Dispute with tenant over repairs

Hi,

I am in dispute with a tenant on an IP since the 22nd of March exactly.
The tenant sent a Fair Trading letter to fix the issues before asking $100 rent reduction for 5 months and they are threatening me to go to NCAT if I don't accept.
Is it worthwile for me to dispute it through NCAT or to cop it/move on ? The PM is saying the tribunal would favor the tenant and I am better off accepting the tenant's offer.

Both issues were repaired in the first week of April l but it was not in my hand unfortunately.
The builder was too busy and forgot about it. Regarding the AC, I would say the tenant is at fault for not being proactive but I believe the tenant is using the tile issue as a leverage for the AC issue.

Summary from the PM:

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

 

Is the crack cosmetic or actually affecting (reducing) the amenity in some way? Can you post some photos for context?

Just going to take a punt here with no info yet and say the crack is not affecting the amenity and you probably don’t have to worry about compensation being awarded against you for that, but the air con not working for many months and during summer you will likely be ordered to pay something back if settlement outside of xCAT not reached, in saying that, don’t be dissuaded not to go to xCAT, present your offer with reasoning, if it holds more logic and weight than some arbitrary figure they pull out of thin air, the adjudicator will most likely side with your consideration on the matter if it’s half reasonable, simply because they have not presented something better.

 

PM seems remarkably slack in not following up repairs in a reasonable time frame.

PM also seems to be putting a lot of their job on to the tenant - supplying serial and model numbers, photographing damage etc over a 12 month period.

Surely some PM inspections done during this time giving the PM a chance to follow up and take photos, check serial numbers etc.

 

Indeed, the crack is purely cosmetic and was not affecting any of the amenity.
I am trying to find the video from the tenant but I uploaded some pictures of the repairs in the meantime.
The tenant never followed up until they lodged a complain with Fair Trading when one of their AC stopped working.
The builder told me there were not enough screw in the vilaboard and the crack happened at the joint because it just came of. They had to remove a lot of tiles in the bathroom to fix all the vilaboard so it won't happen again. Also to try and match the tiles as much as possible because it's a different batch now. It was approximately 3-4 days full day job.

Regarding the AC, the tenant actually has 3 AC in the apartment (one for the living room and one for each bedroom). I believe the one not working would be the one in the living room.
I have been arguing with the fact the tenant never responded to us with information required to submit a service request with Daikin until it was too late.

I actually don't know where the 5 months came from, neither the $100 rent reduction.
In the past, I was offered $50 (as a tenant) but I have never seen $100.
I also paid for all the cost of repairs and it was a substantial amount.

 

The PM has said the air con hasn't been working since December. Isn't that it?

 

The tenant asked $100 rent reduction for 5 months on the 22nd of March.
From memory, the AC was repaired on the 10th of April but that doesn't equate to 5 months if you start it from the 1st of December to 22nd of March. I would say give or take 4 months would be more accurate.
Part of it is because we never received information from the tenant.
I also want to argue that warranty repairs don't happen like that especially if I want to keep the warranty. We also had a very hard time contacting Daikin to make a booking because they didn't want to take responsibility.

 

Ah okay, so more like 4 months.

The applicable law is probably partial loss of amenity, which is usually calculated as a % of loss amenity versus a % of the rent. So the specific figure depends what the property is like overall and the rental amount.

Importantly the reasons for the loss aren't usually important - so all that warranty/Daikin stuff is probably irrelevant. I'm pretty skeptical of the argument that the tenant should have forwarded the information sooner as well - while it would have been nice, ultimately maintenance/repairs are a landlord obligation.

 

Sounds like you should´ve fixed the air con. They´ve missed it for basically the main usage period (Summer).

 

I'm getting the impression this property isn't very old ?
Builder/warranty and such descriptions.........
Just hand the bill for the $100pw for the 4 months odd to the builder

 

In looking at the photos it looked quite disruptive to the tenant to have the bathroom tiles removed, new waterproofing (hopefully!), new tiles, so there's potentially a case there for their loss of amenity in that period.

I'm also amazed in the 12 months since the tenants reported it that the PM hasn't done a routine inspection.

I would also consider how much the total rent is to make sure $100pw is a fair portion and then I would consider offering it to them for the x weeks between Feb and when it was repaired.

That way if it does go to ncat then at least you have a fair and reasonable calculation and have offered them some sort of resolution.

 

That a lot of excuses. The tenant has had their quality and amenity impacted. That bathroom tiling etc is a no go. Its not acceptable. Dust and dirt and cleaning will also be alleged as well as disruption for tiler hours I havent seen a tiler who makes no mess. Defective Aircon also is not fixed promptly. I would split out the week of tiling at a higher adjustmnet (50% perhaps of weeks rent) and then a lesser weekly amount for the 1 Aircon out of 3. Dont argue blame. It wasnt working and wasnt fixed.

 

All that time, expense, inconvenience and mess to fix a cosmetic crack makes no sense. I reckon you made things worse even attending to it during the lease jf there was no functional issue, would have been better to repair.at end of lease.

Alternatively, would have been way quicker, easier and potentially been a nicer result had you just microcemented the wall in question. Different microcements can handle higher levels of movement etc so cracks wouodnt have been an issue and they could've gone straight over the existing once they worked out there was no actual.leak.or major issue as you claimed.

3 half/quarter days in a row, 160-220/sqm and no major removal and disposal.costs etc..1 trade in and out

 

I was waiting to see if anyone would say exactly this... and @thatbum did the job.... and the comment is spot on.