Dealing with landlords/estate agents when renting

Hi,

I'm after a bit of advice please. We were having a problem with our oven and alerted the estate agent who had someone come out and has deemed the oven unsafe to use. This was Monday and the estate agent has just called me to make sure we are aware we shouldn't be using it and also said they have just spoken to the landlord who wants to come and look at it this weekend. Firstly I 'm a bit annoyed they want to come as there is nothing visually wrong with the oven! Anyway the estate agent reckons the oven may take a week or two. Am I right to think that this is unreasonable? I would never expect my tenant to go more than a few days without an oven especially with children! where do we stand if they insist on ordering a particular oven that takes that long to arrive, baring in mind you can get any oven off appliances online delivered the next day? Thank you!

Hi,

 

I'm after a bit of advice please. We were having a problem with our oven and alerted the estate agent who had someone come out and has deemed the oven unsafe to use. This was Monday and the estate agent has just called me to make sure we are aware we shouldn't be using it and also said they have just spoken to the landlord who wants to come and look at it this weekend. Firstly I 'm a bit annoyed they want to come as there is nothing visually wrong with the oven! Anyway the estate agent reckons the oven may take a week or two. Am I right to think that this is unreasonable? I would never expect my tenant to go more than a few days without an oven especially with children! where do we stand if they insist on ordering a particular oven that takes that long to arrive, baring in mind you can get any oven off appliances online delivered the next day? Thank you!

Yes I think it is unreasonable. The oven should have been fixed as soon as you notified the agent.

..................You should request all repairs in writing, detail the complaint and its impact,

.................give the landlord a deadline and keep a copy of your letter.

..................if you get no joy.......issue a notice to remedy breach......( check which form online)

...............which gives your landlord 7 days to remedy the fault..

..................there are further steps one which you get the repairs/replacement and Bill the landlord....

................though beware if over the cost of 4 weeks rent this can be disputed.....

...................also your ombudsman is a good source of information if your agent isn't helpful....

...................good luck..

..........sorry just checked the tenants handbook.....(you should of been given or emailed one btw)

...........and its repairs/replacement for no more than two weeks rent!

Australian landlords don't like to spend their money! I notified my agent of a dangerous electric socket and they took 6 months to fix it and even then that was after someone had received a shock. My landlord wasn't a multi-millionaire for nothing! As a landlord renting in the UK, I'd have had someone out in 24 hours. So yes, your landlord is being unreasonable but protection for tenants in Australia is very poor - keep complaining and ask for a reduction in rent.

...........you do have rights as a tenant....!

...........a life threatening fault should of been fixed immediately .......

............you would of been within your right to have it fixed and bill the landlord...

Failure of an essential appliance counts as an emergency repair. The QLD factsheet is here:

https://www.rta.qld.gov.au/Renting/During-a-tenancy/Maintenance-and-repairs/Emergency-repairs

Check with your state body. I imagine it's the same

Thanks so much everyone. We don't own a microvave or a bbq and with 2 children under 4 i'm slightly concerned that we are going to spend an absolute fortune on eating out if it isn't replaced soon! I can't find any info on what is a reasonable time frame to have a new cooker in but like I said, appliances on line could easily deliver and install this weekend so there really is no excuse! I shall ring the estate agent first thing tomorrow and double check the NSW legislation. Thanks again!

We had this problem when we first arrived, no agent and our landlord was living on Christmas Island - so not easy to get someone to repair it. We did get inventive with meals to cook on the hob - there's tons you can do, you won't need to go to the expense of eating out

We had this problem when we first arrived, no agent and our landlord was living on Christmas Island - so not easy to get someone to repair it. We did get inventive with meals to cook on the hob - there's tons you can do, you won't need to go to the expense of eating out

They have told us the whole oven including hobs are a fire risk so we can't use either!

You may have a nominated repairer / sparky on your tenancy agreement. As it's an essential appliance the agent doesn't need to consult with the landlord and you don't need anyone's permission to get it attended to. Find the factsheet from your state and it will tell you the steps to go through.

You can also contact the Tenant's Union in your state for advice. Even just using their factsheets to make sure you know your rights is helpful. https://www.tenants.org.au/factsheet-06-repairs-and-maintenance

They also supply sample letters, eg, https://www.tenants.org.au/sample/urgent-repairs

Australian landlords don't like to spend their money! I notified my agent of a dangerous electric socket and they took 6 months to fix it and even then that was after someone had received a shock. My landlord wasn't a multi-millionaire for nothing! As a landlord renting in the UK, I'd have had someone out in 24 hours. So yes, your landlord is being unreasonable but protection for tenants in Australia is very poor - keep complaining and ask for a reduction in rent.

Yes I have noticed that too. Some of the rental properties I looked at in the past and asked if they would be fixing certain items and the answer was no, the landlord is a pensioner and does not have the money to spend. They have already put in a new carpet and cooker...

Systematic of the rising house prices here and the demand for rentals, landlords can get away with doing the bare minimum as they know it will get rented no matter what state.

It took me more than 6 months to get a leak in the toilet sink fixed, having to have a jug underneath to catch the water. Suppose it did not help the real estate agency also has a high turnover, and the girl I reported it too never contacted the owner from what I was to understand.

That is just dreadful. I would deliver a formal letter to the agent telling them that if it is not fixed within 2 days of today's date you will get someone to fix it yourself and the bill will be deducted from your rent.

Take a copy of the letter. Dated and signed. Also, get someone to witness it if possible, then they will know you are serious.

We did this once and it worked. Also, next time there was something broken they didn't drag their heels.

I really find it hard to believe the landlords do not want to maintain their investment. I wish our tenants would have reported small things instead of leaving them to create bigger ones!

After all essential maintenance is tax deductible.

We we have been on both ends and our landlords have been OK about most things and got them sorted but really needed to spend a bit more!

Reports of this kind of stuff really peeve me; I have three properties, when something breaks, I fix it; it's in my interest to keep good tenants happy. I want to assure you that not all landlords are money-grabbing tightwads. I hope the OP finds a good resolution.

Thanks for all of the replies. The landlords are coming tomorrow to look at the oven, the estate agent doesn't know why. I'm hoping they will be nice people and order an oven straight away, but bearing in mind I have been told not to use the oven since Monday I will insist that they have an oven delivered within the next couple of days. Apparently they are first time landlords so maybe they don't know how these things work, all I know is that if this was my tenant she would have had a fully working oven days ago!!!

I see so many empty properties around the suburb I live in. Landlords/Owners do not care in Australia, they are riding the investment boom. Unlike the the UK which experienced a crash Australia never experienced it and people here think property only goes up in value!!! Landlords here know that they can put a property on the market and it will get rented out, no matter what state or condition. I have seen so many scary properties and realized when I viewed them why they had no pictures.

One I went to visit, when I opened the front door I was disgusted and after a quick walk round I thought WTF how are you renting this. A few weeks later it was rented.

Reports of this kind of stuff really peeve me; I have three properties, when something breaks, I fix it; it's in my interest to keep good tenants happy. I want to assure you that not all landlords are money-grabbing tightwads. I hope the OP finds a good resolution.

2.5 years of renting in Sydney was enough to give me a very low opinion of the custom and practice of both agents and landlords. Granted we only leased 2 properties but saw a couple of dozen and there is some real crud out there.

Our personal experience was of agents and landlords treating us as pests to tolerate, no kind of customer - supplier even handed relationship at all. Very glad we're out of it now

Kudos to you if you treat your tenants well, but I think you're a standout landlord if you do

2.5 years of renting in Sydney was enough to give me a very low opinion of the custom and practice of both agents and landlords. Granted we only leased 2 properties but saw a couple of dozen and there is some real crud out there.

 

Our personal experience was of agents and landlords treating us as pests to tolerate, no kind of customer - supplier even handed relationship at all. Very glad we're out of it now

 

Kudos to you if you treat your tenants well, but I think you're a standout landlord if you do

We rent out properties in UK and we are very good landlords, because if you have half a brain it pays in the long term to keep a property in good condition and your tenants happy.

From my daughters ongoing renting experience in Sydney there is a different mind set there.

Yes, my experience is the UK very much favours tenants and Australia very much favours landlords, when you are renting out a property in the UK & a tenant in Australia as we were for a couple of years it leaves a very bad taste.

We rented in Brussels for a few years and had a bad experience with one landlord who, on hearing that the boiler wasn't working ( in the middle of winter) tried to suggest that we may not have been taking proper care of his property. We were left without hot water (and therefore bathing facilities) for ten days, because there was no agent, and he went off on holiday without getting the boiler fixed. luckily we had friends with bathrooms. I would never let anyone walk over me like that now - you have to know your rights and then act on that knowledge. Some landlords are great but some are complete money grabbing b******s

just to update, the landlord came round today to confirm measurements and seems very nice, they are going to order the cooker today but I have a feeling it is going to take about a week as they are getting a specific one. Although he was nice I don't think he understands the urgency with having 2 small children, he mentioned perhaps them buying a bbq for us in the meantime, i'm going to call the estate agent this afternoon and try and action this today!

just to update, the landlord came round today to confirm measurements and seems very nice, they are going to order the cooker today but I have a feeling it is going to take about a week as they are getting a specific one. Although he was nice I don't think he understands the urgency with having 2 small children, he mentioned perhaps them buying a bbq for us in the meantime, i'm going to call the estate agent this afternoon and try and action this today!

During our eight years in total as tenants in Belgium and Luxembourg we acquired an electric frypan which could be used as a frying pan but also (with the lid on) as a mini-cooker. I'm not sure what's available in Australia but I think the best modern equivalent is a halogen cooker. We bought our electric frypan to use when all else failed - waiting to have cooker installed on first removal, waiting to get decent cooker when we bought a house over there, extra cooking when large gang round for dinner etc etc. It wasn't over-expensive (I know because we were desperately scraping money when we first left the UK) and it was used numerous times during a twenty five year period, so I think you could say we had our money's worth. I know your landlord is responsible and I know you need to get the cooker sorted, but I can highly recommend the comfort of having a gadget you can fall back on in an emergency. You don't need to tell the landlord you've got it!

Second that using my electric fry pan and BBQ whilst my kitchen is being replaced now. Bought it in Aus they are available in K mart.