Urgent repairs in residential rental properties

What are considered to be 'urgent repairs'?

Under the NSW residential tenancy laws, an 'urgent repair' means:

• a gas leak
• a dangerous electrical fault
• flooding or serious flood damage
• serious storm or fire damage
• a failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supply to the property
• a failure or breakdown of any essential service for hot water, cooking, heating, cooling or laundering
• a fault or damage which makes the property unsafe or insecure
• a burst water service
• an appliance, fitting or fixture that uses water or is used to supply water that is broken or not functioning properly, so that a substantial amount of water is being wasted
• a blocked or broken toilet
• a serious roof leak.

This rule does not include work needed to repair premises that are owned by a person other than the landlord or a person having superior title (such as a head landlord) to the landlord.

Smoke alarms are also considered 'urgent' to ensure they are working, but there are different rules about their repair. Get more information about repair and maintenance of  smoke alarms.

Tenants' responsibilities

The tenant must notify the landlord or agent of urgent repair needs straight away.

If the landlord or agent does not fix the problem then tenants need to refer to their tenancy agreement to get details of approved repairers. Tenants can then follow the steps to getting urgent repairs done.