Impacted family health

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Tiernan

Member
30 November 2018
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0
1
My family have been living in a home for the past year. Recently, We have noticed mould throughout the house being affected by poor gutters. The real estate agent states that the home owner doesn't want to replace them, so they are fixed but quickly break down again. In my room, there was a leak under the floor causing damage to the carpet. This was caused again by the gutters. The carpet was pulled up and the workers stated that the flooding was not new, that the timber had completely rotted and there was mold throughout the floor.
My family and myself have suffered constant health issues such as asthma and viruses. Is there any action we can / should take?
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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Yes, but in what State is the house? The laws you rely on are State based laws. You may be able to select the State in your thread header.
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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OK.
  1. Are you on a fixed term lease? If yes, when does it end?
  2. Do you have photos of the mould and damage?
  3. Have you made any official requests to the agent to fix mould? If so, how many, when?
  4. What is your prefered solution?
In the meantime keep the house well ventilated and preferably blinds and windows open. Mould is bad for health.
 

Scruff

Well-Known Member
25 July 2018
902
133
2,389
NSW
Have a careful read of Division 5 "Repairs to premises" of the NSW Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) and let us know if you have any questions.

Specifically, the definition of "urgent repair" in section 62 includes:
(g) flooding or serious flood damage, and
(k) any fault or damage that causes the residential premises to be unsafe or insecure.​

The gutters are an urgent repair under the definition at (g) and mould is covered by (k).

If the landlord refuses to carry out the repairs, or is consistently not having the repair done properly, then you can apply to NCAT for orders under section 65.

There are precedents where NCAT has awarded damages to tenants where a landlord has failed to fix mould problems, particularly where the tenant was forced to move because the mould impacted on their health. If the landlord doesn't fix the problem, it can end up costing them a lot of money. NCAT takes these matters very seriously because of the obvious health issues.

Link to NSW Residential Tenancies Act: NSW Legislation
 
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