Get out first, ring from the street, and we will be there. A gas leak is an urgent repair under the Act, and with gas the licence protects two things at once rather than one.
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A gas leak is one of the situations the Residential Tenancies Act names as an urgent repair, so a tenant who cannot reach anybody has a genuine path to act. That much is the same as a burst pipe or a blocked toilet.
What is different is the licence. Reimbursement for an urgent repair applies only where the work was done by a licensed or properly qualified person, so an unlicensed gas fitter costs you the whole claim.
And separately, an insurance claim arising from unlicensed gas work can be refused. With water that means a damaged floor. With gas it means something considerably worse, and the policy is the only thing standing behind it.
So it is the one trade where the number genuinely is the product. Ours is NSW 368473C, it goes on the invoice and on the compliance certificate, and Fair Trading will confirm it for you in about a minute.
Out of the building first, doors and windows open on the way, nothing that could spark, and ring us from the street rather than the stairwell.
Get everyone out, open what you pass, touch no switches and use no phone inside. Ring from the street.
Nothing on this page about tenancy law is worth a minute of delay in doing that, and nobody will ever criticise a tenant for treating a gas smell seriously.
In a flat, tell the neighbours on the way out if it does not slow you down.
It is named in the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 alongside burst water services and blocked toilets, which means the same tenant path applies.
Give notice to the agent or landlord, or make a reasonable attempt to, and record that you did. Then arrange a licensed person if nobody responds.
The reimbursement cap is $1,000, and most gas make-safe work sits comfortably inside it.
Reimbursement requires a licensed or properly qualified person, so an unlicensed job cannot be claimed back even if it fixed the problem.
And an insurance claim arising from unlicensed gas work is a difficult claim for anybody to make, which is a problem well beyond the tenant.
Gas fitting is licensed work in NSW with no small-job exemption. There is no informal version of it.
Where the smell is in a stairwell, a basement or a shared cupboard, it is the owners corporation's responsibility rather than your landlord's.
The immediate response is identical: get out, ring from outside, and tell building management as well as emergency services.
The difference is who arranges the repair afterwards, and that is worth establishing before anybody is invoiced.
It records what was done, that it was tested, and under whose licence, and it is what an insurer asks for afterwards.
On a rental, take a photograph of it for yourself as well as giving it to the agent. Documents that pass through several hands go missing.
It cannot be recreated later, which is why the copy matters more than it seems at the time.
Pipe sized for the run and the load, tested to pressure, appliances installed to the manufacturer's instructions with the required clearances, flueing that discharges where it should, and ventilation suited to the appliance and the room.
None of it is visible once a job is finished, which is exactly why the certificate matters.
In a flat it matters to everybody in the building, not only to the apartment the work happened in.
An unflued gas heater discharges into the room it is heating, which is how it works and why they are not permitted in a bedroom or a bathroom.
In rented accommodation a portable one gets moved between rooms, and a bedroom in winter is exactly where it should not go.
That is worth knowing because the appliance does not care that it is portable, and neither do the requirements.
An appliance burning indoors consumes air from the room. Flats here are small and most have been renovated at least once, which almost always makes a room tighter.
A powerful rangehood removing air from a sealed kitchen can work against an appliance rather than help it.
If something has changed and the flame no longer looks right, that is worth reporting rather than living with.
Adding an appliance is a calculation against total demand rather than a connection, and in a block that includes every other apartment on the riser.
That is generally an owner's decision rather than a tenant's, but it is worth knowing why a request to add something might not be straightforward.
The input rating on the appliance plate is the number the calculation runs on.
A dated record of what happened, who attended and what was found protects you, and it gives the owner something to file with the property.
That is not adversarial. It is that a gas incident in a rented flat involves a tenant, an owner, an agent and possibly a strata scheme.
Memory across four parties is not a reliable way to establish what occurred.
Agreed before we start. These are indicative 2026 ranges. The Certificate of Compliance is included on every gas job and is never charged as an extra.
Any hour. Isolated and made safe first, then diagnosed properly.
Whether gas reaches your flat, and whether the supply is yours or the building's.
Cooktop, oven, heater or bayonet onto an existing point, tested and certified.
Priced on the run and what it has to pass through.
On every gas job. Keep one and send a copy to the agent if you rent.
Before anything else, and before any discussion of cost or responsibility. Make the call from the street.
The supply made safe, then pressure tested to find where it is actually escaping rather than where it can be smelled.
By a licensed gas fitter, at the price agreed beforehand, with the licence number going on every document.
Tested again on completion, with the Certificate of Compliance issued on the spot and a copy for your agent.
Leave the building, knock on the doors you pass, touch nothing electrical, and ring us from the footpath. A licensed gas fitter answers at any hour.
Call 1300 381 569Stop reading and act. Do not touch a light switch, a power point, an intercom or anything else that could spark, and do not use a phone inside the building. Open windows and doors as you go, get everyone out, and in a block knock on the doors you pass on the way down. Turn the gas off at the meter if you can safely reach it. Then ring from outside, in the street. We answer 24 hours and we treat it as the highest priority job we take.
Yes, it is expressly listed as one in the Residential Tenancies Act 2010. So the same pathway applies: get safe first, then contact the agent or landlord and note the time you tried, and if nobody is reachable you can arrange a licensed gas fitter and seek reimbursement of reasonable costs up to $1,000 within 14 days of written notice. Safety comes before any of the paperwork though. Get out of the building first and make the calls from the footpath.
Because it costs you twice if it is missing. Reimbursement for an urgent repair applies only where the work was done by a licensed or properly qualified person, so unlicensed work means no claim. On top of that, an insurance claim arising from unlicensed gas work can be refused, and with gas the incident you are insuring against is not water damage. Ours is NSW 368473C and it goes on the invoice and the compliance certificate.
A document a licensed gas fitter must issue for gas work in NSW. It records what was done, that it was tested, and under whose licence. If you rent, keep a copy and send one to the agent, because it is the proof the work was done properly and it is what an insurer will ask for. It is legally required and it costs nothing extra.
Worth establishing before buying an appliance. Some blocks were never plumbed for gas to individual flats, some have gas to the building but not to every unit, and some have one meter for the whole building, which makes the incoming supply common property rather than yours. A short check settles it, and it is a far cheaper conversation than a delivered cooktop that cannot be connected.
Get everyone out first and ring from outside, then tell the owners corporation or the building manager as well as the agent, because a leak in a common area is the scheme's responsibility rather than any one household's. Do not wait to work out whose it is before evacuating. Establishing responsibility is a conversation for afterwards, on the footpath.
A leak test and make-safe is $200 to $450. An availability and ownership check is $180 to $350. Connecting an appliance to an existing point is $250 to $550. A new gas point within your own lot is $450 to $1,200. The Certificate of Compliance is included on every gas job and is never charged as an extra.
Tell us what is happening and whether you rent. If you can smell gas, get outside and ring rather than filling in a form.
Made safe first, tested properly, and a Certificate of Compliance with our licence number on it before we leave.
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