In SA and probably other states too, landlords are obligated to fix any maintenance issues on the property whether they were preexisting when the tenant first moved in or not.
That means that if a dishwasher is not working and you tell a tenant at the beginning and they agree, they can still turn around and make the landlord fix it under law.
In our office recently - 2014, a property was sold and the tenant moved out. There were some outstanding water invoices so we claimed them against the bond - usual procedure. To our surprise she counterclaimed the same amount (around $350) as a compensation for a shelf not being fixed!
Since there was no reports of any outstanding maintenance on this property, I attended a tribunal hearing thinking it would be over in 5 minutes.
The tenant had a story about a shelf in the kitchen falling in 2009, she had a witness who testified it having been reported to an agent when it fell. The agent did nothing - not even report it to the owner.
We took over management in 2011. Between 2011 to 2014, there was no report to us by the tenant that a shelf had fallen or any maintenance request forms to have it put back.
The fact that she had reported it to an agent in 2009 was enough to trigger the maintenance clause in the act and have this tenant awarded compensation for having lived without a shelf between 2009 and 2014. The compensation was around $350!
What was very unfair was that this tenant had never reported a fallen cupboard to us or had ever asked for it to be put back.
Moral of the story - fix everything, tenants WILL be compensated if you do not.
That means that if a dishwasher is not working and you tell a tenant at the beginning and they agree, they can still turn around and make the landlord fix it under law.
In our office recently - 2014, a property was sold and the tenant moved out. There were some outstanding water invoices so we claimed them against the bond - usual procedure. To our surprise she counterclaimed the same amount (around $350) as a compensation for a shelf not being fixed!
Since there was no reports of any outstanding maintenance on this property, I attended a tribunal hearing thinking it would be over in 5 minutes.
The tenant had a story about a shelf in the kitchen falling in 2009, she had a witness who testified it having been reported to an agent when it fell. The agent did nothing - not even report it to the owner.
We took over management in 2011. Between 2011 to 2014, there was no report to us by the tenant that a shelf had fallen or any maintenance request forms to have it put back.
The fact that she had reported it to an agent in 2009 was enough to trigger the maintenance clause in the act and have this tenant awarded compensation for having lived without a shelf between 2009 and 2014. The compensation was around $350!
What was very unfair was that this tenant had never reported a fallen cupboard to us or had ever asked for it to be put back.
Moral of the story - fix everything, tenants WILL be compensated if you do not.
