After a tenant has asked their landlord to address an issue, the landlord should sort things out within a reasonable time period. What is reasonable will depend on the nature of the issue. For example, if work or repairs are required, it may take the landlord time to organise those.
If the landlord hasn’t done anything within a reasonable timeframe, the tenant may want to check-in with the landlord. A polite follow-up discussion or email can sometimes result in action. If this doesn’t work the tenants can send the landlord a 14-day notice to remedy.
14-day notice to remedy
A 14-day notice to remedy is a letter warning the landlord that they have 14 days to fix the problem, or the tenant may go to the Tenancy Tribunal to sort the matter out. A template 14-day notice is available here.
If the landlord still doesn’t act, the tenant will have to decide whether to go ahead with applying to the Tenancy Tribunal.
If the landlord retaliates
Some landlords react badly to tenants asserting their rights. It’s unlawful for a landlord to terminate a tenancy because a tenant complains about the tenancy, or tries to assert their rights (s 54 RTA). If this happens, a tenant can apply (within 28 working days) to the Tribunal for an order saying that the termination notice has no effect.
In this kind of situation, the tenant may not want to continue with the tenancy, but they may still want to consider seeking an order from the Tenancy Tribunal. The Tribunal has the power to order that the landlord pay the tenant up to $6,500 for the unlawful act (Schedule 1 RTA).
Sometimes a landlord will not terminate a tenancy, but will make life very difficult for a tenant who complains. Strategies on how to raise issues with the landlord can be found here.
Complaints about serious and ongoing breaches
Tenancy Services have a Compliance and Investigations Team who investigate breaches of tenancy law. The team focuses on breaches that are serious and ongoing. In particular, they target landlords who persistently breach the rules and who own numerous rental properties or unlawful residential premises, or rent to vulnerable people. In some instances, the team can take a case to the Tenancy Tribunal on behalf of a tenant.
Making a complaint is different to making an application to the Tenancy Tribunal. Anyone (including an advocate) can make a complaint to the Compliance and Investigations Team about a particular landlord, property management company, or property. If the team decide the matter is serious enough, they can take things up directly with the landlord – the tenant doesn’t have to be involved. The team have a range of compliance tools that can be used to hold landlords to account and get them to meet their obligations. These include formal warnings, enforceable undertakings, improvement notices and infringement notices.
The Compliance and Investigations Team will take steps to protect the tenant’s position, where possible. In some situations the landlord may suspect that the tenant is involved, but it’s important to remember that this is about serious and ongoing breaches that the tenant has the right to expect action on. If there is any kind of retaliatory action from the landlord, the tenant can take further action, (see the section above).
Find out from the Tenancy Services website how to make a complaint to the Compliance and Investigations Team.
Did you find this information helpful?
