Did you know landlords are legally required to register elevators with regulators? If not, you’re probably far from alone. Photo: Seventy Four Images.
Though residential, retail and commercial landlords are generally aware they have a duty of care to their tenants, without understanding the extent of their obligations, many unwittingly accept the risk of major penalties for noncompliance.
Landlords who fail to take reasonable actions to ensure safe premises for tenants from the start of tenancy may find themselves in breach of public health regulations, attracting fines and even imprisonment for the most serious offences.
MV Law partner Christine Murray says it boils down to one fact: “Tenants have a right to be safe where they live and work,” she says.
For instance, Christine says many landlords don’t realise workplace health and safety is not the sole responsibility of the employer leasing the premises.
“Landlords of premises used for business purposes must be mindful of the safety of anyone who uses them,” she says.
“Contracting out care of certain aspects of a building’s safety to professionals is a reasonable first step for landlords, but it’s not a set-and-forget scenario and doesn’t absolve them of all responsibility. You want to know they’ve attended the premises and spent time doing the job to a satisfactory standard, and to receive copies of any testing results.”
This extends to the maintenance and day-to-day running of warm water systems, air-handling systems, evaporative condensers and cooling towers.
Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks have been linked with air-conditioning units that use water for cooling.
Landlords must maintain these systems day to day and register all cooling towers in the building under the Public Health Act 1997 (ACT).
“A recent outbreak in Melbourne is understood to have occurred because of an air-conditioning unit. It’s a frightening prospect, so understandable that officials want to know where those units are,” Christine says.
“Because of the seriousness of the diseases that can stem from poorly maintained cooling towers, landlords are not only required to maintain records but to make them available to regulators if and when required. Regulators may also inspect them from time to time.”
Christine Murray says contracting out safety checks is a good start, but doesn’t absolve landlords of responsibility. Photo: MV Law.
Landlords are also required to ensure all asbestos within a building is identified by a licensed asbestos assessor. If asbestos is detected, landlords must prepare an asbestos register and management plan, which must be updated every five years.
Asbestos registers must be kept at the building for easy access to anyone who uses the premises, including contractors who may undertake works and run the risk of exposure.
Christine says many commercial buildings in Canberra were built in a time when asbestos was used. But a landlord’s duties don’t end at maintaining an asbestos register.
“Asbestos isn’t dangerous if it’s properly contained,” she says.
“Landlords’ obligations are very much about communicating the presence of asbestos with users and occupants. It’s one thing to get a plan done and register prepared, but you must make it available.
“Give a copy to every new tenant, but also make it available in a public area, like in the foyer, so every contractor can consult it.”
Combustible cladding, widely known as a safety risk in buildings, has come onto the radar in more recent times. A landlord who is unsure if their building has combustible cladding should conduct an assessment to find out.
Christine says not all combustible cladding poses a fire risk – it comes down to how it was used in the construction of a building. But if it does, the rules are clear: “A landlord must act immediately to remediate,” she says.
Landlords should also consider the installation, dismantling, storage and use of any plant, machinery and tools in commercial or retail premises that may expose them to liability.
Most landlords have an idea of their risks and obligations with regards to these hazards, but some obligations are less known.
For instance, lifts and escalators pose an inherent risk if misused or fail in some way and must be registered with Access Canberra.
“That’s the law, but I think not a very well understood one… I can say from transacting a lot of commercial properties, very few people are complying with that law,” Christine says.
For legal advice on your responsibilities as a landlord, contact MV Law.
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