Property Repairs and Maintenance

1. Property repairs. Who pays? May sound obvious, but it is not unless it is in the rental contract. The tenant should expect to be liable for any damage due to their actions or neglect. The property owner should be responsible for any other costs and repairs. Remember to include both interior and exterior repairs and/or upgrades to common areas in case these occur during the rental contract.
2. Maintain the property. The tenant is expected to maintain the property in good condition, fair wear and tear excepted. The tenant should not be liable to replace permanent fixtures such as plumbing, windows, doors, or ovens, unless they caused the damage. In reality most people will fix small plumbing items, light bulbs and etc without need of the landlord.
3. Emergency repairs. The property owner should nominate a phone number that the tenant may use in the event of an emergency such as burst water mains or structural damage to the rental property. There should be a secondary number of a tradesman or other responsible party should the tenant be unable to contact the landlord via the primary means. Note that the tenant is legally able to withhold rent should the property become uninhabitable.
4. Non-repaired premises. The property owner should be required to maintain the property in the original condition, reasonable wear and tear accepted. The contract should stipulate a period of time during which any restorations shall take place, after which time the tenant should have the right to repair the damage/replace the item and be reimbursed by the landlord (after providing receipts).
5. Take all reasonable steps to prevent damage to the property. This is important mainly due to typhoon damage and the related flooding or wind damage in Hong Kong. The reasonable simply means that the tenant is not required to prevent all damage, as that may be impossible, but to act in the best interests of the property owner to safeguard the property.
6. Uninhabitable premises. If, due to any reason out of control of the tenant, the property becomes uninhabitable, the tenant should claim the right to withhold rent and/or end the agreement if the damage is not fixed after a reasonable amount of time.
7. Necessary repairs. Necessary repairs means any repairs which the tenant would be required to perform were he under contract with the landlord to keep the premises in a tenantable state of repair.

Next see: Other Terms and Conditions