What to do if your rental home is affected by floods

Flood and storm affected renters across NSW are being urged to contact their property managers, with thousands of homes across the state badly damaged or destroyed by flooding and wild weather.

About 40,000 people across the state were ordered to leave their homes yesterday, with Sydney suburbs like Camden in the south-west, Richmond in the north-west and Narrabeen on the northern beaches submerged.

It comes after flooding on the state’s north coast left more than an estimated 2000 homes uninhabitable, and flooding in south-east Queensland destroyed more than 4000 homes.

Those affected have already lodged tens of thousands of insurance claims. Tenancy support groups and property managers have been inundated with calls for assistance, as residents set their sights on the clean-up and post-flood process ahead.

Key steps for impacted renters

Contact your property manager or landlord Tenants are urged to contact their property manager or landlord as soon as it is safe to do so if they are in a flood affected area.

“Property managers will be trying to contact their tenants to find out if they are okay,” said Emily Sim, Ray White’s chief executive of property management.

If possible, renters should advise their property manager if they have been evacuated from their home, regardless of whether they can provide initial details on the extent of any damage caused.

“Stay in communication with your property manager about the state of the property and your wellbeing,” Ms Sim said.

Assess and detail damage Next comes assessing the damage to a property once it is deemed safe to do so. While some homes will be clearly uninhabitable, others may require closer inspection.

“[We need to assess whether] you can safely live in it or not, it might look fine, but maybe the electrics are buzzing or there is a gas leak, or maybe you can’t lock the house,” Ms Sim said.

The property manager will generally need to inspect a home to determine what needs to be fixed, whether an insurance assessor needs to come through and, in worst-case scenarios, whether the tenancy needs to be terminated.

Ms Sim warned this would take time, noting it had taken one Brisbane office with about 600 rental properties eight days to determine the state homes had been left in. Of those, 250 had been damaged and six had been left uninhabitable.

Sydney property manager Nadia Cruz, owner of Vibe Property, said it would take several days before she was across the true extent of the damage across her Hawkesbury rent roll, but already knew some homes had been severely affected.

She encourages tenants to thoroughly document the damage to their home upon their return.

“Take photos of how you find it, a video if you can, and take notes,” she said. “Video call your property manager or ask them, ‘can you come out and have a look?’ just so they can see the amount of damage.

“The property manager can then speak to landlord and ask ‘are we getting insurance [to cover this]’ or is it something they can attend to or organise.”

What to do if a home is destroyed or uninhabitable If a property is destroyed or uninhabitable either the landlord or tenant can give the other an immediate termination notice. Tenants will no longer owe rent, and a landlord must repay any overpaid rent within 14 days of a termination. Tenants can also seek a retrospective rent reduction or abatement from the time they were displaced.

While the issuing of an evacuation order clearly marks when a property becomes uninhabitable, deciding on when to come back was more open-ended, and is where issues had been arising in northern NSW, Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said.

“Some of the issues coming up are people being pressured to move back in when [their home is] not really ready, to reduce rent reduction claims,” Mr Patterson Ross said.

The reverse was also happening, where tenants were being evicted from properties that had been prematurely deemed uninhabitable, rather than being given the option to temporarily live elsewhere – and be given a rent reduction or abatement – while the clean out and repairs were carried out, Mr Patterson Ross said.

Some tenants were also having issues with getting bond money refunded, which could be key to affording alternative accommodation. While bond money should not be used by landlords for flood damage, it could become a grey area if tenants left behind damaged household items that needed to be cleaned up.

“Ideally people would help clean up, which is what we’re seeing particularly in Lismore where there is a lot of community support helping,” Mr Patterson Ross said.

He urged tenants having difficulties accessing bond money, or who disagreed with the assessment of their homes habitability, to contact their local tenants advice service. He noted the union’s disaster damage fact sheet has been accessed by more than 3000 people in the past 10 days, compared to just 200 in the two previous weeks, and the union had seen a surge in calls for advice and support.

Ms Sim said terminating a tenancy was a last resort, particularly given the critical shortage of rental properties in some flood-affected regions, that would leave some impacted residents forced to leave their community behind.

She noted homes that had been inundated by flood waters, would need substantial repair works.

“It’s not just changing carpet or doing a mould treatment: usually electrics have been affected and the roof has been compromised,” Ms Sim said. “You’re unlikely to see a scenario where a small amount of work needs to be done.”

What to do if a property is damaged If a property is safe and a tenant wants to stay, renters should tell their landlord or agent what repairs are needed, including temporary repairs, and ask for an immediate inspection and a written schedule of works to be done, the tenants’ union advised. Any conversations should also be confirmed in writing, to avoid confusion about what has been said.

While it is the owner’s responsibility to organise and pay for required repairs and cleaning, renters needs to look after their furniture and possessions.

Urgent repairs for the likes of storm and flood damage, serious roof leaks or electrical faults should be attended to as soon as possible. If a landlord or agent cannot be contacted or is unwilling to do urgent repairs, tenants can arrange for them to be done. Tenants must provide written notice about the repairs, costs and copies of receipts, and must be reimbursed for any reasonable costs up to $1000 within two weeks of their notice.

However, both Ms Sim and Ms Cruz, along with Mr Patterson Ross, noted delays for repairs could be unavoidable in some situations given the level of demand in some flood affected regions, a lack of available tradespeople and the existing shortage of some building materials and supplies.

“I’ve got tenants with leaking roofs, but unfortunately don’t have tradespeople who want to go up on leaking roofs [amid the severe weather],” Ms Cruz said.

Seeking a rent reduction or abatement In addition to requesting a rent waiver while a property is uninhabitable, tenants can seek a rent reduction to compensate for damage that may leave parts of the property unusable.

“Each case needs to be looked at on its own merit: what is the situation, the amount of damage, what are we going to be doing,” Ms Cruz said, adding landlords had supported tenants after flooding last year with rent reductions, waivers, and other assistance.

Apply for financial assistance and check for government support Mr Patterson Ross also urged eligible tenants to apply for financial assistance from the government. While it wouldn’t cover all the costs, it would provide a boost to funds, and may enable tenants to delay asking for a rent reduction which could unfortunately push some landlords towards evicting tenants. Renters could then seek the reduction retrospectively in the coming weeks.

Those with contents insurance, which is rather limited among renters, were also encouraged to see what they were covered for and carefully catalogue the damage caused to possessions.

Monitor for ongoing issues Tenants are encouraged to monitor for further damage that could result from the floods, as well as the heavy rain.

Renters should keep an eye out for mould in particular, which was thriving amid the humidity, as well as minor roof leaks which may have been exacerbated by storms and potential gutter and drain blockages.