Whether you’re a tenant, landlord or property manager, there can be times when disagreements occur on topics such as maintenance, rent increases and inspections.
While it can sometimes be difficult to resolve these disagreements, it’s safe to say that no one wants their issues to end up in front of a tribunal but fear not, there is some good news with the introduction of a new NSW Fair Trading tenancy complaint service.
Officially launched last week, Fair Trading has been trialling this service since December 2013 receiving over 1500 complaints, with an 88% resolution rate (which we think is pretty good).
So what can you expect help on when you touch base with Fair Trading? Good question! The list below outlines the types of issues that they can assist with:
- Repairs and maintenance
- Non-urgent health and safety issues
- Alterations to premises
- Access to premises or inspections
- Non-compliance with a tenancy agreement
- Water saving devices and smoke alarms
- Provision of correct notices
- Ending a tenancy or breaking a lease
- Condition reports
- Rental increases
- Rental arrears of less than 14 days.
By lodging your complaint online or over the phone, an officer from Fair Trading will take a neutral approach and aim to bring both parties together to resolve the issue through mutual agreement. If it gets to the point that the issue is not resolved through the process, either party has the option to take the matter further with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
So rather than squabble and stress about disagreements or going straight to NCAT, try out the free service on offer to resolve your issues. It might just be the best thing you do all week.
For more information regarding this new free service click here or visit https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/Our_services/Resolving_issues/Residential_tenancy_complaints.page
