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Tab 3 · Repairs · Victoria

Repairs in an SDA home

Consumer Affairs Victoria says an urgent repair in a Victorian SDA home must be fixed immediately, or if that is not possible, as soon as possible and within 2 days at most; a non-urgent repair must be fixed within 14 days of you telling your provider. If the work is not done, either path can end at VCAT with a repairs order.

General information about Victorian law, not legal advice. The official place to check is Consumer Affairs Victoria’s page on repairs and maintenance in SDA.

First question

Urgent or non-urgent

Everything turns on which kind of repair it is. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s repairs page lists what counts as urgent, and any issue that is not an urgent repair is a non-urgent one. That list is worth reading before anything breaks, so that you already know which of the two clocks below will apply.

Both kinds can be raised on the same official form. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Notice to SDA provider is the form for asking your provider to arrange urgent or non-urgent repairs, or to install fixtures. If you have a support person, Consumer Affairs Victoria says they can help you understand your rights under your SDA residency agreement.

Two paths

What happens, step by step

An urgent repair

  1. Tell your provider about it. The Notice to SDA provider can be used for urgent repairs as well as non-urgent ones.
  2. Consumer Affairs Victoria says it must be fixed immediately, and if that is not possible, your provider must arrange for it to be fixed as soon as possible, and within 2 days at most.
  3. If you told your provider and they did nothing, you can apply to VCAT for a repairs order.
  4. Under section 498P, the Tribunal must hear an urgent-repairs application within 2 business days after it is made.

A non-urgent repair

  1. Tell your provider in writing.
  2. Your provider must fix it within 14 days of you telling them.
  3. If it has not been fixed, you can ask the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria to investigate, using the Application to Director.
  4. If you get a report back, it stays valid for 60 days, and you can apply to VCAT for a repairs order within that time.
  5. If no report has come 90 days after you applied for it, the Act lets you apply to VCAT without it.
Section 498P

The urgent-repairs application, in the Act’s terms

Section 498P of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 lets you, or your chosen person, ask the Tribunal for an order that the provider carry out specified urgent repairs. Two things come first: you or your chosen person took reasonable steps to have the provider do the repairs immediately, and you could not get the provider to do them.

The Tribunal then has to hear the application within 2 business days. In deciding it, the Tribunal must consider the Director’s guidelines, among whatever else it weighs.

Knock-on effects

When a fault reaches the bills, or your room

A large usage bill

If a usage bill comes in high because something is faulty, Consumer Affairs Victoria says your provider must pay the extra amount, and if your provider refuses, you can apply to VCAT for a decision. The money tab covers who pays which bills.

Damage, and a notice to vacate

A provider must not give a notice to vacate for serious damage or destruction where fair wear and tear, accidental damage, or reasonable use of the dwelling or of its aids, equipment, fixtures and fittings significantly contributed. Those are four of the nine matters the Act lists; the notices tab gives all nine.

Moving out of your room for the work

If your room is being repaired or renovated, ask your provider whether there is another room you can move into. If there is, the provider must give you that option before finding you somewhere else to live, and the room should be available at the same rent. The same holds where a notice to vacate is given for repairs or renovation to your room or to part of the property: ask about another room, and if one is free, your provider must offer it to you before finding you somewhere else to live. The notices tab explains temporary relocation notices and notices to vacate.

An illustration

One non-urgent repair, followed through

Illustration only, not a real case. A resident notices a fault that is not on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s urgent list. On 3 March they write to the provider about it on the Notice to SDA provider. The provider’s 14 days run from that day, so the repair should be done by 17 March. It is not, so the resident sends the Application to Director. A report arrives in April. It is valid for 60 days, and the resident can apply to VCAT for a repairs order within that time if they choose to.

Behind this tab

What this tab can hold

The dates carry the weight here. A non-urgent repair starts its 14 days on the day you told your provider in writing, and an investigation report is good for 60 days. A copy of each Notice to SDA provider, each Application to Director and any report, kept in date order behind this tab, keeps those clocks easy to read for you and for anyone helping you.

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