This is for the new changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in Victoria.
I was told "Gas and electrical safety checks must be conducted every two years by a licensed/registered electrician and if gas is connected to the premises a gasfitter is required"
Can someone recommend qualified people to do this please? My agent said they will have a regular program like the smoke alarm maintenance scheme, but I am afraid it will be expensive. What is a reasonable price for this job?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks. I saw a reddit thread that mentioned figure around 375-500. 😅 Can't find it anymore though.
That is half a day for 1 person. 2 hours of work tops and next 2 hours at the TAB I assume. If they smart can still end up with $200 to take home.
Any sparky or plumber should be able to do a safely check, but if you want a certificate then ask when you call up if they give out certificates.
Don't they need to be certified therefore standard form certificates (fill in the gaps) should be available, how as landlord can you show work is conducted and is safe?
From what my agent has told me you have to provide the tenants with the certificate, the check on its own is not good enough.
Interesting in knowing this as well.
My real estate agent sent a notice from Detector Inspector for an annual service which was way too expensive. I responded saying thank you but no thanks.
I've read the legislation and any new agreement requires evidence of the checks or the checks to be done soon after. Existing agreements don't require the checks immediately - so can delay the expenditure till March 2023. I expect others to enter the market and price for the checks to stabilise.
In the meantime, I am asking around for a few quotes from electricians and gas fitters - so interested in seeing what prices we can find.
Don't existing agreements need to be done by March? My agent said they did…
Why - if you have a fixed term contract already in place that expires later in the year or you have tenants on monthly lease; why would you need to re-do them?
Valid for 24 months she says.
Dont trust her much tho
bybinvestor, i think this company offers compliance reports + the tradie aspects to it. Seems very ambiguous atm…. hopefully more news soon.
branch company of before you bid - https://www.beforeyoubid.com.au/
"Gas and electrical safety checks must be conducted every two years by a licensed/registered electrician and if gas is connected to the premises a gasfitter is required"
This sounds like a backroom deal between the trade union and the VIC government.
Typical cash for votes scheme using safety as an excuse.
Very possible but this is a good move for tenants. Many LL (including my previous LL) wouldn't service the gas heater as it wasn't required (hadn't been touched since installed in 2008). Despite the Vic energy council highly recommending service every 2 years
Roughly about 3-5 people a year die from faulty gas heaters and furnaces. Another 250 or so hospitalisations.
The deal is not between unions but actually between the largest supplier of gas heaters in Aus, Climate Technology. VIC government outsourced management of the scheme and certification to that Indian owned company.
VIC government was considering banning gas heaters, AC, furnaces etc for both danger to human health and emissions reductions targets. They much prefer electrical spilt systems.
So the privately owned company made a deal. You don't ban our product and we will manage all the costs of compliance (and pass them onto customers.)
Reason it's a new ish problem is many gas heating appliances can vent carbon monoxide into your house. Homes are better sealed with fewer accidental vents to exchange air. When temperature/pressure drops it sucks the carbon monoxide into the building where it starts to concentrate up. They need to pressure test your unit to ensure its not leaking and silently poisoning you.
Sounds like someone watches sky news after dark and loves the herald sun!!
This legislation was bought in stop landlords/investors who are quite happy to accept rental payments but don’t care if the house/unit is unsafe!!
Most people do follow the rules but some don’t!!
A lot of these jobs would be done by tradies who run their own business not unionised industrial workforce’s!!
The quotes are pretty astronomical from Smarter Home plus GST prices i've received. I think dr. inspector is the same
$90 for smoke alarm - kind of standard and had to be done yearly anyway
$269 Electrical
$349 Gas
*$349 plus GST includes primary heater
** $50 plus GST for each additional heater serviced
*** $239 plus GST for single gas appliance properties
I did ring consumer vic and they said that if you have an existing tenancy agreement you don't have to have these checks (smoke alarm being the exception) till 2 years later.
however, she said that maybe they might change the rules again on the 29/03 or when the transitional rules change later in June so she said keep an eye for it.
Thanks for sharing your research. Wow at least 600…
See this
https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/changes-to-r…
"All of the new rental laws will apply to renters who:
enter a new fixed term rental agreement on or after 29 March 2021, or
roll over from a fixed term rental agreement to a periodic rental agreement on or after 29 March 2021.
"The only exception is for any fixed term rental agreement of less than 5 years that rolls over to a periodic agreement on or after 29 March 2021. In that circumstance, the requirements related to professional cleaning and safety related activities under Section 27C do not apply".
So if you have a periodic agreement there does not need to be an inspection.
https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/starting-and…
When a fixed-term rental agreement ends, it will automatically turn into a periodic agreement, unless either the rental provider or the renter gives notice to end the agreement or chooses to start a new fixed-term agreement.
Some property managers are pushing inspections, and it does not appeal to me. Certainly advise landlords of the new laws and ways to comply, but that's all. I have received an email advising that inspections are required, but there's no details. I found the above legislation advice for myself.
Also, the scheme my PM wants is flawed in that there's scope for small amounts being taken at each step. I don't need a PM to get a sparkie and gasfitter. Further, there's no need for me to do this now - the fixed term lease runs for ages. With some LLs seeking inspections ASAP the price is probably higher than need be the case,
Some of the inspection companies only work for property managers, and that's not on. My place, my tenants, and I engage the tradies, One tradie that my PM suggested for a renovation asked $15,000 for the bathroom. I found others that cost $4000 for the bathroom and kitchen.
So my strategy is to wait, check the prices, and find my own tradies.
Just got a reminder from my agent about this. Annoyingly I just had the tenant renew so I think I'm caught by the changes sooner rather than later.
Well… anyone used a company in VIC for this? Seems like prices have not changed and still between $500 to $600.
Just signed new rental agreement so I guess I need to get this sorted ASAP.
Might just end up with Detector Inspector - not quite the cheapest but less hassle (yes slight lazy tax there)
BCMC price seems not too bad. $379 p/a.
That's 758 dollars for the checks because the checks are only needed every two years. Most other places are less than 600 dollars for the checks.
I think I would be a happy to pay a little bit more if it’s a fixed yearly cost rather than $100 one year and $500 the next. But what are the mobs you have found charging $600?
Posted jobs in HiPages.
Seems you can get Elec inspection of 3 bedroom apartment for $250+GST and if you find a provider that can do both it's $420 + GST, which is the cheapest I've found so far. Will see how good the service is…
Did you find somebody? Would you be able to share the details? Thanks.
Ray White recommends Detector Inspector. They charge $379 per year plus a $299 set up fee. On the Detector Inspector website, they have changed the set up fee to "top up fee" for first year. I call this BS O'Clock.
BCMC as mentioned by @rowexiao is a similar subscription but does not charge the BS fee.
Best price I have found is Taskforce (https://www.taskforce.com.au/rentsafe?gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7yCBhDJ…) They do Gas, Electric and Smoke Detector separately. Works out to be $550 year 1 and $93.50 year 2 etc.
Thanks for the info. Looks to be the cheapest at the moment.
Thanks everyone. Keep the recommendations going. I think the Detector Inspector have cornered the market, and have aligned with most large agents. No doubt, the agents are getting some type of volume referral kickback.
dupe
Hi, just found this thread so not sure if it's still being followed but thought I would share that we have just used Static Blue in Melbourne to do gas and electrical after researching a few companies. Our PM was also recommending Detector Inspector but they seemed pricey and we try to organise our own trades as it always seems to cost more letting the PM arrange it. A few seemed to charge a set up fee which is a scam - what is that even for?
Anyway, Static Blue are $499+GST one yr for the gas/electrical/fire and $90+GSt the second year for fire, so that averages out to $294.50+GST pa.
Task Force were very similar and were our other option.
how did you find static blue?
@karenl Looks like static blue has increased their price. It's now 550+GST and 100+GST.
Forgot to include a link to Static Blue:
http://staticblue.com.au/services/electrical-gas-fire-safety…
Thanks @karenl.
I thought Static Blue would be the cheapest, but then came across Mylo Property Solutions
They work out to $319 annually with no startup fee, so are $250 ahead of Static Blue at 5 years, and $50 ahead after 10 years. Beyond that Static Blue would be cheaper, but after 10 years you'd hope there's more competition and prices are more reasonable anyway.
@Mugz I don't see static Blue mention anything about a set up fee on their website. Did you call them?
@Ronney I didn't end up calling Static Blue - as even with the $109 setup fee, Mylo works out cheaper for the first 5 years. I spoke to Mylo Property Solutions and I found them reasonable to deal with, so will proceed with their services.
Oh ok. Thanks for the info, @Mugz.
Just finished looking around the market. Went with Static Blue. Compared with Mylo Property Solutions, Task Force RentSafe and Syncom Auditing (used by agents LJ Hooker).
I preferred Static Blue because they are cheaper, and they split the charge across 2 years. Task Force is similar, but is a service that connects trades to jobs, so I chose Static Blue as they would have more accountability since they have their own employees. Static Blue works out cheaper than Mylo, incl.GST $549 every 2nd year (elec/gas/fire) and $99 in-between years for fire-only.
Thanks for the update. Was there a startup or setup fee?
How did you find static blue?
Btw Taskforce is not cheaper than Epic, as Smoke alarm checks are an additional $85/yr
According to the long terms and conditions document / list on epic's website, no matter what job you ask them do, they charge a minimum $100 "setup fee".
So the prices listed are NOT the total.
They even write in massive letters on their pricing pages
"$300 plus GST every 2 years. There's no setup fee and none of the "low annual subscription fee" BS."
Then
" Is there a setup fee or initial fee?
No, there isn’t. You will see the price for year 1 is slightly higher though, we’ve seen it takes more effort and replacements the first time around to bring a property into compliance."
Yet their T's and C's says :
Gas Safety Checks, Servicing and Compliance Service
For a Property with 1 gas appliance, $250.00 (plus GST) per Property, every 2 years.
For a Property with 2+ gas appliances, $300.00 (plus GST) per Property, every 2 years.
Once-off setup fee of $100 (plus GST) will be charged in addition to the above fee.
thanks for sharing.
Who do you usually use for electrican/plumbing work? maybe it would have been better to get a quote from them to do the inspections?
They have changed their FAQ & it’s quite clear now.
What's replaced/fixed within cost of safety checks?
Good question. Here’s full transparency:
Any number of smoke alarms.
Upto 5 items – these can be general and standard power points, light switches and circuit breakers
if anyone needs cost comparison. I have put all the costs together on a single page https://vivoetdiscoit.wordpress.com/2022/02/01/gas-electrica…
Thank you very much. It is very helpful. Any reason why you haven't included Epic Inspections?
Added them :) Hope that helps
Thank you.
Thanks mate - just wondering if it is worth adding https://www.smartercare.com.au/ as they seem to be the most cost effective:
$396 - full service of gas, electric & smoke alarm (1st year, 3rd year, etc - ie. odd years)
$99 - smoke alarm only (2nd year, 4th year, etc - ie. even years)
Moreover, owners with 2 or more properties will be given 10% discount for the full services
Do they only service Western suburbs though?
I am only going to include further companies with at least 5 reviews. so going to pass on smartercare
Interesting - worth noting that if you only have 1 gas appliance, the order changes a little bit.
that's right. Might add another list if more people are keen for 1 gas appliance :)
Do the smoke alarms need to be tested by an A grade electrician? I've seen plenty of companies advertising that they do smoke detector testing, such as fire services companies and test/tag companies. An electrician must be used to install/remove a hardwired smoke detector. Testing said detector? Yeah naah I've looked for the requirements and it's all very vague and I didn't find anything about requiring an A grade electrician to do it….
Major testing companies like Detector Inspector will send a non-qualified person out to test. If a hardwired smokie is found to be faulty, they'll remove it, leaving the base, and screw a 9V smokie in place over the top. This job will be flagged, and an electrician organised to replace the unit.
Thank you, you are a legend.
no worries enjoy
Here are my tips:
+ A compliance certificate is not required. What is required is a inspection report and potentially evidence that the required issues are fixed.
+ Be very careful that they aren't classifying recommended work as required work. I had to clarify this with Energy Safe Victoria. i.e. An RCD isn't required on every lighting circuit until the end of March 2023 and some things do not need to be retrospectively applied.
Here are some useful documents for those dealing with property inspections:
https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/repairs-alte…
https://esv.vic.gov.au/technical-information/residential-ten…
https://esv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Electrical…
https://neca.asn.au/vic/content/changes-victoria%E2%80%99s-r…
I had issues with one of the companies listed above, but likely wouldn't have cared so much if I had understood the above and so I won't publicly strike them off the list.
Thanks @RevBargain.
Everythng still needs to be checked and documented by licenced trades so it makes little difference whether you're getting a certificate or report. You still have to pay the big bucks for their time.
Not all issues require a tradie or even the same tradie who did the inspection. I got pinged on an oven not chained to the wall. The tradie didn't need to come back and check the quality of the chain.
It is also not necessary to immediately resolve non-urgent issues.
When I called Energy Australia and found the tradie was trying to rip me off for non essential work, I didn't need to find a tradie to agree with me.
The issue isn't if you got ripped off or not. Whether you require a compliance certificate or an inspection report, you MUST have it done by each respective trade.
@tap: @tap: @RevBargain pointed out an important aspect at least in my case. I used one of those big companies and they requested a rectification of the hot water system connection, which I understand from a safety point of view. however, they quoted the job about 2-3 times the average cost to do the same by a licensed gasfitter, assuming that we will use them for the complaint certificate. I am now going to hire a licensed gasfitter to do the rectification and submit their job certificate with the inspection report, which saves a lot of money.
@Young gardener: That's great but my point still remains. You will require a compliance certificate or report that only a licenced trade can legally supply (for issues that require it). Whether you get it from a cheaper gasfitter or a big company is irrelivent.
@tap: @tap, @RevBargain, Please enlighten me, I have received the report from one of the big companies mentioned above as the gas requirements "does not satisfy" and require installing a gas isolation valve. they quoted for this job which is 2-3 times of the standard job price. Now, can I employ a gasfitter to install the valve and include the certificate with the "does not satisfy" report or should I call the company to inspect again and get the complaint report after fixing the issue?
@Young gardener: What's not to get here? If you've been given a report that you need an isolation valve installed then get one installed by whoever you like… (cheaper gasfitter maybe?). Get them to also give you a certificate/report that says it's fixed and no longer an issue. No need to get the big company involved again.
is it a good idea to do 1st year with Mylo ie $290 + $99 ( 1st year charge only ) for gas ele smoke = $389; 2nd year Task Force smoke only $76.50
It can not work, contacted Mylo they need min 2 year deal. So no price advantage. 1st year 389, 2nd year 290
Task Force plus gst price is $449.10 1st year and $76.50 2nd year. My agent's price is 1st year $448 and 2nd year $89.00. So will let my agent do the job.
smartercare.com.au seems to be the cheapest.
Have you used smartercare? Are they any good?
Any news on smartercare?
Has anyone used Taskforce? How did you find them? Most of the google reviews seem to be from the tenants and not the landlords. Cheers!
any new companies in the market ???
I’ve researched a lot of these companies, and when doing compliance they will ‘find’ issues and quote to fix them ( over quote). Rip offs. Of the above companies I noticed that BCMC include costs of replacing smoke alarms, switches,GPOs and RCDs as well as any call out charges from my tenants in the 2 year subscription. They also do all blind cords and clean a/c’s at no extra cost. I got a sparky in to do one of my properties for $180. He then sent me a quote for $980 for 2 smoke alarms, 8 switches, 2 gpo’s and a RCD. When I rang around, BCMC included all these costs in their $299 package. I got them in and they were brilliant. Saved me heaps, and made me realise that it’s not about who’s cheapest, but who ends up costing me less!!
Do your homework guys and watch out for hidden costs
Thanks, @Darcy1205. I have a look at their package and would be interested in using their service as well. However, I tried to look for some Google reviews but could not find anything about them. Has anyone seen any reviews about this company? Thanks.
I have just recently and they said the alarm was out of date - it wasn't. I had receipts to prove it but as I was getting the electrician (of my choice) to do the work they said needed to be done, I got him to take a pic. It was not out of date. Their blurb said I could look up the videos and photos from a link they sent. The link came up with a warning.
Anyone know the penalty for non-compliance? It feels like prices for these compliance checks are heavily inflated at the moment.. Possibly because demend is high in March 2023 as landlords have deferred these checks and cost as late as possible. As a landlord, if I decided to get them done later in the year what would I be risking? All I can see is a possible name and shame on Consumer Affairs rental non-compliance register if you get caught… Is there a fine?
Its a very much a scammer heaven market, most of these compliance companies charge many times what the work is actually worth if you use direct trades people. I think a lot of us are hoping some reputable options become available as things become more competitive. (we can always dream)
Here is one type of penalty I can find (using Victoria as example) but I cannot actually find one for rental providers
s.142BA A rooming house operator must keep records of gas and electrical safety checks conducted at the rooming house
150 penalty units for a person, 750 penalty units for a body corporate
The value of a penalty unit is $192.31 for financial year 2023-24
Ballpark.. $30k or $145k for company (which I think includes agents)
But this is for a rooming house penality just cannot find one for rental providers.
Having said that seems like the action is to organise a report as soon as possible if you don't have one so i imagine those penalities apply if you refuse.
Its vague but then it should be as the policy is mostly nonsense, its focused mainly at really bad landlords who rent out clearly dangerous homes, the consequence of using this type of heavy handed legislation is of course every landlord has to increase rent by thousands to cover these extra costs to engage these dodgy safety check companies, so to deal with a few bad landlords all tenants have their cost of living increase and as the system is now rigged to simply generate paperwork rather than think about safety no one really wins except the dodgy compliance companies. But that's how our clever government works one size fits all no matter the cost to consumers.
BTW the gas test. is not even logical, because a gas heat exchanger can fail between 2 yearly checks, once it fails, your tenants are poisoned, not 2 years later when the next gas test is done.
The better solution would be to put in a continuous carbon monoxide detector in the home so if a leak occurs its detected immediately. I got some nice units at Bunnings for $40
FYI, just looking at compliance again, sharing that we tried Epic Inspections and it was a royal sh$$t show dealing with them.
They showed up at the wrong time (too early forcing agent us ask us to go out), the assessments took exactly 12 minutes at the site to do all three checks. Yes 12 minutes we monitored the work (last team I had out took 2 hours to do gas only so this was the first major alarm bell to the quality of the service)
Both men were clearly inexperienced and they didn't bring anything to record the findings. (e.g. no tools or even a report book.) They were also complaining to me that Epic Inspections had them sitting around doing nothing all morning hence why they decided to come out early rather than wait for the appointment.
We saw only a couple power points tested (not a correct sample set), gas heater service was done completely wrong (didn't clean the internal heat exchanger or filter) also didn't do the filter on the gas hot water and didn't see them measure the smoke detector positions either. No pressure test obviously.
The reports missed half the property (no heaters, 2 powered buildings not even reported on) even though they were commissioned to do the whole property so the reports were not valid.
Most concerning was it showed non compliance on gas. I note this exact setup previously passed a professional gas fitters assessment by a plumber we knew was licensed and qualified. They didn't mention this on the day but it showed up after in the report. They instead claim the rangehood was wrong but no actual measurements were taken and no data recorded. Not even the height or model of the rangehood or cooktop model were recorded or checked.
We had our property manager companies state director call VBA personally asking if Epic Inspections finding were aligned with the laws. VBA came back stating that Epic Inspections we're retrospectively applying new gas rules against an old / unmodified kitchen and this was completely wrong as most properties will fail that test. The state manager then told tell Epic to redo the report and mark it as compliant or pay back the money they took. Luckily we have the VBA assessment in writing as Epic inspections so far have ignored repeated asks from our agent to get the report redone or refund client.
We've moved on now, have redone the work, but still no refund from Epic Inspection.
The conclusion reached by the Property Manager (Different) was they were offering building and services so the report deliberately written to make customers engage them to do further work due to lack of understanding of the new compliance purpose.
Anyway be very careful of this, have heard it from other landlords with other services!
But yes Epic Inspections, do not use as they are dishonest and incompetent.
Anyone tried static blue or mylo or task force and had proper reports??
We want to revisit options next year on this. Would like to use a service but it seems most of these all in one companies are not good.
We have been using SmarterCare and like most providers - the quality could be hit & miss. However, it is purely from the requirements of compliance and we just get the report & quote for any works to be done before reaching out to local tradies that we have used / access to get the required works done rather than getting SmarterCare to do it.
I've used SmarterCare as well to get the compliance report then use local more trusted Tradies to fix any required works.
I had an OK experience with SmarterCare + reasonable cost. But as they provide all-in-one Service, use subcontractors (as most of these companies do), I agree with nmehta that it's a hit & miss.
As I prefer not to use these all-in-one companies, I've actually contacted 50+ local Electricians & Gas Fitters to quote for Standalone Electrical+Smoke Alarm and Gas checks.
Most Tradies don't provide these safety check services (some even commented there's not enough profit, which makes me question whether these all-in-one companies profit from dodgy practices of finding work that isn't required).
Also, as all of my IPs require both Electrical and Gas checks, the combined costs ends up being more expensive to get a separate Electrician and Gas fitter. (Possibly worth the higher cost Vs the cheaper all-in-one dodgy checks).
I am trying out Check & Inspect for one of my IP (they have good Google reviews although only 26)
https://checkandinspect.com.au/
They don't use subcontractors for Gas fitting but do use subcontractors for Electrical.
Has anyone used Check & Inspect before?
Great to see so many comments on here while trying to navigate this process.
My property manager has suggested going with Taskforce Australia's RentSafe service for conducting safety checks on my rental properties.
They safety check for Electrical, Gas, and Smoke at $499 for the first year and a $99 Smoke Alarm check and then it alternates year to year, but they also have a $299 flat annual fee option. Anyone here used Taskforce Australia RentSafe https://www.taskforce.com.au/rentsafe before? I'd appreciate any insights.
Thanks heaps for the info! I reached out to them & they offered a further 10% for multi properties. They are by far the cheapest at $494 inc GST for all checks combined. Second year smoke alarm pricing is $98 inc.GST, for anyone interested.
I would wait until you see the pricing first. Electrical safety test would be 30 mins but expect them to bill you for the hour. Tradies cost $800+ per day so $100 minimum. There might be an industry that will pop up to fill this need.
In the UK you can get gas check and 2 appliances serviced for $120 and that is all that company does. Certification for landlords.
I believe smoke alarms I have seen is like $99.