Help the community and expand your practice! Find out how.
Already registered? Login here.
Question Details: Our power went out during a storm - our power company advised us to call our landlord, who sent an electrician who determined that the issue was with the grid (rather than our place). The power is now back on, but our landlord is saying that we have to pay the costs of the electrician. Do we have to pay? Or is it the landlord's responsibility?
Filed under Property Law | 1271 View(s)
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley
You should not have to pay this bill.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act your landlord has a responsibility to provide and maintain the premises in a reasonable condition. That includes ensuring that your flat has power.
The power outage was not the result of a breach of your tenancy agreement, or of careless behaviour by you or your flatmates, and it was your landlord who called the electrician. So your landlord should not try to make you pay the bill.
For more information on your rights and obligations as a tenant, nd how to resolve disputes with your landlord, click here: www.communitylaw.org.nz
Answered 30 Jul 2013. The IMPORTANT NOTICE below is part of this answer.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The answer provided above is intended for general informational purposes only and cannot be
considered a substitute for face-to-face legal advice. It should not be relied upon as the sole
basis for taking action in relation to a legal issue. Laws change frequently, and small
variations in the facts, or a fact not provided in the question, can often change a legal
outcome or a lawyer’s conclusion. No liability whatsoever is accepted by the authors or
publishers of the answer, for loss, damage or inconvenience arising in any way from the use of
this site. While each answer has been published by a lawyer with a practising certificate, that
person may not necessarily have experience in the particular area of law involved.
For more information about this website, please review our
Terms of Use.