Australia Weather News

As the clean-up of damage left by Cyclone Marcus continues, it is a sad reality for many that debris doesn't vanish with a click of the fingers.

The category two storm left a destructive trail when it moved through Darwin on Saturday, downing large trees and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

But for renters, cleaning up cyclone damage is less simple than starting up the chainsaw.

Instead, who has to deal with the damage and how quickly they have to do it comes down to the type and severity of destruction.

OK, so what don't I have to clean up?

According to the NT Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), landlords may be obliged to undertake emergency repair work following serious storm, fire or impact damage.

But what counts as serious?

According to Consumer Affairs Commissioner Gary Clements, whose office is already fielding calls from concerned renters, any damage that makes a property uninhabitable should be treated with a matter of urgency.

But more broadly, any damage to the property itself is something your property manager should be expected to handle.

"Obviously trees through roofs and that sort of damage [are the real estate's responsibility], so if trees have come down on fences or fences have blown over," Mr Clements said.

Quentin Killian, chief executive of the NT's peak real estate body, the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, agreed.

"The simple clean-up, getting stuff to the kerb — that's the sort of thing the tenant should be looking at right now," he said.

"Any major damage like broken windows or roofs or anything to that nature, they should be contacting in the first instance their property manager."

He said residents should also take the severity of damage into account when talking to their property manager about how soon work should be carried out.

"If the television antennas come loose, that's not really a priority," Mr Killian said.

"If you've got broken windows and they're extremely dangerous, that becomes a priority."

What should my real estate be doing?

If you do have property damage, it is your job to notify your property manager as soon as possible if repairs are required.

According to the RTA, if requests for emergency repairs are not actioned within five business days, the tenant may apply to have the matter referred to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

But both Mr Clements and Mr Killian said people should be patient with their real estate due to the likely peak in demand.

"One might expect that a landlord or an agent is actively trying to get tradespeople on site," Mr Clements said.

"So a tenant may be able to ask the landlord, 'OK, have you actually started trying to do something for me?'

"If they can prove that they actually have records that indicate yes, they have contacted tradespeople, that will probably be considered reasonable."

Given the scale of destruction across Darwin, though, it is likely real estate agents won't immediately be able to dispatch tradespeople.

"It's going to depend largely on the availability of tradies to do these jobs, and given the fact that there are going to be a lot of jobs, they could be a bit stretched," Mr Killian said.

"Just be patient with them.

"You're probably not going to be the only caller that they're getting today with problems to be fixed."

How do I make sure I'm covered?

The most important principle, according to Mr Clements, is for tenants to create a paper trail of correspondence with their property managers.

"So send text messages and e-mails so there is actually a good record of what you actually have done to try and resolve the issue."

He also warned against carrying out your own repairs.

"I'd caution about that because the repair may not be to the level that the landlord considers appropriate, and if you spend your own money doing those things you may actually be wasting that money."

Mr Killian said taking photos would also create a reliable visual record of exactly what damage had been done.

People seeking specific advice can also contact Consumer Affairs directly.