Checklist: urgent repairs rules by state for after hours triage
All 8 states and territories treat some repairs as urgent or emergency (burst water services, gas leaks, dangerous electrical faults and similar) and say what a tenant may do when the landlord or agent cannot be reached or does not act. The triggers differ: Victoria after no prompt response, Tasmania after 24 hours, Queensland up to four weeks’ rent.
Your after hours triage rules have to match the law in each state you manage in. This page summarises each regulator’s own guidance as checked on 26 October 2026, then turns it into a checklist for writing AI triage rules. Rules change, so open the regulator page before you rely on a detail.
Which repairs count as urgent in most states?
The published lists share a common core, although South Australia’s guidance gives examples rather than a list and Tasmania defines urgent repairs by essential service. Treat these as urgent in your triage rules wherever you manage:
- a burst water service or serious water leak
- a blocked or broken toilet system
- a serious roof leak
- a gas leak
- a dangerous electrical fault
- flooding or serious flood, storm or fire damage
- failure of the gas, electricity or water supply
- failure of an essential service for hot water, cooking or heating
- a fault or damage that makes the property unsafe or insecure
Some lists go further. Victoria’s includes a cooling appliance supplied by the rental provider, a safety device such as a smoke alarm or pool fence that is not working, pests, mould or damp caused by the building structure, and a property that does not meet minimum standards. The ACT’s standard tenancy terms include a refrigerator supplied with the premises. Tasmania separates urgent repairs (an essential service stops working) from emergency repairs (damage that will get worse if not fixed).
What may a tenant do if your agency cannot be reached?
| State or territory | Regulator guidance | What the landlord or agent must do | What the tenant may do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Consumer Affairs Victoria | Make urgent repairs immediately | Arrange the repair after notifying you and getting no prompt response, up to the cost cap on the CAV page. You repay within 7 days of written notice. Above the cap, the renter applies to Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria |
| New South Wales | NSW Fair Trading | The page sets no fixed time; the tenant must make a reasonable attempt to contact you and give you a reasonable chance to act | If you cannot be contacted, use the repairer named in the agreement where possible, or a licensed or qualified tradesperson, then claim up to the limit on the NSW page. You repay within 14 days of notice |
| Queensland | Residential Tenancies Authority | The agreement names a nominated repairer and whether they or the manager are the first point of contact | Contact the emergency contact in the agreement first. If they cannot be reached within a reasonable time, the tenant or manager may arrange emergency repairs up to four weeks’ rent. The tenant claims in writing with receipts and allows at least 7 days for repayment |
| Western Australia | Consumer Protection WA | Start essential service repairs within 24 hours and other urgent repairs within 48 hours | If not done, have a suitably qualified repairer fix it to a minimum standard and claim the cost back |
| South Australia | SA.GOV.AU, Consumer and Business Services | Repair within a reasonable time. The tenant reports urgent problems as soon as possible, and no entry notice is needed for urgent repairs | If the landlord refuses, organise the urgent fix and give the landlord an invoice from an authorised repairer, with a licensed professional’s report on the cause and the work |
| Tasmania | Consumer Affairs Tasmania | Do urgent repairs as soon as possible | If the owner cannot be contacted within 24 hours, use the nominated repairer, who invoices the owner, or a suitable repairer. The owner repays within 14 days of receiving the statement, invoice and receipt |
| ACT | ACT standard residential tenancy terms | Carry out urgent repairs as soon as necessary | If the lessor or nominee cannot be contacted, or does not act within a reasonable time, arrange repairs up to 5% of a year’s rent, using the nominated tradesperson first |
| Northern Territory | NT Consumer Affairs | Within 5 business days of the tenant’s notice, repair or advise arrangements, finished within 14 days | Apply to NTCAT for a repair order. For repairs that make the premises habitable and safe, after 7 business days the tenant may claim up to two weeks’ rent |
For Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria lists section 72, urgent repair, as the relevant part of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic). Consumer Affairs Victoria also says that before a renter moves in, the rental provider or agent must give them a phone number for urgent repairs out of business hours. If that number is your after hours line, it has to be answered.
Why does this matter for an after hours line?
In most states the tenant’s right to arrange their own repair turns on whether they could reach you and how quickly you acted. A line that rings out or goes to a full voicemail box at 1am starts that clock, and if the tenant then calls their own tradesperson, the landlord usually pays that invoice. An answered call that logs the fault, contacts your approved tradesperson and tells the tenant what happens next keeps the job inside your process and your agreed rates.
Checklist: turning the rules into AI triage rules
Work through these 12 steps before an AI agent answers your after hours calls:
- List every state and territory where you manage properties, and attach the matching regulator page to each property record.
- Load that state’s urgent repair list as the base set of urgent categories, and add your agency’s own (for example, a lift fault in a building you manage).
- Give each category one action: dispatch now, make safe and dispatch at 7am, or log for business hours.
- Record your approved tradespeople per category and area, with after hours numbers and the order to try them.
- Record each landlord’s spending limit from the management agreement. The agent never approves work above it.
- Note any nominated repairer named in the tenancy agreement. In several places, including New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT, the named person affects what the tenant may do.
- Write safety scripts for gas smells, sparking power points and water near electrics. If anyone is in danger, the first instruction is to call 000.
- Decide how photos are collected, such as an SMS link sent during the call, so your property manager sees the damage before approving more work.
- Set the on-call transfer order: who is rung first, how long it rings, and who is next.
- Write the “nobody available” script for each state: what the tenant has been told, when to expect a call back, and a link to the regulator’s page sent by SMS.
- Set a morning handover time, such as a summary of every after hours call in your inbox or CRM before the office opens.
- Ring 10 test scenarios per state before go-live, and repeat the tests whenever a regulator page changes.
How often do these rules change?
Often enough to check each quarter. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists changes to rental laws taking effect on dates that include 25 November 2025, 1 December 2025, 31 March 2026, 9 September 2026 and 13 October 2026, with more due in 2027. Add a calendar reminder to re-read each regulator page in this table, note its “last updated” date, and update your triage rules and test scripts the same week.
The after hours maintenance line page shows how these rules run on a live call, the comparison with a call centre explains where a person should take over, and the property management automation guide places after hours triage in a 90-day rollout. To have your triage rules built and tested, use the enquiry form.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the AI agent decide what counts as urgent under the law?
No. It applies the categories your agency has written, based on each regulator's list. When a call does not clearly match a category, the agent passes it to your on-call person instead of guessing.
- What should the agent say if a tenant wants to call their own plumber?
It should explain what your agency is doing about the repair and by when, and text the tenant a link to the regulator's page so they can read their rights. It should never tell a tenant they cannot arrange a repair, because in several states they may if you have not acted.
- Do urgent repair lists cover lifts and stairs in apartment buildings?
Several do. Victoria's list includes a serious problem with a lift or staircase, and the Queensland, ACT and Northern Territory lists refer to serious faults in staircases, lifts or common areas. Common property repairs are usually arranged through the owners corporation or body corporate, so record who to call for each building.