Your rental home should be a secure,
safe place to live. But what happens if you’ve been injured by fire or a
building fault in your property? What are your rights and
responsibilities, and what are those of your landlord?
Tenant
rights and responsibilities
If you sustain serious, permanent
injuries in a building where you are a tenant, you may have a public liability
claim. You must be able to show that you have more than five per cent
permanent whole-person impairment (which is damage to any
body part, system or function) to claim damages for physical injuries, and
10 per cent or more impairment for psychological injuries.
Depending on the facts of your case
and what caused your injuries, you may have a claim against any or all of the
following parties:
- your landlord
- the owners corporation (formerly known as body corporate)
- the property manager or agent, and
- tradespeople.
If you've been hurt, you should
immediately notify your property manager or agent, your landlord and the owners
corporation manager as to how the incident occurred and the injuries you
sustained. You must also seek medical treatment for your injuries.
Your
landlord’s rights and responsibilities
Once you’ve alerted your landlord,
at the earliest opportunity they (or their representative, such as an agent)
must inspect the property and arrange whatever is necessary to make it safe.
The landlord should take photographs of the property before anyone
undertakes any repairs or renovations. If the rental property is uninhabitable,
the landlord should work with you to arrange for your temporary living
arrangements. They should also contact their insurer and lodge a
claim.
Like you, the landlord should make
note of all correspondence and communications they have with you, the property
manager and any other relevant parties regarding the incident, and
they will need to establish exactly how the incident occurred.
A recent
case
One of our recent
cases involved a balcony collapse in the Melbourne suburb of
Frankston. The previous tenant’s rental property condition report noted that
the balcony featured rotted wood. The landlord did replace
some beams prior to our client moving in, but the repairs were shoddy.
Our client was on the balcony with
his mum and best mate, having a barbecue to celebrate his mum’s birthday. When
he and his mate leaned on the balcony, it gave way and collapsed. All three
people fell from the balcony. Our client sustained serious injuries to his
shoulder and required two rounds of surgery. He successfully pursued a public
liability claim, and we were able to obtain substantial compensation for his
pain and suffering, his medical and related expenses, as well as future medical
needs and legal costs.
Making
a claim: first steps
If you do decide to pursue a claim,
the following steps can help you get started before you contact a solicitor:
- immediately alert the landlord and property agent to the incident and the injuries you sustained
- seek medical treatment straight away and explain to those treating you how you were injured
- keep records and receipts of all your medical and related expenses, as well as records of the dates and types of treatment you’ve had
- keep records of any wages or income you’ve lost because you were unable to work due to injury
- take date-stamped photographs of your injuries
- take date-stamped photographs of the incident site and/or the part of the property that caused your injury; and
- don’t move, tamper with or fix the property on your own.
Also be mindful of the time limits
for bringing a claim. Generally, adults have three years and minors or people
with disabilities have six years from the date of the injury to bring a
claim.
Everyone wants to be safe in their
own home, but sometimes catastrophes such as structural faults or fires occur,
and people are seriously injured. As a rental property tenant, it pays to know
where you stand and what you can do should misfortune strike.
Trang van Heugten is
a senior associate in Maurice Blackburn’s Melbourne office.
mauriceblackburn.com.au 2 Jan 2016