Landlord Won’t Fix Urgent Repairs? Notice to Remedy Breach

The hot water system has failed. The toilet won’t flush. There’s a burst pipe under the sink. The smoke detector is faulty. The front door lock is broken. You contacted the landlord or agent days (or weeks) ago. They haven’t responded, or they’re “looking into it”, or they’ve sent a tradesperson who didn’t actually fix it.

Each Australian state’s Residential Tenancies Act distinguishes between urgent and non-urgent repairs, and the landlord’s obligations on urgent repairs are strict.

What counts as an urgent repair

Definitions vary slightly by state, but typically include:

• Burst water service or serious water leak
• Blocked or broken toilet
• Serious roof leak
• Gas leak
• Dangerous electrical fault
• Flooding or storm damage
• Failure of essential service (hot water, cooking, heating in cold months)
• Failure of security (broken locks, broken windows on accessible levels)
• Anything that puts the tenant’s safety at risk

What the landlord must do

For urgent repairs, the landlord must arrange the repair as soon as practicable — typically within 24–48 hours of being notified. If they don’t:

• You can authorise the repair yourself up to a state-defined limit (often the equivalent of two weeks’ rent) and recover the cost from the landlord
• You can apply to your state’s tribunal for an order compelling the repair plus compensation
• In severe cases, you may be entitled to break the lease without penalty

The Tenant Repair Notice

Before going to the tribunal or arranging your own emergency repair, send a formal Tenant Repair Notice. It:

• Identifies the repair issue, when it was first reported, and what the landlord has done (or failed to do)
• Cites the Residential Tenancies Act sections requiring urgent repair
• Demands the repair be completed within a specific timeframe (typically 24–72 hours depending on urgency)
• States that you’ll authorise the repair yourself and recover the cost if no action
• Names the tribunal application that will follow if needed

What you should NOT do

• Don’t withhold rent. This is illegal in every Australian state and can lead to eviction, even when the landlord is in breach.
• Don’t arrange major repairs without notice. The “self-help” repair right has dollar limits — exceeding them means you can’t recover the cost.
• Don’t assume verbal complaints count. The formal notice is what triggers your tribunal rights.

State tribunals

If the landlord still doesn’t act, your state’s tribunal — NCAT (New South Wales), QCAT (Queensland), VCAT (Victoria), SACAT (South Australia), ACAT (Australian Capital Territory), NTCAT (Northern Territory), or the Magistrates Court (Western Australia and Tasmania) — can issue an order compelling the repair, reduce the rent payable until the repair is done, or in serious cases terminate the lease without penalty.

Flat fee

The wizard asks about the property, the repair issue, when you reported it, what the landlord has said, and the urgency. Our Programmatic Algorithms draft the notice with state-specific Residential Tenancies Act citations and send it.