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The oven must be 20 years old and no longer works on fan forced. The repairer said that it would need to be replaced as spare parts cannot be found.
I suggested to the Real Estate that we might be prepared to live with the oven as it is if the Landlord was willing to forgo a rent increase this year. The response was that the oven would not be fixed or replaced, and that we would be paying an increase of about 6% from 1st July. I do not know where that figure came from, but his crystal ball is working well.
My question has two parts:
Can he refuse to fix the oven and can he put the rent up so far in advance?
Is there anything I do about it?
Thank you
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Bear in mind that the landlord probably doesn’t even know this is all going on. Far too many real estate rental managers see their job as being to protect the owners from any hassles or costs and push the rent up as much as they can.
What can you do about it? Politely tell them that you don’t accept either of these responses and that you will pay a reasonable rent rise based on CPI and that you expect a new oven to be installed as a fully functioning oven was part of your original lease agreement.
Otherwise, they can expect a call to NCAT.
If need be, find out who the owners is and contact them directly.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
It sounds like a nasty response from the property manager.
Please look up Residential Tenancies Act 2010 to familiarise yourself with your rights.
Also read your lease agreement. The standard residential tenancy agreement can be found here. Both the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and the lease agreement should indicate that you are entitled to have something like the oven in working order. Page 8 of the standard residential tenancy agreement document has a heading “LANDLORD’S GENERAL OBLIGATIONS FOR RESIDENTIAL PREMISES”.
You should also have received a condition report. Both landlord and tenant complete the same condition report at the start of your tenancy. It records the state of the property at the start of your tenancy.
In the standard residential tenancy agreement, 60 days’ notice is required for a rent increase. On page 5 of the standard residential tenancy agreement, it says:
“Section 42 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 sets out the circumstances in which rent may be increased during the fixed term of a residential tenancy agreement. An additional term for this purpose may be included in the agreement.”
There is a rent check tool on the NSW Govt’s web site: https://www.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-construction/renting-a-place-to-live/rent-check
It uses rent data collected from rental bond lodgements to give you an idea of how much rent is being paid for similar properties in your area. Use it to see if the rent increase is reasonable.
Addit: added a link to the standard residential tenancy agreement. Mentioned the condition report. Correction to notice period of rent increases. It should be 60 days.
I’d love to get an. update on this one Paul H!
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