Guide · for property managers in Victoria
Urgent repairs in Victoria: a property manager's guide.
What counts as urgent, how fast it has to happen, and what a renter can do when nobody responds. Plain English, from Consumer Affairs Victoria's own page.
- Urgent: immediately
- Renter can arrange up to $2,500
- Repaid within 7 days
- Non-urgent: within 14 days
The short version
Urgent means now.
Rental providers must make urgent repairs immediately. If the rental provider or agent doesn't respond, the renter can organise and pay for the repair themselves, as long as it costs no more than $2,500. The rental provider must pay them back within 7 days.
Non-urgent repairs must be made within 14 days of getting a written request.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, urgent repairs (page last updated 27 February 2026, checked 29 October 2026).
What counts as urgent
The urgent repairs list.
Consumer Affairs Victoria lists these as urgent repairs:
- Burst water service
- Blocked or broken toilet system
- Serious roof leak
- Gas leak
- Dangerous electrical fault
- Flooding or serious flood damage
- Serious storm or fire damage
- An essential service or appliance for hot water, water, cooking, heating or laundering not working
- The gas, electricity or water supply not working
- A cooling appliance or service provided by the rental provider not working
- The property not meeting minimum standards
- A safety-related device, such as a smoke alarm or pool fence, not working
- An appliance, fitting or fixture that isn't working and wastes a lot of water
- Any fault or damage that makes the property unsafe or insecure, including pests, mould or damp caused by or related to the building structure
- A serious problem with a lift or staircase
When it goes wrong
What happens if a repair stalls.
Urgent, no response
The renter can organise and pay for the repair, up to $2,500, and the rental provider must pay them back within 7 days.
Chasing the money
If the renter has to chase the refund, they can apply to Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria.
Non-urgent, past 14 days
The renter can ask Consumer Affairs Victoria for a repairs inspection. The report can direct the rental provider to make the repairs.
Still not sorted
If the dispute isn't resolved, it can go to VCAT, which can order the rental provider to repay the renter, or to arrange and pay for the repairs.
In the office
Where urgent jobs get stuck.
The rule is simple. The hold-ups are usually inside the agency: a request in the wrong inbox, a tradie who never hears, an owner who doesn't answer overnight.
- Ask for urgent repairs in writing too. A dated written request starts the clock for non-urgent work and gives everyone the same record.
- Have an after-hours path. Know who takes urgent jobs at night and on weekends before the burst pipe, not during it.
- Explain the rule to owners up front. An owner who knows the $2,500 rule approves faster.
- Keep the paper trail. When it was reported, who was asked, what was approved and when it was fixed.
We built a tool for this
Maintenance requests that close themselves.
The Maintenance Loop checks every request against Victoria's urgent repairs list, sends urgent jobs out within minutes and keeps the whole record on the job.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the Consumer Affairs Victoria page for the current rules.