Rental repair advice - heating

I can see the real estate agent ad after you move

House for rent
Gas heating option
Brand new electric heating

Forgot to say, sounds like you got billed for the heater – you just don’t know about it yet 🙂

“have been advised”

was that written?

“advised”

LOL

Also for others; getting heaters cleaned from Dust or dirt could be expensive. Not the landlords fault they need to build more investments or own a housed in an area of dirty air.

Any workers needs to be sure there isn’t Asbestos before pulling covers off things.

Melted?

HINT: don’t go about putting in another heater incase the rented property burns down. I bet your landlord just upped his insurance against fire damage in hope you will fix it.

Don’t overlook the fact that paying additional for the ducted heating may work out being the cheap option. If they fail to renew your lease because of a dispute over a heater they see no value in fixing, you will end up having to find another place to live in the current rental climate.

Going the other way around, we have some awesome private landlords and we had expensive ducted heating/cooling.
We asked if a small, silent and cheap to run system could be installed just for the bedroom and they were more than happy to do it!

We saved over 40% on our last electricity bill over the same summer period from the year before! 😀

Whatever you do, do not go making the repairs yourself and then try and deduct the repair costs from the rent payments… You will most likely be brought in front of the tribunal for non-payment of rent, and when they make their decision they will not consider the fact that it was because the heater was repaired from your own pocket…

Write them a letter reminding them of their obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act, and if they fail to repair the heater take them to the tribunal. The tribunal can (and most likely will) order them to repair the heater out of their own pocket. The fact there is a second heater is irrelevant, as you have the right to use everything in your property. If you feel (and can prove, eg via an electricity bill and any documentation stating energy usage of both heaters) that the running costs of the ducted system are more expensive than running the smaller heater, ask the tribunal for those costs to be reimbursed as well…

Whatever you do, do not withhold payment, as this puts you in a far worse position if (and when) the matter goes in front of the tribunal.

I had a similair case when I was a PM – slightly reversed though. The house was filled with wall heaters, the living room one died beyond repair and the owner opted to install ducted throughout. Tenants felt that this was taking too long and took us to the Tribunal. They won.

In your instance, the key factor is whether or not the property was originally described to you as having wall heaters in fully working condition. If this is what was originally promised then you have a case on your hands.

Having said that, I think the right thing to do would just be to use the ducted. I’ve used ducted in a townhouses before and the cost wasn’t too high.

p1 said :

But what if the house had a single electric heater when they moved in, it broke, then it was replaced with gas ducted, what then?

Although the last place I rented had a single gas heater, and it used to cost a fortune to have it connect even in months where is was turned off at the valve and used no gas.

Then it’s being replaced with, arguably, a better alternative. Similar to a single flush toilet being replaced with dual flush – just to keep the toilet analogy going. In this case, the broken heater, which was functioning when they occupied the premises intitially isn’t being replaced at all.

S4anta: We are all students, so money isn’t exactly flowing into the property. We use blankets and jumpers where we can but theres a point where it just gets too damn cold in the loungeroom. Bills are high enough as is without adding a gas bill on top.

As for the warm bedrooms, not as much of an issue. A hot water bottle generally does the trick for getting into bed. It’s just the loungeroom we want heated as we spend most of our time in there, not the whole house.

johnny_the_knife said :

If the heater was in good working order when you moved in, I’d suggest the landlord has an obligation to maintain it.

To take another example, if you have a house with two toilets and one breaks, you’d expect that would be fixed even though you could use the other one.

But what if the house had a single electric heater when they moved in, it broke, then it was replaced with gas ducted, what then?

Although the last place I rented had a single gas heater, and it used to cost a fortune to have it connect even in months where is was turned off at the valve and used no gas.

See http://www.tenantsact.org.au/Advice/repairs.html for more

If the heater was in good working order when you moved in, I’d suggest the landlord has an obligation to maintain it.

To take another example, if you have a house with two toilets and one breaks, you’d expect that would be fixed even though you could use the other one.

Simple.

https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next

Another Rental thing… TU must be busy as. The legislation states:

Lessor to make repairs
55 (1) The lessor must maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair having regard to their condition at the commencement of the tenancy agreement.

The issue here is that does the non-working heater mean that the landlord is not keeping the property in a reasonable state of repair. Generally speaking, if the small heater was present when you moved into the property the landlord should repair it to ensure you have heating provided. But as you already have an alternate source of heating this is may not be an issue. The property is probably still in a reasonable state of repair.

There is no obligation for a landlord to replace a heater with ‘like for like’ (eg old heater goes and he replaces it with a spilt system etc).

But in the worse case scenario, and this goes to the Tribunal, it is likely he would be requried to either subsidise the additional running costs of the more expensive system or repair the old heater.

I suggest you serve the Agent with an Notice to Remedy (copy available via the RTT link http://www.courts.act.gov.au/magistrates/index.html) to repair the heater (or at least write a letter)… and advise them if they don’t, you will put in a claim for the increased electrical costs etc.

IS it really cheaper to run the wall heaters over using ducted heating ? Dont you want a warm bedroom to go sleep in ? ( I know I do )

In the mean time go buy a heater for your loungeroom, or buy some blankets and dressing gowns.

It also sounds like your gas isnt even connected, argue that fact with your landlord. Shouldn’t that cost go back on to them (if there is one)

You have every right to have the small heater fixed. If something was listed on the condition report at the beginning of your tenancy as in working order (which I assume it was), it should be kept in working order for the duration of the tenancy. You have signed a contract to pay $x per week based on the condition and inclusions of the property as listed on that report.

The tenants union provides some useful advice here. Your next step is to issue the agent with a notice to remedy. This will document everything in an official form should you require this as evidence down the track (hopefully it won’t go that far!)
http://www.tenantsact.org.au/Advice/repairs.html

If they still dont want to fix the heater, I would be giving them three options a) reduce the rent as the property is no longer in the original condition or b) ask the landlord to foot the bill for getting the gas connected and any additional costs you will incur or c) take it to the tribunal

It appears that this whole conundrum revolves around money. May I suggest you harden up and put another jumper on if one is afraid to turn the heater on during winter.

Absolutely 100%. The place was rented with the smaller heater as part of the lease. Therefore you have a right to expect that it will be maintained as part of the conditions of your paying rent.

I would write a formal letter to the managing agent and advise them that you require the heater to be fixed. If the landlord won’t do it, then you can pay to have it fixed and deduct the bill from your rent. If the agent and the landlord don’t like it, you can see them in the tribunal. I think you will find the tribunal takes a dim view of landlords who don’t maintain properties to the standard when rented.