by Dean Mance | Jul 9, 2013 | Keep Your Family Safe
From the 1st of May 2013 all residential rental properties in Tasmania are required to have a working smoke alarm, either 240v hard wired, or a 10 year lithium battery model.
As usual in our industry, even a simple job like a smoke alarm installation, must comply with several sets of rules and regulations, including:
The Residential Tenancy Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Act 2012
Australian Standard AS3786:1993
Australian Standard AS/NZS3000:2007
The Building Code of Australia
If you own or manage a rental property it is your responsibility to comply with the new regulations which also include provisions for maintenance, cleaning and testing at the beginning of each new tenancy and the periodic replacement of back up batteries.
The number and location of alarms required is dictated by the type and layout of the building, the number of stories and the location of bedrooms. Some properties will be fine with ionization type detectors and some may require the photoelectric type.
If you are unsure of how best to comply with these obligations for your rental property, or would like some free advice or a quotation please give us a call on 6331 4711 or ask a question through the comments section below.
by Dean Mance | Jun 26, 2013 | Dodgy Installations, Keep Your Family Safe, Save Money
Buying a new home or rental property is a major investment and most people do a fair amount of research before they make their decision.
However we are always quite surprised at how many clients come to us after they have made a purchase, for a wiring inspection and check of the electrical installation.
This seems a little backwards to us. If there were problems in the electrical wiring of a property you were considering buying, surely it would be better to know before you sign the contract, rather than after?
One of our clients purchased a residential investment property and then asked us to do a wiring inspection for them. We had a look and found the wiring was old rubber cable in very poor condition. It was a fire hazard and needed an urgent rewire, at a cost of around $6,000.
This wasn’t in their budget and totally threw out their careful projections on rental returns and costs.
Had they been prepared to spend $150 on a pre-purchase electrical inspection, with a written report, we could have warned them of the problems.
They would have had the choice to keep looking for another property or renegotiate the price based on the cost of repairs required.
This doesn’t just apply to old properties. Even new properties can have cheap, dodgy or downright dangerous electrical installations, due to poor workmanship and cutting corners to save costs.
If you are seriously considering a particular property you should also consider getting an inspection and electrical condition report. Spending a few bucks first could save you thousands later on.
Like this article on our Facebook page and leave us a comment below.
