Maintenance

Emergency maintenance service covers:

flooding or serious damage
wet light, power fittings (internal)
burst water pipes/no water (excluding mains/pipes)
failure of hot water service
serious drain blockage that causes a health hazard
complete loss of power or lights (excluding localised blackouts)
gas leaks
serious roof leaks
sewer blockage
loss of all toilet facilities
fire damage
failure of all main and alternative cooking facilities
serious storm damage
defects that prevent you being able to secure your property or family safely

A contracted maintenance provider will coordinate the repairs on behalf of Defence Housing Australia (DHA), for emergency and after hours assistance.

Reports of health, safety and security maintenance will be coordinated within four hours of your call. There are some instances where contractors can only attend to problems with hot water systems and toilets during daylight hours.

In all cases, the maintenance provider should discuss the problem with you. They should suggest possible remedies in order to achieve a timely resolution. In the event of serious storm/flood damage, the State Emergency Service (SES) may respond.

Routine maintenance

Under the terms of your Tenancy Agreement you need to notify us of any damage, defect or deterioration to the property. Early notification will help us to maintain the residence in good condition during your tenancy. All routine maintenance requests are recorded and our policy is to respond to all requests within 28 days. We will notify you of any delay.

In some cases we may need to assess the request for maintenance. A DHA staff member may inspect your residence to assess the repairs needed. Where your request for maintenance needs to be deferred for assessment, we will consult you about the time frame required to meet your requests.

Builders defect liability

If you have moved in to a newly constructed property, it will be subject to a builders defect liability period, the term of which will be advised by your Property Consultant. To assist both you and DHA, a list of any defects that occur during this period should be noted on the defects sheet provided to you by your DHA Property Consultant.

Leased residences

DHA leases privately owned properties to meet operational needs. For all leased properties, we guarantee that work which affects your family's health, safety or security will be undertaken quickly and to the same standard as DHA-owned Service Residences.

Before undertaking non-essential maintenance for leased properties, requests may have to be referred to the owner for agreement. As a result, it may take a little longer to respond to such requests.

The Tenant Handbook (PDF - 1.56 MB) is available for further information on maintenance.