Hide Notes 

Slide 1: Emergency Repairs – Tenant’s Duty or Lessor’s? What do you do when something goes wrong in the place you are renting? Under normal circumstances, you would contact the lessor directly but what if it is something that requires emergency attention and you cannot get hold of the lessor? What if, on the other side of the coin, you are the lessor and the tenant rings you up to tell you something has gone wrong? What do you do? Anyone who is remotely skilled in property management Gold Coast, will be able to tell you that both lessor and tenant have an obligation to deal fairly with each other. The law states that, in certain instances, such as where safety is at stake, the tenant may have repairs carried out on the property. In these instances, as long as certain conditions are met, the lessor needs to reimburse the tenant for monies paid out within seven days. From the tenant’s point of view, your first step when there is an emergency repair to be done is to try to ensure the safety of anyone living there and, where possible, minimise damage to the property. If, for example, the gas is leaking, you should switch it off to ensure the safety of everyone. If, for example, there is a serious water leak, you should turn off the water in the interim to minimise damage. Your next step is to inform the lessor of the problem. If you cannot reach the lessor, you may contract someone to make repairs as long as the cost of the repairs does not exceed two weeks rent. Should you pay for any repairs, you will need to provide proof of this, along with a letter explaining what happened, to the lessor. The lessor is obliged, as long as the repairs were of an emergency nature, to reimburse you within seven days. The lessor is protected, to a degree from extreme cases where a tenant takes it upon themselves to affect repairs of non-essential items and deems them to be emergency repairs. Keep in mind that the restrictions above are imposed by law on the tenant to prevent extraneous expenses being paid out but that you, as lessor, are still obliged to maintain the property in a proper manner. It may pay you to look into property managers Gold Coast that can handle these issues for you and make your life much easier. So, as with any other contract, both parties bear certain responsibilities. It is worth keeping this in mind the next time you act as either lessor or tenant. http://www.yesrent.com.au