As a property manager & owner in Victoria, your obligations have significantly changed as of 29 March 2021. As Australia’s #1 residential safety & compliance services company, we designed the Safer Home plans to provide year-round protection and compliance assurance across smoke alarms, gas and electrical services to help you stay compliant under the new legislation.
The new legislation: more than just new safety checks
On 29 March 2021, new legislation from the RTA VIC came into effect significantly increasing the compliance & administrative burden for already stretched property managers and a range of new tenant safety & compliance requirements:
- From optional to under the new legislation, regular safety checks for smoke alarms, gas and electrical are compulsory, not just recommended.
- From an obligation to offer services to an owner, to an obligation to ensure property compliance and retain relevant documents. Since safety checks are no longer optional, agents need to ensure that all owners actually take up compliance maintenance services.
- Smoke alarms, gas, electrical and pool fences. The new legislation introduces mandatory checks for a number of safety measures that weren’t previously legislated, multiplying the obligations for agents and owners.
There are more than 600,000 properties in Victoria requiring these safety checks for the first time between now and the end of March 2021, driving prices higher, creating competition for properly qualified tradespeople, and potential for service delays as the demand spikes.
Introducing Safer Home plan: Year-round protection and compliance assurance
Detector Inspector is the first company offering a comprehensive set-and-forget service that ensures owners and agencies will be compliant with the new RTA Regulations ahead of the 29 March 2021 deadline.
Step 1: Enrol your properties on our annual subscription to cover smoke alarms, gas and electrical appliances, installations and fittings.
Step 2: Our industry-leading system automates service reminders and communication with tenants, cutting the agent’s administrative load and creating a digital audit trail to fall back on. Agents can rely on our expertise to help keep properties compliant.
Step 3: As long as the property is enrolled, we automatically maintain compliance year after year.
The Safer Home plan ensures ongoing compliance for smoke alarms, gas and electrical safety in one streamlined subscription plan. It really is that easy!
Why some agencies won’t maintain compliance in 2021
Responding to the legislation on a large scale creates some challenges.
Currently, Victoria is experiencing a state-wide shortage of qualified tradespeople (such as Type A gas fitters) required by the legislation to perform safety checks. Once the legislation takes effect on or before 29 March 2021, qualified tradespeople will find themselves booked out well in advance with agents unable to secure the necessary services to keep their properties covered.
With the new legislation requiring multiple types of Safety & Compliance checks, many agencies will be forced to deal with multiple service providers. This increases the frequency of entries and key requests, and the potential for mistakes and missed communication. There’s an increased burden on agents to maintain up-to-date records of multiple service types and provide compliance reports to occupants at the beginning of a tenancy or within 7 days of their request.
There’s no way around the fact that owners will be facing increased costs to maintain compliance. They’ll be looking for a simple, cost-effective solution with the minimum amount of hassle involved to ensure their protection.
If you want to deal with a single reliable provider and maintain watertight digital records with minimum admin, Detector Inspector’s Safer Home Package is the solution you’re looking for.
If you’re an owner, ask your property manager about enrolling in Detector Inspector’s Safer Home plan for uninterrupted all-inclusive compliance at a low annual fee.
If you’re a property manager, enquire below to find out why Safer Home plan is the smart solution for your office and your owners.
What’s included in Safer Home subscription plans?
The Safer Home plan combines all mandatory safety checks (smoke alarm, gas and electrical) into a low annual fee subscription keeping safety & compliance and reporting up to date, year after year.
- Discounted, consistent pricing - 13% saving on the cost of individual services, smoothed into predictable, equal annual payments.
- Free callouts - Free callouts for faults in checked items and other issues like pilot light relights.
- Free parts - Free replacement parts such as replacement smoke alarms, standard light switches, power points, safety switches and thermocouples.
- Reduced hassle - One scheduled service from year two onwards means one home visit per year to achieve ongoing compliance.
All managed seamlessly with Detector Inspector’s industry-leading system, integrated with your existing property management software.
With the finalised legislation changes in effect from 29 March 2021, technicians are in short supply and some agencies will miss out.
Don’t be among them! Get organised now and beat the rush.
