A broken appliance in a rental starts the same argument every time: whose job is it to fix? In NSW the answer is more settled than most tenants and landlords expect. Here is how it works, and how to get the repair moving.
The short answer
If the appliance came with the property (the landlord’s appliance, listed on the condition report), keeping it working falls under the landlord’s obligation to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair. If the tenant owns the appliance, the tenant looks after it. That single question, whose appliance is it?, settles most disputes before they start.
What counts as an “urgent repair” in NSW
NSW’s residential tenancy rules define a list of urgent repairs, and it includes “a failure or breakdown of any essential service … for hot water, cooking, heating, cooling or laundering”. In appliance terms:
- A broken stove, oven, or cooktop qualifies — cooking is an essential service.
- A failed hot-water system qualifies.
- A landlord-supplied heater or air conditioner qualifies (heating and cooling).
- A landlord-supplied washing machine can qualify where it is the laundering facility for the premises.
A dishwasher or fridge, by contrast, does not appear in the urgent-repair lists. A broken one still has to be fixed — it just travels on the ordinary repair track rather than the urgent one.
The NSW Government’s guidance is the primary reference here: urgent repairs in residential rental properties. The Tenants’ Union of NSW publishes a plain-language repairs factsheet covering the same ground.
What tenants should do
- Report the fault straight away, in writing, to the agent or landlord. Include photos, the brand and model, and what the appliance is doing. A dated email beats a phone call if things are later disputed.
- For urgent repairs, expect action “as soon as possible.” That is the standard NSW guidance uses. There is no fixed number of hours in the law; a “landlord has 24 hours” figure circulates online, but it is not in the Act or the guidance.
- If you genuinely cannot reach the landlord or agent, NSW rules let a tenant arrange an urgent repair themselves and be reimbursed reasonable costs up to $1,000, payable within 14 days of written notice. Conditions apply: you did not cause the fault, you made a reasonable attempt to contact the landlord or agent, a licensed tradesperson did the work, and you kept the receipts.
What property managers should do
For agencies, the mechanics matter more than the law: a broken oven is an urgent repair with a tenant waiting on it. We work with Sydney property managers on exactly this — email the work order, we coordinate access with the tenant directly, and a completion report comes back for the file. Where the job involves gas or a new electrical connection, the certificate of compliance is included, which is the document the landlord’s insurer and the strata scheme both ask for.
Repair or replace?
The usual arithmetic applies whoever owns the appliance: if the repair quote runs above about half the price of a comparable new unit, replacement is normally the better call. Our oven, washing machine, and dishwasher pages cover the common faults and how the visit works — diagnosis first, a quote before any work, and a straight answer on which side of the line the appliance sits.
This article is general information about NSW tenancy rules, not legal advice. For the current rules, see the NSW Government guidance linked above.