure

      • serious damage from a natural disaster.

    Getting urgent repairs done

    Tell the landlord/agent – in writing if possible – about what needs fixing. Follow up any conversations with a letter. Keep a copy of the letter and a record of any conversations as evidence that you told the landlord/agent.

    If there is no electricity or water it may be up to the service provider to fix the problem (if it is outside the boundary of the premises). See also Factsheet 23: Utilities.

    If the landlord/agent cannot be contacted or is unwilling to do the urgent repairs, you can arrange for them to be done.

    If the landlord/agent cannot be contacted or is unwilling to do any urgent repairs, or if they are taking too long to do them, you can arrange for the repairs to be done. Do not pay any more than $1,000 or you may not get your money back – the landlord is only required to pay you for any reasonable costs up to $1,000. They are obliged to pay within 14 days of your notice.

    You must be able to show that:

      • the problem was not your fault

      • you made a ‘reasonable’ attempt to contact the landlord/agent

      • you gave the landlord/agent a ‘reasonable’ chance to do the repairs

      • the repairs were carried out by a repair person named in your tenancy agreement (if possible) or by a licensed or qualified tradesperson.

    You must give the landlord/agent written notice about the repairs, costs and copies of receipts. The landlord must pay you for any reasonable costs up to $1,000 within 14 days of your notice.

    If the landlord does not pay, apply to the Tribunal within 3 months from the end of that 14 days for an order that they do so.

    If you cannot afford to pay for urgent repairs, apply to the Tribunal for an urgent hearing for the repairs to be done. You can also apply for a rent reduction until the repairs are done. See ‘Applying to the Tribunal’ below.”

    A sample form letter is here:

    https://tenants.org.au/sample/urgent-repairs  

    The problem with this plan is that I have no idea who the owner is (and the agent obviously will not tell me) and the agent can simply refuse to forward the bill to the owner because she already notified strata, and if i decide to get it repaired at my own expense, that’s my problem.

    Applying to the tribunal would cost more money, time, and my previous experience with the tribunal was very negative…the judge at the time refused to hear my side of the case and kept pressuring me to sign some documents without reading them, while my landlord was sitting there trying not to laugh because he didn’t even need to defend himself.