Repairs and maintenance

The law says these problems need urgent repair:

• A burst water service
• A blocked or broken toilet
• A serious roof leak
• A gas leak
• A dangerous electrical fault
• Flooding or serious flood damage
• Serious storm or fire damage
• A failure or breakdown of any essential service or appliance provided for water, hot water, cooking, heating or doing laundry
• A failure or breakdown of any cooling appliance or service
• A failure to comply with minimum standards, if your lease (officially called a rental agreement) is dated after 29 March 2021. This includes asking for urgent repairs before you move in. Find out more on this website about minimum standards
• A failure or breakdown of any safety-related device, such as a smoke alarm
• A failure or breakdown in any appliance or fitting supplied by your community housing provider that will result in a large amount of water being wasted
• A failure or breakdown of the gas, electricity or water supply
• Any fault or damage that makes your home unsafe or not secure, including pest infestations and mould or damp caused by the building structure. Find out more on this page about mould and damp
• A serious fault in a lift or staircase

Fixing mould and damp caused by the building structure is an urgent repair under rental laws.

Properties for rent need to be free from mould and damp and meet minimum standards for ventilation. Find out more on our page about minimum standards.

Your community housing provider must tell you if it has received a notice about mould and damp in the past 3 years in a property you want to rent. See our page on what you should know before you sign.

Impact on health

Mould and damp in the home can have harmful health effects, including respiratory problems and mental health impacts.

The Healthy Housing Centre of Research Excellence, a project funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, has an infographic about how mould and damp can affect your health.

View the Healthy Housing infographic: Health impact of dampness and mould [PDF 808 KB].

Your responsibilities

Your community housing provider is responsible for fixing mould and damp caused by the property’s building structure.

However, if you cause any mould or damp, you may be asked to fix it. To avoid causing any mould or damp, follow your duties under the rental laws. These include keeping your home reasonably clean and taking care not to cause damage, like remembering to use the exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Sometimes it can be difficult to work out if repairs are urgent.

To start with, look at the list of problems the law says are urgent repairs on this page and check if your issue falls under any of them. For example, if you have a 4-burner stove and 2 burners are not working, it will be an urgent repair, even though the stove is still partly working. It falls under: ‘A failure or breakdown of any essential service or appliance provided for water, hot water, cooking, heating or doing laundry’.

Another way to test if repairs are urgent is to ask yourself if the issue is serious or makes your home unsafe. If you decide it is and apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to get the urgent repairs done and VCAT doesn’t agree it’s urgent, you will not be penalised. You will just have to go through the process for non-urgent repairs. Read more on this page about applying to VCAT to get urgent repairs done.

Call your community housing provider and ask for urgent repairs.

If the problem happens after hours, use the emergency contact number that should be in your lease (officially called a rental agreement).

Ask for a reference number for the call.

Put it in writing

Straight after the call, email your community housing provider to confirm in writing what repairs are needed. Do this even if it sounded like the call was enough.

If your community housing provider doesn’t do the repairs and you want to take further action, you will need to show that you requested the repairs in writing.

If you note that urgent repairs are needed on the condition report when you move in, the law considers this a written request for urgent repairs.

Keep a record

Make sure you keep a record of any communication you have with your community housing provider about the repairs.

It is also a good idea to take photos or videos of the problem. You could email them to your community housing provider when you confirm the repairs in writing. They may also be useful evidence later if you need to take further action.

After you contact your community housing provider, it should enter the repair job into its system (with a reference number) and give you the name of the contractor who will be doing the repairs.

With your consent, the contractor will contact you to arrange a day and time to do the work.

You should ask the contractor for identification before letting them into your home.

Once they have done the repairs, most contractors will ask you to sign a work order to confirm that they came to your home and completed the repairs. Never sign a blank work order.

When you sign you are only confirming the work was done. You are not confirming the quality of the work.

Proper notice to enter your home

Even if you requested the repairs, your community housing provider must follow the law in giving the proper notice to enter your home. Find out more on our page about privacy and entry.

If you receive proper notice, you have a legal obligation to let the community housing provider’s contractor into your home. If you don’t let them enter, it may affect any future compensation claim you make related to the repairs, and you can get a breach of duty notice for refusing entry. This website has more on breach of duty notices for renters.

While in your home, anyone working for your community housing provider must treat you respectfully.

If the repairs are not completed as soon as possible, or not done properly, contact your community housing provider to see if the issue can be resolved.

If you are not satisfied with the response, you can apply immediately to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). VCAT will hear your case within 2 business days and may order your community housing provider to do the repairs. VCAT is similar to a court and hears many disputes in Victoria between renters and landlords (like your community housing provider), who must follow its decisions.

If you need help, Tenants Victoria and other organisations can assist. See more on this page about getting help.

Applying to VCAT

To apply to VCAT for an urgent repair order, use the form on VCAT’s website: General application – residential tenancies.

Your application should include:

• Details of what needs to be fixed
• What you want VCAT to do. For example, you want VCAT to make an order that your community housing provider must arrange for the repairs to be done by a suitably qualified person and by a certain time
• Any supporting evidence, such as photos or videos of the problem and copies of any contact you had with your community housing provider about the repairs

For more on filling out the VCAT application form, see our page on applying to VCAT.

You can also use our Repairs Toolkit to complete the application form.

VCAT will let you know when and where the hearing will take place and what you need to bring.

At the VCAT hearing

At the hearing, you will need to show VCAT that you told your community housing provider about the problem and that the repairs are urgent. Bring along:

• A copy of your VCAT application form
• Your evidence, including photos, videos and copies of any contact you had with your community housing provider about the urgent repairs

In most cases, VCAT quickly makes an order on the day that says the landlord (your community housing provider) must do the repairs in an appropriate timeframe.

If VCAT doesn’t agree the problem is urgent, it may:

• Encourage everyone to reach an agreement at the hearing
• Dismiss your application, which means you will have to reapply for non-urgent repairs. If you paid an application fee, you won’t get it back

While you may feel stressed about the hearing, VCAT is less formal than a court and you can get help from Tenants Victoria and other organisations. Find out more on this page about getting help.

For more on preparing for VCAT and attending the hearing, see our page about dealing with VCAT.

You can also watch our step-by-step video on going to VCAT.

Keep paying rent

If your community housing provider doesn’t arrange the repairs, do not stop paying rent and do not use your rent money to pay for the repairs. If you don’t pay rent, your community housing provider could give you a notice to vacate for overdue rent, which could lead to you being evicted.

If you don’t want your community housing provider to get any rent from you until the repairs are done, you can ask VCAT if you can pay your rent to Consumer Affairs Victoria instead. Consumer Affairs Victoria is the government department that regulates the rental laws. Your money goes into the Rent Special Account until the repairs are completed or VCAT is satisfied the repairs will be competed. You can request to pay rent into the Rent Special Account on any repairs application to VCAT.

Another way to get urgent repairs done is to arrange and pay for them yourself then get reimbursed (repaid) by your community housing provider.

We generally don’t recommend this, unless the repairs are needed for safety or to stop serious damage and your community housing provider has not responded to your request.

If you arrange and pay for repairs yourself, you are responsible for the tradespeople and need to take additional steps to get repaid. You should also keep in mind that your community housing provider may have warranties covering various appliances and fittings. These may help with getting repairs done easily and cheaply but may require certain tradespeople to do the repairs for the warranty to continue.

You can arrange and pay for urgent repairs if:

• You tried to contact your community housing provider but could not reach them, or
• You contacted your community housing provider but they did not do the repairs, and
• The repairs cost less than $2500 (including GST)

Follow these steps for paying for urgent repairs and getting repaid by your community housing provider.

1. Check if you can pay

Can you afford to pay for the repairs yourself? Do you worry your community housing provider won’t repay you? Are the urgent repairs likely to cost more than $2500 (including GST)? If you are concerned about any of these things, apply to VCAT to ask for an urgent repair order instead. Find out more on this page about applying to VCAT for repairs.

2. Get quotes

If you pay for repairs, your community housing provider only has to pay you back for ‘reasonable’ costs. Get 2 or 3 quotes to compare prices and make sure you don’t pay too much.

As all repairs need to be done by a ‘suitably qualified person’, find a licensed tradesperson.

If an appliance or fitting is being replaced, make sure it meets any energy efficiency standards. See more on our page about minimum standards.

3. Book the repairs

Once you have selected the most reasonable quote and checked the GST, book your repairs.

4. Take ‘before and after’ photos and videos

Take photos and videos showing the damage before any work starts and then after the repairs are done. Keep these safe (and backed up), in case there are any questions in future.

5. Get a receipt or tax invoice

Make sure you get a receipt or tax invoice from the qualified tradesperson. Check that it includes details of the work done and how much you paid. If you think your community housing provider might try to blame you for the issue, ask the tradesperson to note what they suspect caused it.

6. Request payment from your community housing provider

Ask your community housing provider in writing to repay the money you spent on urgent repairs.

It is best to use the official Consumer Affairs Victoria form to do this as it means you include all the important details, such as descriptions of the repairs and costs and a copy of the invoice.

Download the Consumer Affairs Victoria form: Notice to rental provider of rented premises [Word 80 KB].

For more on completing the form and giving it to your community housing provider, see our page about landlord (rental provider) breaches.

7. What happens next

Once you have given your community housing provider your written request for payment, it has 7 days to repay you. If it doesn’t, you can apply to VCAT for an order that it repay you. For information on how to do this, see our page about applying to VCAT.

Call your community housing provider to report the problem and ask for repairs. Ask for a reference number for the call.

It is also a good idea to check your community housing provider’s website for its repairs and maintenance policy (rules). If you cannot find it on the website, ask for a copy to be sent to you.

Put it in writing

Once you have spoken to your community housing provider, put your request for repairs in writing. You should do this even if a phone call sounded like it would be enough.

If your community housing provider doesn’t do the repairs and you want to take further action, you will need to show that you requested the repairs in writing.

You can send an email or letter to ask for repairs, or use the Consumer Affairs Victoria form: Notice to rental provider of rented premises [Word 80 KB].

However, Tenants Victoria recommends using the Consumer Affairs Victoria form: Notice of breach of duty to rental provider of rented premises [Word 110 KB]. This can make it easier to claim compensation, if you decide to do that.

For help writing your email or letter or completing the Consumer Affairs Victoria ‘notice of breach of duty’ form, see our Repairs Toolkit.

There is also more information on our page about landlord (rental provider) breaches.

If you note that repairs are needed on the condition report when you move in, the law considers this a written request for repairs.

Keep a record

Make sure you keep a record of any communication you have with your community housing provider about the repairs.

It is also a good idea to take photos or videos of the problem. Consider sending them when you report the problem to your community housing provider. They may also be useful evidence later.

After you request the repairs, your community housing provider should enter the repair job into its system and give you the name of the contractor who will be doing the repairs.

With your consent, the contractor will contact you to arrange a day and time to do the repairs. Otherwise, your community housing provider will let you know when the contactor will be coming to your home to do the work.

The contractor must come within 14 days of you requesting the repairs.

You should ask the contractor for identification before letting them into your home.

Once they have done the repairs, most contractors will ask you to sign a work order to confirm that they came to your home and completed the repairs. Never sign a blank work order.

When you sign you are only confirming the work was done. You are not confirming the quality of the work.

Proper notice to enter your home

Even if you requested the repairs, your community housing provider must follow the law in giving the proper notice to enter your home. Find out more on our page about privacy and entry.

If you receive proper notice, you have a legal obligation to let the community housing provider’s contractor into your home. If you don’t let them enter, it may affect any future compensation claim you make related to the repairs, and you can get a ‘breach of duty’ notice for refusing entry. Find out more on this website about breach of duty notices for renters.

While in your home, anyone working for your community housing provider must treat you respectfully.

If your community housing provider doesn’t arrange the repairs within 14 days, you can request a free inspection from Consumer Affairs Victoria.

This step is optional. However, an inspection report can be useful evidence if the problem is not obvious or is hard to show in videos or photos, such as bad smells. The Consumer Affairs Victoria inspector may also negotiate directly with the community housing provider on your behalf to have the repairs carried out.

If you request a Consumer Affairs Victoria inspection, you must wait for the report before you can apply to VCAT. This can add a week or more to the process of getting to VCAT.

How to request a Consumer Affairs Victoria inspection

To request a free inspection, use the Consumer Affairs Victoria form: Request for repairs inspection or rent assessment [Word 71 KB].

Fill out the form and attach:

• Evidence that you asked your community housing provider for repairs in writing
• Any photos or videos of the problem

Then email or post your form and attachments to the address listed on the form. If you send it by post, we recommend you use registered post and keep your receipt and tracking number.

What happens next

An inspector from Consumer Affairs Victoria will contact you to arrange a time to visit your home.

After the inspection, they will send you and your community housing provider their report, including any recommendations they make for required works. They may also contact your community housing provider to discuss the report.

If Consumer Affairs Victoria recommends repairs, and your community housing provider does not arrange them, or you suspect they will not complete them in a timely manner, you can apply to VCAT for non-urgent repairs and attach a copy of the report.

You can also apply to VCAT for non-urgent repairs if Consumer Affairs Victoria is unable to inspect the property for any reason or if you think you have enough evidence without an inspection report.

If non-urgent repairs are not done by a suitably qualified person within 14 days of you requesting them in writing, you can apply to VCAT.

If you requested a free inspection from Consumer Affairs Victoria after the repairs weren’t done within 14 days, you need to wait for the inspection report before applying to VCAT.

VCAT should hear your case within 7 days and may order your community housing provider to do the repairs.

Applying to VCAT

To apply for a non-urgent repair order, use the form on VCAT’s website: General application – residential tenancies.

Your application should include:

• Details of what needs to be fixed
• What you want VCAT to do. For example, you want VCAT to make an order that your community housing provider must arrange for the repairs to be done by a suitably qualified person and by a certain time
• Any supporting evidence such as:
  • Photos or videos of the problem
  • Copies of any contact you had with your community housing provider about the repairs
  • The Consumer Affairs Victoria inspection report if you have one (if you have one, it must be attached to your application)

For more on filling out the VCAT application form, see our page on applying to VCAT.

You can also use our Repairs Toolkit to complete the application form.

VCAT will let you know when and where the hearing will take place and what you need to bring.

At the VCAT hearing

At the hearing, you will need to show VCAT that you gave your community housing provider written notice that repairs were needed. Bring along:

• A copy of your VCAT application form
• Your evidence, including photos, videos, copies of any contact you had with your community housing provider about the repairs and the Consumer Affairs inspection report if you have one

If the hearing is going to be online or by phone, contact VCAT beforehand on 1300 018 228 to discuss how you can provide your evidence.

Unless your community housing provider can prove you caused the damage, VCAT usually makes an order on the day that says the landlord (your community housing provider) must do the repairs in an appropriate timeframe.

In most repair orders, VCAT gives you a ‘right to renew’. This means you can take your community housing provider back to VCAT if it doesn’t follow the order, without having to make another application.

While you may feel stressed about the hearing, VCAT is less formal than a court and you can get help from Tenants Victoria and other organisations. Find out more on this page about getting help.

For more on preparing for VCAT and attending the hearing, see our page about dealing with VCAT.

You can also watch our step-by-step video on going to VCAT.

Keep paying rent

If your community housing provider doesn’t arrange the repairs, do not stop paying rent and do not use your rent money to pay for the repairs. If you don’t pay rent, your community housing provider could give you a notice to vacate for overdue rent, which could lead to you being evicted.

If you don’t want your community housing provider to get any rent from you until the repairs are done, you can ask VCAT if you can pay your rent to Consumer Affairs Victoria instead. Your money goes into the Rent Special Account until the repairs are completed or VCAT is satisfied the repairs will be competed. You can request to pay rent into the Rent Special Account on any repairs application to VCAT.

If you need support in dealing with repairs and maintenance, help is available.

There are step-by-step guides, self-help tools and other resources to assist you with repairs and maintenance.

The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 is Victoria’s main law for renting. It describes the rights and duties of renters and rental providers (like community housing providers) in numbered sections.

The sections in this list relate to repairs and maintenance in public housing. Click on a link to see the section in the Act.

• Section 30D – Information rental providers must disclose before entering a rental agreement
• Section 61 – Renter and visitor must not damage premises or common areas
• Section 62 – Renter must notify rental provider of damage
• Section 63 – Renter must keep and leave rented premises reasonably clean
• Section 65A – Premises that do not comply with rental minimum standards
• Section 68 – Rental provider must keep property in good repair
• Section 68A – Rental provider must comply with safety-related repairs & maintenance requirements
• Section 72AA – Renter must report damage or breakdown of facilities
• Section 72 – Renter can arrange urgent repairs
  Section 73 – Applications to VCAT for urgent repairs
• Section 74 – Investigate need for non-urgent repairs
• Section 75 – Application to VCAT for non-urgent repairs
• Section 76 – VCAT orders for non-urgent repairs
• Section 77 – Rent Special Account
• Section 209AAB – Application for compensation or compliance order for cost of urgent repairs

The Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 provide more detail and definitions, and specify updates to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Community housing provider policies

Your community housing provider also has policies (rules) that set out its obligations to communicate and act respectfully and fairly to ensure your home is safe and that maintenance work is done a timely manner.

You can usually access these policies on your community housing provider’s website. If you cannot find a policy on its website, you should make a request in writing for a copy to be sent to you.