nicks1990 said
My partner and I have been renting out a studio which needs access with a swipe key. We moved in about 10 months ago and my partners swipe key stopped working about 1 month ago. No damage to it, not broken – just stopped swiping.
After contacting the real estate and waiting over 2 weeks for a reply, I have been told that the “swipe is no longer covered under warranty and a new one will cost $220”. Which we have to pay.
Is this fair or legal or something, because when we moved in, we were told nothing about a warranty with the swipe key and seeing as it wasn’t us who broke it.
Well, it depends on the terms of your by-law. But, from what I have observed, most by-laws tend to provide that swipe cards are property of the owners corporation. Hence, if you’re in NSW and the by-laws so specify, then an owners corporation would have a duty under section 62 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 to replace the swipe cards if they become defective.
As for the tenancy aspect, it may be arguable that your landlord is under a duty to provide replacement swipe cards under sections 63(1) or 70(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW).