Property damage
Information for Queensland public housing tenants.
Reporting damage to your property
If your property has damage that’s an emergency situation, call either:
- your nearest Housing Service Centre’s maintenance service
- after-hours maintenance 1800 808 107 (6pm–6am Monday to Friday, weekends and public holidays).
If it’s not an emergency, call your nearest Housing Service Centre or submit an online maintenance request.
Responsibility for damage
As the tenant, you may be responsible for paying the repair costs for any damage caused by you, a household member or a visitor that you allowed onto the property.
We are responsible for repairs resulting from fair wear and tear.
For example, you would be required to pay for repairs if a window was broken while children were playing in your yard or you were mowing the lawn.
If damage to a property occurs, you can either:
- arrange the repairs yourself, or
- contact us and we’ll arrange for the repairs. Depending on the circumstances, we may apply a charge to your tenancy.
Any repairs you arrange must be completed to an acceptable standard.
We don’t tolerate deliberate or reckless damage to a public housing property by a tenant, household member or visitor you allowed onto the property.
We may take action to end tenancies for deliberate or reckless property damage.
Damage to asbestos
Some building materials used in homes built before 1990 may be hazardous when damaged.
Materials used in wall and floor coverings, ceilings and roofing may contain asbestos. Any drilling, sanding, nailing etc. may cause particles to become airborne, creating a health hazard. If the material is not damaged, there is no danger to health.
If part of your home is damaged and you think it may contain asbestos, don’t dust, sweep or vacuum the debris.
Contact your nearest Housing Service Centre or the after-hours emergency maintenance number 1800 808 107 immediately. We will organise an inspection of the damage.
Broken glass
In most cases, broken glass such as windows and doors, isn’t considered fair wear and tear, so you would need to pay to replace it. (You may be able to insure privately for glass breakage.)
If the breakage is your fault, you can either:
- arrange the repairs yourself, or
- contact us and we’ll arrange the repairs. Depending on the circumstances, we may apply the cost of these repairs and apply a charge to your rental tenancy.
If you want to have the glass fixed outside normal business hours, a local glass repairer may be able to offer you a lower price than we can.
If you call a qualified tradesperson to repair the damage, you need to pay for the repairs yourself and tell us about the breakage.
Damage caused by a vehicle
If your home is damaged by a vehicle, try to get the:
- driver’s name, address and licence number,
- vehicle’s make and model,
- registration number (number plate),
- insurance details.
Report the incident to the police and your nearest Housing Service Centre.
When you didn’t cause the damage
If you don’t know how the damage occurred, or it was caused by a break-in you will need to:
- contact your nearest police station to lodge a report, and
- contact your nearest Housing Service Centre and provide the police report incident number.
We won’t charge you for the cost of this damage if you provide a police report incident number.
If there was a break-in, don’t touch or move anything until the police have completed their inspection.
How to pay for repairs
We will send you a letter describing what repairs were done and the cost. We will also record the cost as a maintenance charge to your tenancy.
For broken glass or lost keys (i.e. if you’re locked out after hours), it can be cheaper for you to call a qualified tradesperson to repair the damage.
Fixing the damage yourself
Talk to your nearest Housing Service Centre if you want to:
- fix the damage yourself, or
- arrange your own tradesperson to fix it.
Plumbing and drainage, gas, and electrical related works can only be undertaken by licenced tradespeople.
You should consider that some houses may contain asbestos products (e.g. wall sheeting, ceiling sheeting, vinyl flooring), so it is important to talk to us before you plan to do any repairs yourself. Only tradespeople qualified in working with and repairing these products are licenced to do the work required.
If you use your own tradesperson or do the repairs yourself, the repairs must be done to an acceptable standard or we’ll re-do the repair work and charge you for the cost.
Failing to report damage
Inspections are completed on your property before you move in, while you live there and when you move out.
If we notice any damage while you live there, we’ll discuss the circumstances with you to determine whether it's fair wear and tear or your responsibility to pay for repairs.
When you move out, we’ll check for any damage that’s not considered fair wear and tear. We will photograph and record the damage, and then repair it. You may be charged for the cost of repairs.
If you have debts for damage caused to a property during a previous tenancy, you may have to repay the debt in full before you can be provided with future housing assistance.
If you owe money to us at the end of your tenancy, we’ll follow up with you to recover the money.