andrew63

Is this the responsibility of the landlord or the tenant? I.e., once a year spray and inspection

cresta57

Flea bombing due to the tenants own cats or dogs is their responsibility, usually done upon vacating.
Termite control is the landlords responsibility, it is part of ongoing maintenance & usually necessary for the pest control company to continue any warranty.
My daughter used to spend hours chasing real estate agents trying to book annual termite warranty inspections, first she had to secure permission from the owner, then send the tenant a notice requesting entry via the letting agent.
As a landlord it's your responsibility to ensure the house is clean, in a good state of repair & a healthy environment to live in. This can also make you responsible for spraying for spiders, though with a bit of tact & bartering, you can usually ask the tenant to pay half for spider & cockroach treatment especially if they have small children that drop food crumbs to attract cockies.

NedKelly

Quite right Cresta

If you want to quote the riot act here it is.

Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodations Act 2008 -
s128 Lessor's Obligations
ss128(3)While the tenancy continues, the lessor
(a) must maintain the premises in a way that the premises remain fit for the tenant to live in; and...
(a) must ensure any law dealing with the issues about the health and safety of persons using or entering the premises is complied with....

Properties that are under management using PAMD20a Essential Terms and Conditions (page 9) Clause 4.14 have the property treated for pests as required (no more than annually) at the Lessor's cost...

So the landlord pays and must do so once per year.

RedT

This is good to know. We're still coming across the odd cockroach (usually dead but occasionally not) and it's p!ssing me off. Giving how long it takes to get anything done I'm not holding my breath at getting the landlord to do it but might be worth asking. We've sprayed and spent a fortune getting those monitored spray release thingies, roach baits etc but they still get in. Little feckers...

JoeBloggs80

This is relevant to me too. We've had a few issues with cockies. Let off a couple of those bomb things, put out loads of traps. It reduces them for a bit but the buggers keep coming back

I presume the landlord agreement above applies to units as well as houses?

NedKelly

Most probably but this is a Queensland standard contract. It will be different in other states.

Kooky.

I think you just have to get used to the odd Sydney Summer cockroach - even when we have such a crap "Summer". We get them too, and we're on the 4th and 5th floors.

JoeBloggs80

Ah right, I'll check out the nsw one then. Cheers.

Grayling

I've given up bothering about bugs in the house....they don't really do any harm and are a fact of life over here.

The only ones we try to get rid of are ants and they get everywhere anyway.

We even get the odd snake in the house but they usually clear off again.

Bermudashorts

The odd cockroach? This is Australia, just pick it up and put in bin (the dead one that is). I wouldn't be getting legal and quoting tenancy laws over the odd dead cockroach.

RedT

Oh yeah, course we're just chucking them in the bin, but there are enough live ones (I think!) to maybe ask the question of the landlord. We've done everything we can but they're still appearing....

smee

The fact that your finding dead ones means the treatment is working. You'll never elimate them all, unfortunately they are a part of living in Australia. Not may landlords will go to the expense of getting someone in for just a few cockroaches, unless of course your infested with them.


Having a few cockraches will NOT put the landlord in breech of the Residential Act.

It only costs about $11 for a pack of 3 bombs, not worth arguing with property managers or landlords for that.