Hello
Advice would be appreciated on whether I can break my residential lease., 8 months into a 12 month lease, due to extensive repair work due to start on my roof terrace, in fact, the whole roof multiple terraces, mine being the biggest 142sqm, due to level of noise and disturbance.
The building works will include lengthy periods of jack hammering to remove tiles and concrete to fix the leaking ‘waterproofing’ membrane and then replacing everything. Works to continue for 6months.
We were not informed about any works to be done prior to signing the lease, yet the building manager told me the owners were notified at the body corporate meeting of this, ‘in future works’ to the building. The rental agency has yet to give us any notice of works yet they were informed 3 weeks ago by the building manager.
Have I the right to break my lease or ask for a rent reduction.
Welcome to the forum.
I would suggest you start with consulting a body that represents tenants and knows about such things, such as Tenants.org in NSW.
On their website there is information on ending a tenancy early on the grounds that the premises is partially unlivable.
You could also consult Fair Trading NSW or equivalent.
Let us know how you get on.
How you might best approach this will vary depending on which state you are resident in. ‘Liveability’ is a common issue raised where the works relate directly to repairs and maintenance of the portion a tenant occupies.
Where there are works related to common areas it may not be so clear as to what is reasonable. Is the roof terrace an exclusive use area that only you have access to? IE part of the area in your lease that only you can access and use. The Strata or Body Corporate has control over common areas and would reasonably be entitled to carry out maintenance and repairs during normal construction hours.
Most states have a Residential Tenancy Authority or similar titled government business. Independent tenants associations may offer advice to discuss the matter directly with the Agent before approaching the responsible Govt authority in your state.
The advice of the Manager that the works were foreseen subject to approval may be useful. Assuming that prior to your lease being accepted, the authority had been given to carry them out and a contract issued to start around the date advised.
In the instance the rooftop area is part of the common area you had use of, it’s important to raise that it will not be available to you for xx weeks.
P.S.
We’ve been tenants on and off for 40 years in NSW and then Qld, as well as landlords. Hopefully you are able to reach a suitable agreement, most likely for a rent reduction. Breaking a lease unless mutually agreed typically requires the tenant to meet the full cost of the loss of rent and re-letting costs. Either up until the lease would have ended when there is a new tenant.
Choice has also covered breaking a rental lease in the past:
Choice indicates that there are three main reasons which can be used for breaking a rental lease without penalty, these being:
- Undue Hardship
- The premises become uninhabitable
- Breach (or repeated breach) of an agreement by landlord
The NSW tenancy Union has similar grounds albeit with different terms.
Renovation on the exterior of a property may potentially fall into the ‘premises become uninhabitable’, however, these grounds may be near impossible to use if the contractor carrying out the exterior renovation works has indicated that residents can stay within the residential dwelling subject of the works when then work is carried out and other residents plan to stay in their dwellings when the works are done.
It is likely that at the time of signing the lease (8 months ago), the roof replacement was an item on the body corporate minutes indicating as future works (which could be in a 5-7 year horizon) rather than the works will be occurring from X to Y. X to Y would only be known when a contractor is engaged…and this could take many months after the body corporate confirms is has the funds to carry out the works.
Only if it can be demonstrated that the dwelling will be uninhabitable (see above) or you can demonstrate you are in undue financial hardship for a rent reduction.
As @meltam has indicated, it is worth contacting the NSW tenancy union to obtain their advice as there may have been recent changes to past approaches due to COVID-19 or recent changes in legislation.
Also have a look at the tenancy/lease agreement you signed 8 months ago as it may also have information about grounds for breaking a lease and any penalties should be occur.
Thank you Mark for your advice…
Yes the rooftop Terrace is private and part of my lease. Being that I occupy the apartment below there will be considerable activity and noise during the day, possibly Saturday as well.
I’m sure the owners would have been notified about the waterproofing repair work, considering the size of works that need to be carried out, by body corporate quite sometime ago, (my terrace alone is 142 sqm & there’s at least 8 apartments, of various size rooftop terraces).
Yet I’ve received no correspondence from the owner or the Real Estate agency, only today the building manager contacted me to tell me the works will be starting in approx. 3wks.
This is my 1st rental after selling my home of 20yrs, so far not good… Thanks again…
Thank you meltam for your advice much appreciated
Do any other tenants have access to the same terrace? I’m assuming per your prior posts - No.
Hopefully the lease agreement is clear on that point and there are no exclusions, and you have rechecked what has been agreed to in writing. Good luck with following up.
