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Landlords Obligations Article Part 2 Refusing to let the landlord in the door – when an inspection date and time has already been established – could see the tenant forking out up to $750.00 to the landlord in “punishment money.” The landlord must have served 48 hours notice of an inspection on the tenant at the tenants address for service.The payment is a ‘civil remedy’ technically known as “exemplary damages” ordered by the Tenancy Tribunal to punish and deter others and is not meant to be in the nature of ‘compensation ’. “It’s really a slap on the wrist, and denying the landlord access – without a good excuse – is just one instance of an number of unlawful acts which are civil remedies that is, an order for payment is made against one party to pay the other. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) has a number of instances when either the landlord or tenant could be expected to pay ‘an award of money for committing an unlawful act.” One further example is when the landlord fails to pay the tenant’s bond to Tenancy Services within the specified time period with a maximum tariff of $750 applicable.“The highest tariff that may be awarded ‘as a civil remedy’ is the commission of unlawful discrimination, which has a maximum tariff of $3,000 – paid to the tenant.In other words, if you unlawfully discriminate against a tenant in any way because of race, religion, creed, sex or any other ground specified you could be liable. Installing or changing locks, by either the landlord or tenant, without the other party’s permission can also constitute an unlawful act with a maximum tariff of $750 applicable.
Scotney Williams
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