Are they required to fix it ASAP?

[Jem]

Hi Guys..
Hoping someone might be able to help me out here?
Our Wood Heater isnt going.. due to the handle snapping off on friday..
We have had to freeze all weekend.. and my kids are starting to get a cold :crying:
As i am renting... is my agent, required to fix this as a matter of urgency???
tommorrow will be a cool morning.... minus 3 :eek:
i went in to the agent this morning, and they said they would get back to me...
BUT, i know what they are like... my oven has been un-usable for a fortnight.... and THAT was supposed to be priority.. and fixed ASAP :confused:

[Chickadee]

I would think that qualifies as an emergency and needing repair ASAP. Check your lease conditions first, sometimes there are clauses in there about response times to repair and maintenance requests. And then contact the Ministry of Fair Trading http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/

From that website (text trimmed down by me):

Residential premises must always be 'fit to live in'. Landlords are obliged to organise any urgent repair, as soon as reasonably possible, after having been notified by the tenant of the fault or damage.

An urgent repair is any work needed to fix:
...
a failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supply to the premises
a failure or breakdown of any essential service on the premises for hot water, cooking, heating or laundering...

How to get urgent repairs carried out:
Tenants can spend up to $500 on urgent repairs and be reimbursed within 14 days by the landlord. The landlord or agent must first be given a reasonable opportunity to arrange the work, or if they cannot be reached, any properly qualified tradesperson nominated in the agreement should be contacted. Refer to your tenancy agreement for more information.

For me, I would interpret a "reasonable opportunity to arrange the work" as being that they should have at least started looking for a tradesman by this afternoon, and by noon tomorrow they should have an appointment booked for the repair. That's assuming you first notified them this morning. In the meantime, I'd start phoning around myself to check the availability of people and to have one or two tradesmen already checked out and ready to start, just in case the agent doesn't come through. Even if you can't afford to do the repair yourself, if you have someone ready and two or three quote already then you can give that to the agent to speed things up.

[sugar n spice]

I think it depends on wether the heater had a fault for the handle to break of or wether it was because of something you or a child down otherwise it would be at your cost

[Hokey Pokey]

Honestly I don't think they will call it an emergency, as they could turn around and tell you to use an electric one in the mean time..
Hope they fix it soon for you tho!

[InSaneOne]

you can call the rta (or go online) and get a form 11(i think that the one?) you then fill it out and give it to the realestate. tehy then have a certain amount of time to get the things fixed otherwise they are considered in breach of contract and you are welcome to take it further through the rta or look for a new rental and not have to pay for break of lease on this property as they were the ones who broke the contract first. i am currently waiting for them to fix the gutters because everytime it rains our garage floods and we have been told that they need to compensate us for anything we have lost due to the flooding as the gutters were supposed to be fixed 18months ago when we first moved in. (they did get new one put in 4 weeks ago but the downpipes are not near or connected to drains so it still floods)

i really hate the stingy landlords who don't fix something when it is broken. (i bet they would be the first to complain if their heater or oven wasn't working)

[Angelmist♥]

Hi Jem,
When we were renting the house we were in had a major red-back spider problem, and after ringing the real estate to no avail for weeks, I ended up packing up both babies and sitting in their office until something had been done!
Otherwise they end up just forgetting all about you and your problems.

I'd be ringing and ringing (or going down there) as much as possible. Ha ha if they see your kid's have a cold they are probably going to want you out of there ASAP! SO they'll do everything in their power to help!

As for your oven being un-usable for a fortnight, that's terrible..

[Jem]

Hi Guys..
Well Dp had enough yesty arvo.. so he decided to do a bodge (sp?) job on it...
So YAY.. we are warm!!! :D
he actually did a pretty good job... impressed :thumbsup: