If you owned a rental, would you bother....

ok, just wanting to get an idea of were i stand...
we had a huge down pour on friday, the yard flooded, long story short, it stuffed the hot water service, i rang the agent as the yard was flooding, scared it would come in and wanting to tell them what was happening, realized saturday we had no hot water, called the agents when they opened monday morning, they were getting the owner onto it asap.. its now wensday, NOTHING, no hot water, no call to say whats happening, nothing.
i rang the agent back today, as with 3 young kids, its a long time to go without hot water for, she was discusted and said if she cant get the owner to do it today, she will get back to me and try sort it out...

ok that was long! what i want to know is, if you owned a rental, that you had to sell, and settlement was due in a matter of days, would you bother with repairs?

It doesn't matter when settlement is, they have to do it. I think you may find it classed as an urgent repair and that is why the property manager can do it without their express permission.

Depends...

if this was prior to the building and pest inspection, yes I definitely would fix it, because the purchaser could pull out of the contract subject to the b/p clause. If it were after the b/p clause had expired, then maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't...

You are saying settlement in a few days, I'm assuming that means b/p has expired, so there is no impotus on the seller to fix your hot water system.

to murky the waters further, there is an inspection on settlement day to demonstrate the new owner is happy with the condition of the property, perhaps it needs to be brought to his attention then.

sorry this is so confusing, I hope you get some hot water soon!

So, if you are still there and settlement is in a few days im assuming the buyer is an investor and your are staying?
One of them is responsible.
I'm actually not sure that the hot water service classes as an urgent repair I vaguely remember someone on BB going to court over it and I don't think they won.

They have to do it and hot water is an essential service. here in qld tenants are entitled to spend 2 weeks rent on emergancy repairs with the repairer listed on the lease agreement no questions asked with the bill sent to the real estate

ok, just to give you a better idea of the overall situation..
house was put on the market last year, round oct, i then recived notice that unless the house was sold, the mortage company were taking possession, owners droped the price and had a buyer in nov, but was "sold pending settlement" for feb 16th. building inspection was monday just gone, they were (the agent) hoping to get someone to fix it the same time as the inspection, but had to clear with the owner.
ive had other issues in the past, toilet flooding, main water hose bursting, all fixed immedieatly, ive also had a problem with the front door, i HAVE to have the wooden one shut, as the "secutrity" door pops open, it wasnt a issue so told them it was non urgent in the begining, but dd can no crawl, and if i leave the big door open for the air, she gets out the front UNNOTICED so they red flagged it for immedieate as well, but still nothing on it either, so im thinking they are not going to do a thing, and i will end up waiting till settlement and have to get it all done with the new owners...:dunno:

ETA yeah its sold under the condition i stay untill a min of september, when i signed to origional lease till.

Before the settlement of our house we got to go thru and test everything worked before it all went over. If something didn't work it was up to the original owner to have it fixed before settlement.
The old owner def should have to fix.

This pamphlet from the tenancy board classes it as an urgent repair. Might be worth getting a hold of a copy

http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902000FE154/Lookup/CAV_Publications_Renting/$file/RentingComplete.pdf

This if consumer affairs re: urgent repair.

Consumer Affairs Victoria - Renting - Standards repairs and maintenance - Urgent repairs

I would call consumer affairs Victoria and ask what your rights are.

irregardless of settlement, i thought that hot water was an essential service. until it settles they are still the owner - isn't that the case? if so, they are required to fix it. sounds like they've been forced to sell for financial reasons - in which case they may not have the money to fix it?

okay - just checked the consumers affairs website. hot water is classed as an urgent repair. it also says this:

:

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Information for tenants and residents who require urgent repairs

If you are a tenant or resident, there are a number of steps you can take to have an item repaired:

* Speak with the landlord or owner about whether your repair is urgent or non-urgent.
* If the landlord or owner does not arrange for urgent repairs to be carried out immediately, you can arrange for them to be done for a reasonable cost, up to $1000.
* You may then give the landlord a written notice asking to be repaid the cost of the repairs. The landlord has 14 days from receiving the notice to pay. Keep all receipts and a record of attempts to arrange the urgent repairs.
* If the repairs still have not been done after this time, you can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), which will hear the matter within two business days. An application to VCAT can also be made if the repairs cost more than $1000. VCAT can order the landlord or owner to arrange the repairs.

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ETA - snap dragoncookie!

Yes we had that happen a few weeks before the new owners took over and we moved out but the hot water just got fixed (should have been a new one even the electrican said so )
but as the change over was happening I think they wanted a quick fix. But they did fix it imediatly for us. On another note the real estate asked why dont we buy it as its cheap lol but having lived there for three years we knew all the repairs that had to be done and the costs no way

ive called consumers about ALOT of things, but because of the sale, and mortagee repossesion they say its a very rare & sticky situation and with out knowing the legality of exactly what is going on (i only know what im told from the agent) then they cant give me 100% clear info.

if i were to pay for it myself, id have to use the rent money, then face termination notice for non payment of rent!

we are/were tennents in a simular position. we got a 6month lease, and 4 weeks into it got told the owner was selling. Settlement happened 2 weeks ago.
now once they decided to sell they were driving us INSANE trying to fix EVERYTHING, things that werent botherin us and thus has now caused more problems than its worth. things included the back sliding door...which got fixed, broke again and was worse and then had to get fixed again...our leaking taps, which still leak...and the biggest problem, out air con. the old unit didnt work at all, so they put a new one in (which has been nice) but they took the old one out. and left a hole in the wall...goes straight outside. and now we have mice, running freely in and out of said hole...today i have baracaded it so hard, after seeing 2 run out. and am currently fighting with a third traped inside that has just realised it is trapped and is freaking out!! ...

sorry, my point is, now that settlement happened and we are actually under a new realestate...and neither of them are fixing our problem because it appears they cant decide whos responsible.

it has just made out decision to buy something we HAVE to do for our sainity.


..hmm appears the mouse is fighting back and worked out how to disconnect my net...i had to get up and play around with all my cords.. (once again sorry for making it about me)

I really really really hope it gets worked out for you. realestates are the bane of my exsistence.

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They have to do it and hot water is an essential service. here in qld tenants are entitled to spend 2 weeks rent on emergancy repairs with the repairer listed on the lease agreement no questions asked with the bill sent to the real estate

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Yep, exactly that. Hot water is considered essential and they have to do it by law, the owner doesn't have a choice

ok, i have just rang them AGAIN, told her it was urgent and noone is getting back to me on the matter, she put me on hold, and has someone coming out at 3, if he can make it. apparently the owner keeps saying it has been organised and im aware of it... funny, i must have missed That call!!
now fingers crossed we can get it done!
thank you all for the help and advice, i wouldnt have called and pestered again, was starting to think it wasnt that urgent!

Gee your nicer than me, ours died they got someone out to fix it on a friday and they said there might also be something else wrong with it (forget what) "see how it goes" well Saturday morning it was still playing up, rang the RE they said he's busy all weekend so I made them get someone else out. :rofl:

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They have to do it and hot water is an essential service. here in qld tenants are entitled to spend 2 weeks rent on emergancy repairs with the repairer listed on the lease agreement no questions asked with the bill sent to the real estate

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:yeahthat:

They HAVE to get it fixed. Have a look at your lease, there should be some emergency tradepeople contracts on there. Ring your PM once more and inform them that if they do not get back to you in an hour with confirmation that this issue is going to be sorted out ASAP, you will be ringing one of the emergency tradepeople and having the account charged directly to the LL. Also tell them that they are required to maintain these essential services under the RTA, and that is they fail to do so then you will be taking them to the Tribunnal.

If it were an 'non-essential' service, then they still have to make a concerted effort to rectify it, but the time factors are not as important - and being so close to settlement it likely wouldn't happen. But an essential service is non-negoitable.

Doesn't matter if they are selling or not, until settlement they still hold the title and are still the landlords and as such have a legal obligation to you to fix any repairs that aren't your fault.

thanks for all the replies, it did get fixed a week after it stoped working, the agents finaly realised the owners werent doing it and organised it themselves then sent the bill off.
just waiting to see if setlement went threw so they can start on the door and everything else now :rolleyes:

Yeah, I thought that the house had to be settled/handed over in the state it was at the time of accepting the offer - being that the hot water system was working when the application was accepted, I believe the current owners are under obligation to have it repaired?