Why Do Australians Say It This Way? · Season Three: Making It Clear · Article 30
The kitchen tap in your rental home is leaking, so you phone the agent and say, The tap is playing up a bit. The reply is friendly: No worries, we’ll look into it. A week later, nothing appears to have happened. Both sides used natural Australian English, but the exchange produced very little that someone could act on.
Play up can mean that equipment is not working properly, while a bit leaves its degree open. Does the tap drip after it has been closed, or is water spraying continuously from its base? Can the supply be stopped? Is water accumulating on the floor? “A bit of a problem” can cover anything from ordinary maintenance to a serious leak requiring immediate attention.
A clear repair report does not require the tenant to diagnose the fault. You do not have to announce that the cartridge has failed unless you genuinely know that. The agent first needs observable facts.
Write something another person can pass on
A useful message might begin:
The cold-water tap in the kitchen does not shut off fully. It has been dripping continuously since about 7 pm yesterday, at roughly one drop per second. There is no water on the floor at present. I’ve attached a short video.
It identifies the location, behaviour, starting time, present consequence and evidence. Add the property address, your contact details and possible access times, and the property manager has information that can be passed to the landlord or tradesperson.
If you reported it by phone, send a short written confirmation: Thanks for speaking with me at 9.30 this morning. As discussed… NSW Government guidance on rental repairs recommends notifying the landlord or agent in writing where possible, following up if there is no response and retaining correspondence and records of conversations. This does not mean preparing for litigation from the first day. It prevents the story from having to begin again whenever another staff member handles it.
Please fix it as soon as possible still may not create a shared timeframe. For an ordinary repair, ask: Could you confirm by Friday when it will be inspected? If the answer is sometime next week, establish who will contact you to arrange access. A reasonable deadline should distinguish between the date by which an arrangement will be confirmed and the date the repair can be completed. Owner approval, parts or a qualified tradesperson may take time. Waiting does not remove the need for an update.
Urgent is more than a tone of voice in a tenancy
In everyday language, urgent often means that the speaker is anxious. Under NSW rental law, urgent repair has a defined scope. It includes matters such as a gas leak, dangerous electrical fault, burst water service, blocked or broken toilet, serious roof leak and certain failures that make a property unsafe, interrupt essential services or waste a substantial amount of water.
A tenant cannot turn an ordinary repair into a statutory urgent repair by adding exclamation marks. An agent should not dismiss the actual situation merely because the tenant speaks calmly. State facts that bear on urgency:
Water is flowing continuously from the broken fitting and is spreading across the kitchen floor. I have tried the agent’s emergency number at 8.10 and 8.25 pm.
NSW guidance says tenants must notify the landlord or agent about urgent repair needs straight away. It sets out further steps where the contact cannot be reached or the problem is not dealt with. Arranging a repair yourself, the reimbursement limit, the use of a qualified repairer and recovery of costs all carry conditions. Do not remember a figure from an old article and skip the current procedure. At the time this article was reviewed, the NSW guidance stated a limit of $1,000, but check the official page or obtain tenancy advice on the day action is needed.
What has happened when someone says We’ll look into it?
Usually, the phrase acknowledges that the matter will be investigated. It does not say that work has been approved, a tradesperson contacted or a date set. A friendly follow-up is:
Thanks. Could you let me know the next step and when I should follow up if I haven’t heard anything?
Likewise, The owner has been notified reports an intermediate state. It does not yet provide the decision, expected time or any temporary safety measure. Do not treat every intermediate update as a refusal, but do not hear it as completion either.
When access is arranged, confirm the date, time window, who is attending and how they will enter: Will the plumber collect keys from the agency, or do I need to be home? This avoids the common outcome in which a tradesperson reaches the door but cannot perform the work. Access to rental premises also has notice rules; the existence of a repair does not mean anyone may enter at any time.
Emotion can be real while the facts remain visible
Anyone may become angry after repeated leaks and long silence. This is unacceptable expresses a position but does not replace the fault’s history. If a complaint becomes necessary, organise the earlier contact dates, responses, present condition and requested outcome so that another body can understand the matter.
Nor should a tenant continually use just, a little and when you get a chance out of fear of sounding difficult. Politeness can remain—Could you please… is enough. If there is a safety issue, say I’m concerned this is unsafe because… and provide the observed reason.
This article concerns general NSW rental communication and is not individual legal advice. Its broader principle applies in many service settings: describe behaviour rather than guessing the cause; state the current effect and when it began; identify who owns the next action and when an update is due. It’s playing up can open the conversation. It cannot carry a repair all the way through the process by itself.
Primary sources and further reading
- NSW Government, “Getting repairs done on a rental property”
- NSW Government, “Urgent repairs in residential rental properties”
- NSW Government, “Landlord responsibilities for repair and maintenance”
- NSW Government, “Rectification orders for rental properties”
Continue reading: Why Do Australians Say It This Way? — series page
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