this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
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Moved to new apartment. Landlord proactively warned us that the oven, stove, the bathroom heater and hot water are on one circuit and to avoid using them all together.
Breaker for this outside of our internal switchboard and is only accessible by OC (not the landlord nor agent). From the message, feels like the landlord might have copped 3 days without power.
Friend just told it's unacceptable/below standard. Going to email agent to get this fixed, any good references I can use during this argument?
(on another note, we wouldn't have rented this place if we knew the parking space is going to be dark, dusty, musty, and hard to drive in/out. Am lucky we are driving a small car, because I'm fairly certain anything a Corolla Cross or larger won't fit at all)
Seems that the circuit breaker is too small for the load, which I believe is against regs. I would check with an electrician that might point you to the right standards.
It does not seem right at all!
Yeah :( and the kicker here is, using those four things together would cause breaker for the whole apartment itself to trip lol.
It doesn't make much sense to me.
Sounds like itβs not compliant and as a landlord, I have to get electrical inspections done and issues fixed as a requirement. Just re-did the switchboard on my investment property recently and it cost $2k. You can ask the agent for compliance/reporting info on electrical and switchboard.
Managed through a property manager and a formal rental agreement? Hmm. I'd play this a bit clever. Intentionally trip it on days when you know the OC can get you back up and running. Over a week or 2 build up a report, when it tripped and how long it took to get resolved, then report to the property manager that it isnt safe/feasible to wait X ammount of time to get your power back.
That way if you gotta breach 'em and go before VCAT it helps you already have logs and experience with the issue.
Keep in mind, this is gonna sour the relationship with the landlord though. Be prepared to move in 12 months, but it doesnt sound like that'd be a huge loss anyway.
oven's supposed to be hardwired OR have its own circuit so they've actually failed Australian electrical safety standards. Meaning that house fails minimum standards AND there's no way that a sparky would have signed off on that, so it hasn't had the mandated electrical safety checks done either.
EDIT: I think some hot water has to have its own circuit as well but I'm fuzzier on that deet. Oven wiring has been a thing for decades though so they have no fucking hope there.
Yeah.. inside the apartment (after the internal switchboard) they are on their own separate circuits.
But apparently before the internal switchboard, there's the external switchboard controlled by owners corp.
The split system's on its own ("line"? the landlord used the term "line"), the oven/stove/heater/hot water is on another, and all the other outlets are on their own as well. We have been told there's no problem running the split system and loading up the other line, but run the oven/stove/heater/hot water together and the whole apartment will get cut off from the OC board and requires OC to come out and flip it back on.
How come you moved out of your old joint if I might ask? Rent went up too high?
The place I've been in the past 3 years is annoying to park into and very barely fits a small SUV. Parking spots are generally gonna be pretty ordinary with apartments...
Yep, it's 2k/mo for a 1bed. Now we're 2k/mo in a 2bed plus a living room itself that's bigger than the old place whole. And also so my wife's parents can visit.
Yeah, that would definitely be worth moving for, although the switchboard situation doesnt sound great. For 2k/month I'd definitely be expecting a 2 bed. Same location?
Unfortunately not, but it's not too far from the old place.
Fair enough, these days you do need to move a bit further out to get a decent deal. I know someone who bought a rather shabby 2br w/ parking in Carlton and rents it out for 550/week. Prices are nuts...
And then there's that balcony in Sydney for 300/week lol.
God I'm glad I don't need to deal with that. As nice as the weather is...