It is the policy of Amélie Housing to:
- Work within the Residential Tenancies Act and other legislation, standards and codes
- Deliver responsive maintenance services that aim to promote quality of life for household members and tenants by providing properties that are safe, clean and in good working order
- Provide ease of access for reporting and follow up of any responsive maintenance issue
- Ensure that repairs and maintenance are carried out in a consistent, efficient, timely and effective way
- Conduct annual r property inspections, to determine the standard of each property
- Ensure that its approach to repairs and maintenance form part of good customer service
- Ensure that tenants have appropriate information about repairs and maintenance, including their legal responsibilities and rights, Amélie Housing’s policies and procedures, emergency contacts, property and service standards, opportunities for participation and feedback, and how to complain or appeal
- Ensure that there are clear contracts and agreements about repairs with tradespeople, contractors providing service and tenants
- Optimise the useful life of its housing portfolio by monitoring the repairs and maintenance service and carrying out planned and preventative maintenance
- Ensure contractors are licensed, insured and provide quality for money service
- Maintain all properties at a responsible and acceptable level of safety and security
- Maintain public liability cover to meet Amélie Housing’s duty of care responsibilities
Reporting repairs
It is important that all required repairs are reported to Amélie Housing as soon as the tenant or household member becomes aware there is an issue.
This helps Amélie Housing respond to repairs as quickly as possible.
Tenants will be given information on how to report a repair on signing their Residential Lease Agreement.
This includes:
- What to do in an emergency
- What to do if a repair is out of hours
- What to do if an urgent repair is required
- How tradespeople will contact tenants for access
- Allowing tradespeople access to properties to carry out repairs
Emergency repairs
Amélie Housing works to respond to Emergency Repairs within a set timeframe. Emergency repairs are defined by the Residential Tenancy Act (2010) and are set out in each Residential Tenancy Agreement.
Emergency repairs include:
- Burst water service
- Blocked or broken lavatory system
- Serious roof leak
- Gas leak
- Dangerous electrical fault
- Flooding or serious flood damage
- Serious storm or fire damage
- Failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supplies to the premises
- Failure or breakdown of any essential service on the premises for hot water, cooking, heating or laundering
- Fault or damage that has caused the premises to be unsafe or unsecured
- Dangerous or a serious health hazard.
Amélie Housing will make every effort to attend to emergency repairs within 24 hours.
Amélie Housing will supply each tenant with emergency repair contacts.
In an emergency, if Amélie Housing cannot be contacted, the tenant will contact the relevant tradesperson named on the front of his/her Residential Tenancies Agreement.
In any situation where payment must be made by a tenant for an emergency repair where staff of Amélie Housing are unable to attend, Amélie Housing will reimburse the tenant. In every situation, Amélie Housing must be notified of the required repair by leaving a phone message, email or contacting staff wherever possible.
Urgent repairs
Urgent repairs are not specified in the Residential Tenancy Act. Amélie Housing defines urgent repairs as problems which cause the tenant a high degree of disruption and/or may lead to more serious problems or higher costs if unattended.
These include:
- Leaking guttering
- Faulty power point
- Broken sash cord
- Internal doors that do not close
- Cracked windowpane that could break.
Urgent repairs will be carried out within five working days.
Routine maintenance
Amélie Housing defines routine maintenance as problems that cause little or no disruption to the tenant and do not lead to other defects or an escalation of the original problem. They may be unattractive or lower the standard of the neighbourhood. Routine maintenance includes:
- Cracked windowpane not in danger of breaking
- Missing flyscreens
- No security doors
- General repainting
- Unkempt yard/grounds, rubbish.
Routine maintenance will be carried out within 28 days or will be scheduled to be carried out as part of planned responsive maintenance and property upgrades.
Tenant responsibility for maintenance
As defined by the Residential Tenancies Act (2010) the tenant is responsible for cleanliness, repairs and damage.
The tenant will:
- Keep the premises reasonably clean, including taking responsibility for:
- Carpet cleaning
- Fumigation
- General cleaning
- Keeping the grounds neat and the lawns mowed
- Cleaning leaves from the gutters
- Removing their rubbish
- Notify the landlord of any damage to the premises as soon as practicable
- Not to intentionally or negligently, cause or permit any damage to the premises
- When the Tenancy Agreement ends, to leave the premises as near as possible, in the same condition as set out in the premises condition report (excluding fair wear and tear).
Routine Property inspections
Amélie Housing will conduct tenancy inspections according to the Residential Tenancy laws for each state and territory in which it operates.
Amélie Housing will ensure that tenants receive seven days clear notice of general inspections and will make every effort to agree suitable arrangements for immediate inspection with the tenant in cases of emergency.
Amélie Housing will only enter the premises without the tenant’s permission when there is reason to believe that there is a threat to the safety of the tenant or others in the premises. In such cases Amélie Housing will consider whether it is appropriate to be accompanied by the local police and/or the tenant’s support worker.
Property inspections help make sure that any unreported responsive maintenance issues are assessed, and arrangements can be made for repairs to be done.
Responsive maintenance in leasehold properties
A leasehold property is a property that Amélie Housing leases from the private market through a real estate agent. Amélie Housing then leases the property to the tenant at subsidised rates.
For all required repairs, tenants are to contact Amélie Housing first to report the repair and are not contact the real estate agent.
Once staff are made aware of the need for a repair, they will make arrangements for tradespeople assigned from the real estate to contact the tenant or household member for access.
Amélie Housing recognises that in some situations, private market landlords may not meet their obligations for repairs under the Residential Tenancies Act. (2010) If this occurs, Amélie Housing will arrange for repairs to be carried out and will seek reimbursement through the private market agent.
Complaints and Appeals
If a tenant is not satisfied with a service provided by Amélie Housing or does not agree with a decision it has made, they can ask for a formal review. To do this, the tenant can complete a review of decision form.
Details on how to make a complaint, provide feedback or lodge an appeal are found in Amélie Housing Complaints and Appeals policy.
Additional Information for NSW tenants:
If a tenant is unhappy with the outcome of an appeal to Amélie Housing in NSW, they can lodge an appeal Housing Appeals Committee. The Housing Appeals Committee is an independent agency that reviews certain decisions made by staff of Community Housing organisations and Housing NSW. For information on the Housing Appeals Committee call 1800 629 794 or go to www.hac.nsw.gov.au.