Living in your house or flat: Rights and obligations
Safety: Smoke alarms and meth contamination
Residential Tenancies Act 1986, s 40(1)(ca)
Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016, regs 9, 10
Your landlord has to provide smoke alarms, but you’re responsible for replacing the batteries.
Methamphetamine contaminated rentals
Residential Tenancies Act 1986, ss 45, 48
Landlords can legally test for meth while you are living there, as long as they give you 48 hours’ notice to enter (or 24 hours for a boarding house). The landlord must tell you what they are testing for and share the results with you within seven days after they get them.
Landlords can’t rent properties that they know have been contaminated without first decontaminating according to the rules in the Residential Tenancies Act. If they breach this rule, they could be fined up to $4,000.
If you as the tenant smoke, sell or make meth in a rental property, this will be a breach of your tenancy agreement. You’ll be responsible for damage from meth contamination caused by you or one of your guests.
A 2018 government report found that meth testing in residential properties is unnecessary in most cases, because there is no evidence that third-hand exposure to meth – for example, residue in a house – can affect your health.
