Major damage to your rental property - Information for landlords

If the property was destroyed or is unfit to live in, the lease has effectively ended. 

The most practical approach is to issue the tenant with a notice to immediately vacate the property. Alternatively, you can agree with the tenant and sign documentation to end the lease and repay the bond in the normal way.

You are not legally obliged to do so; your responsibilities end with the termination of the tenancy. However, you may choose to provide assistance. 

Issues relating to the property’s essential services of electricity, gas, water including supply of hot water, functioning refrigerator if provided with the property, and sewerage, septic tank or other waste water management, are considered to be urgent repairs. The remedy action to these issues must be initiated within 24 hours of being advised of the issue. 

If the issue will expose a person to injury, damage the property or cause the tenant undue hardship, these are also considered to be urgent repairs and you must initiate works within 48 hours of being notified.

If you fail to take any action, the tenant can serve a notice to you for the repairs to be carried out as soon as practicable.

With the urgent repairs, tenants can employ a suitably qualified repairer to carry out works to fix the issue to the minimum standard, if they cannot reach you to advise you of the issue or you fail to take action to initiate the works when notified. 

The tenant must be reimbursed for any reasonable expense incurred in arranging those repairs. 

For general repairs (i.e. non urgent repairs), you should have the issue assessed and initiate the works to remedy the situation as soon as possible. 

Yes. You are responsible for maintaining the property, including cleaning or clearing any debris caused by a disaster. 

Before arranging cleaning, contact the local authorities, such as the emergency services, who may already have a cleaning program in place. 

The tenant is only responsible for any cleaning that arises from their use of the property. 

When engaging cleaning and repair services, be wary of travelling conmen posing as tradespeople – see the warning below.

If a utility service has been cut off because of damage to the property, you are responsible for repairing the property so the service can be restored.

If there is no damage to the property, the tenant must contact the utility company and arrange for services to be restored. 

If a disaster has caused damage to property facilities such as the garage, swimming pool, sheds or outbuildings, you should consider reducing the rent. 

In these circumstances, the tenant has the right to apply to the Magistrates Court to assess whether a reduction is reasonable. 

No. You can only claim bond money at the end of a tenancy for the cost of repairs or cleaning due to the tenant causing damage or leaving the property in an unclean state.

Normally, a tenant is responsible for their own contents insurance. 

Unless the landlord can be shown to be negligent, the tenant will bear the cost of damage to their possessions.

If your property has been destroyed or damaged so that it is unfit to live in, you can inspect it at any time, as long as you have the permission of local authorities. 

You should contact the police or emergency services before travelling to a disaster area. 

The usual arrangements for inspections apply if your property is still leased and the tenants are living there. 

You can inspect the property provided you give the tenant appropriate notice.