Emergency Repairs

Urgent repairs fall into two categories: essential services and other urgent repairs.  A suitable repairer must be found within a reasonable time-frame.  There are some times when a tenant may need to arrange for the repairer.

Essential services

Essential services are listed in the Residential Tenancies Regulations 1989 and include repairs to:

• a burst water service, please see Water Corp’s guide regarding leaks
• gas leaks, please see ATCO’s guide to reporting a gas leak
• broken hot water system,
• sewerage leaks or
• dangerous electrical faults, please see Western Power’s guide to reporting incidents and emergencies

Other urgent repairs

Other urgent repairs are not an essential service, but if not fixed might cause damage to the premises, injure a person or cause undue hardship or inconvenience to the tenant/s. For example, a broken window.

The landlord/lessor has 24 hours to do this if the repair is needed to a defined essential service, and 48 hours for any other urgent repair.  The repair does not need to be fixed within this time but the lessor must make an appointment with the repairer to fix the problem.

• Leaks to the water meter itself or on the verge side can be reported directly to the Water Corporation – 13 13 85
• Turn water meter off immediately & turn on as needed for toilets/showers etc while waiting for the leak to be attended to
• Dangerous Electrical issues/Power lines & Meter issues etc: Western Power has 24hour emergency service – 13 13 51
• Gas faults and emergencies – 13 13 52
• State Emergency Services (SES) – 13 25 00

The contractors will advise if your matter is an emergency or a non-urgent repair.  Events such as the air-conditioner or oven not working would not be deemed an emergency but will be prioritised upon our return (please email your property manager or lodge maintenance request as usual through your tenant portal/app Console Tenant).

Please bear in mind the cost to the owners. After hours/Emergency call out fees may be more than double the usual cost, so if your matter can wait until the next business day please wait.

The emergency contractor may attend to ‘make safe’ only.

We understand these emergency repairs can be stressful, please be calm and be patient when you call for after-hours maintenance service.

If when you call you reach a voicemail message, ensure to leave a clear detailed message with the following information:

• State that you are a current tenant of Elders Rockingham
• Include your property address
• Include your contact information
• Details of the emergency that requires attention

Lastly – Please email your Property Manager and advise them of your emergency and the appointed contractor so that we can compile a report to the owner.

Steps to Take

• Hot Water System not working.

1. If it is a gas hot water system, check that the pilot light is on; should it be out, the tenant is required to follow the instructions to light it again.
2. Ensure that all taps are on leading to the hot water system
3. If the hot water system is still not working, report to the Property Manager via emergency contact details. If the matter is able to wait until the following business day then please report urgently during office hours.

• Burst Water Pipe or Gas Leak

1. Turn off the water or gas at the mains immediately.
2. Contact the plumber in the emergency contractor list
3. Advise Elders Rockingham the following working day of events and actions taken.

If you have a blocked or overflowing toilet and there are two toilets available and one toilet is still serviceable, the repair will have to wait until the next standard working day.

• Break-in and/or damage to glass

1. Contact your local police station and report that incident immediately.
2. The police will provide you with a Police Report Number. You must advise our Property Management Department of this report number the next available business day. Failure to obtain a Police Report Number and supply it to our Agency may result in the cost of the repairs being invoiced to you.
3. Should glass be damaged from a break in and property unable to be secured, please contact the glazier.
4. When advising your Property Manager of the Police Report Number and the action taken, please advise if there is any other damage to the property other than the glass.
5. You may instruct the glazier to forward the invoice directly to Elders Rockingham. If the glass breakage is a result of an act attributable to the tenant, the payment of the invoice must be made by the tenant.
6. If a window has shattered, however the property is still secured, please place an X across the window to secure and keep all occupants/visitors away until the glazier can remedy on the following business day.

Please advise Elders Rockingham the following working day of events and actions taken.

• Severe Damage to the Property (Including storm, vehicle impact, fire, etc)

1.  If injury to a person or there is a fire, call 000
2. Call State Emergency Services (SES) on 1300 130 039
3. If there is any electrical damage, turn power off at mains and call electrician
4. If there are any burst water pipes, turn water off at  mains and call plumber
5. If there is structural damage to the house, or electrical problems do not stay in the house.
6. Advise Elders Rockingham the next available working day. The Property Manager will contact the building insurer to assess the damage.

• Electrical Emergencies

1. No power: Tenant is reminded to check that one of their appliances has not caused the power outage prior to arranging an electrician to attend or the call out fee will be charged to the tenant. You can refer to the following site to confirm whether it is an outage in the area; https://westernpower.com.au/power-outages/power-outages-map/2
2. If one power point is not working, then the tenant is required to run an extension to another point until the next available business day.
3. Electrical emergencies, please contact electrician

• Lost keys or Locked Keys inside Property

1. The tenant will need to arrange for a locksmith to attend to allow access to the property as this will be the tenant’s directly related expense.
2. The tenant may contact our office during business hours to arrange collection of the office set of keys.

• Aircon Not Working

1.  Please ensure to turn the air conditioning off at the main power point if it is faulting.
2. If it does not seem to be cooling/heating efficiently, please ensure filters have been cleaned and it is not set to ‘auto’. Also try resetting the unit by turning unit off at the mains and back on after a few minutes. *If your property has evaporative air conditioning, please note that these do not operate as effectively on hot days*
3. If the unit is a ducted evaporative unit and is leaking water, ensure the exterior water tap is turned off (usually the tap is located on the external rear or side wall).
4. Contact your property manager at Elders Rockingham the next available working day to advise.

• Remote Garage Door will not open

1. Check the batteries and replace if necessary.
2. Reset the motor by switching the main power point off and back on in 10 minutes or so.
3. Try opening the door manually with the pull cord if door is shut and needed to be opened. The pull cord needs to be in the manual operation before this can be opened.
4. Contact the manufacturer / installer for advice. Their details are usually listed on the motor.

ELECTRICIAN:
For power outages – check if there is a current issue on your street and ensure to test for faulty appliances first as the Electrician’s call out fee may be invoiced to your tenancy if the problem is due to faulty kettle, toaster etc.

APW Electrical – 08 9527 1695

Dodds Electrical – 08 9587 0222

PLUMBING and GAS: 
Turn off your water mains/meter immediately if you have a burst pipe or major leaks then contact the plumber.

Allied Plumbing & Gas – 0488 994 042

On Tap Plumbing & Gas – 1800 882 249

LOCKSMITHS
Master Locks – 0400 040 838

Prestige Locksmith – 1800 300 399

GLAZING
Jays Glass – 0409 972 023

Greg’s Glass – 08 9527 8195

Rockingham Glass – 08 9527 1794

GARAGE DOORS
CJ Garage Doors / Syd – 0413 547 321

In an Extreme Emergency where you are unable to rectify the problem yourself, our mobile phone number for Property Management is 0491 731 063 and will be taken home by one of our Property Managers.

However we ask that you leave a message stating your name, address & brief description of the emergency and we will return your call at an appropriate hour if your message is found to be an emergency, otherwise your call will be returned on the next available standard working day.