In a leased NSW property the lease decides, not a general rule. The usual split gives the landlord the base building electrical supply, the main switchboard and the common areas, and gives the tenant the fit-out they installed and the equipment they brought in. Safety duties sit separately.
That split is only a starting point, and your own lease overrides it.
Who is responsible for electrical repairs in a leased property?
The lease decides, and it usually splits the building into what the landlord supplied and what the tenant installed. Most NSW leases draw a line between the base building and the fit-out.
The base building is what was there before you moved in: the supply from the street, the main switchboard, risers, common area lighting and the distribution to your tenancy. The fit-out went in for your business: your lighting layout, workstation power, kitchen circuits and signage.
The landlord generally keeps the base building. The tenant keeps the fit-out, repairs it, and often removes it at the end of the term.
Two things complicate that. Leases are negotiated, so no two say the same thing, and ownership is not the same as the safety duty, which the law places elsewhere. If the building is strata rather than leased from one landlord, our guide on who pays for electrical repairs in a strata building covers where the common property line falls.
What does your lease actually decide?
Read the repair and maintenance clause first, then the definition of the premises. That definition tells you where your responsibility stops. Some leases hand you everything inside the wall face. Others include services that only serve your tenancy even where they run outside it.
- Repair and maintenance. States who repairs what, and usually separates fair wear and tear from damage.
- Definition of the premises. Sets the physical boundary your obligation stops at.
- Services and utilities. Covers supply, sub-metering and who pays for consumption.
- Alterations and fit-out works. Governs what you may install and whose consent you need first.
- Make good. Sets what has to come out or be reinstated when you leave.
Retail leases in NSW sit under the Retail Leases Act 1994, which carries requirements a plain commercial lease does not. Whether yours is a retail lease is a legal question, so take advice on your own document. Nothing here is legal advice.
Which electrical items get argued about most?
The arguments cluster around equipment that sits inside your tenancy but was installed by someone else. The table below is the common pattern, not a substitute for your lease.
| Item | Usually sits with | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Supply from the street and the main switchboard | Landlord | It serves the whole building, not one tenancy |
| Distribution board inside your tenancy | Contested | Whether it was there at handover or went in with your fit-out |
| Fit-out lighting and lamp replacement | Tenant | Installed for your business, and consumable in use |
| Exit and emergency lighting | Landlord | The base building system is certified as a whole |
| Appliances and leads you brought in | Tenant | Your equipment, and your testing duty |
| Supplementary air conditioning you installed | Tenant | Added after handover, so it is fit-out |
The distribution board is the one that turns into a real dispute. It sits inside your tenancy, so it feels like yours, but if it was there on handover it usually belongs to the premises. Check the condition report and the fit-out drawings before accepting a bill. Where a board is at the end of its life, a switchboard upgrade is a capital item, and that argument lands on the landlord.
Need the cause of a fault in writing?
DM Electrical works leased buildings across Sydney, from main switchboards and distribution boards to exit and emergency lighting. If a fault has turned into an argument about who pays, we can attend, make it safe, and document what failed.
Is it a repair, an upgrade, or make good?
These are three different money questions, and mixing them up is what turns a small job into a dispute.
- A repair puts something back to working order. Fair wear and tear is often carved out of the tenant's obligation, so read that wording closely.
- An upgrade adds capacity or meets a current standard: extra load for kitchen equipment, a supply increase, or a rewire. It improves the landlord's asset, so it is negotiated rather than assumed.
- Make good happens at the end. It sets whether your fit-out comes out, whether redundant circuits are terminated safely, and whether the tenancy returns to base building condition.
Decommissioning fit-out wiring is licensed work and usually the tenant's cost. Agree the category in writing before work starts. An electrician can tell you what failed and why, and that finding normally settles which of the three you are in.
Who carries the safety duty while the lease is running?
Safety duties do not move just because the lease says the landlord pays. Under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW), a person conducting a business or undertaking has duties for the electrical safety of the equipment and workplace they control. If you run the business in the tenancy, that includes you, whoever funds the repair.
In practice:
- Unsafe equipment comes out of service immediately, not when the invoice question is settled.
- Testing the equipment you brought in is yours. Our guide on how often test and tag needs to be done sets out the intervals.
- A landlord controlling common areas and base building plant carries duties for those. Control is the test, not ownership.
Both parties can hold a duty over the same thing at once, and neither side can contract out of it.
What should you do when something fails and it is urgent?
Make it safe first and settle the invoice afterwards. A dead board, a burning smell or a circuit that will not stay on is not a moment for reading clauses.
- Isolate the affected circuit at the board, if it is safe to reach.
- Call the landlord or building manager and note the time. Most leases require notice, and the record matters later.
- Get a licensed electrician to attend and put the cause in writing.
- Send that written cause to the other party with the invoice.
A 24/7 emergency electrician can attend and make the site safe without waiting for the responsibility question to be resolved. The written cause decides who pays, and it is far easier to capture on the night than a week later.
If the fault sits before the main switchboard, on the supply side, it is Level 1 or Level 2 work and falls to the landlord in almost every lease.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for electrical repairs in a leased building?
The lease decides. The common split gives the landlord the base building supply, main switchboard and common areas, and gives the tenant the fit-out they installed and the equipment they brought in. Read the repair clause and the definition of the premises before accepting a bill.
Is the landlord responsible for the switchboard?
Usually yes for the main switchboard feeding the building, because it sits outside the leased premises and serves everyone. A distribution board inside your own tenancy is less clear, and turns on whether it was there at handover or went in with your fit-out.
Can a tenant be made to pay for an electrical upgrade?
It can be negotiated, but an upgrade that adds capacity or meets a current standard improves the landlord's asset, so it is not automatically the tenant's cost. Where the extra load exists only because of the tenant's equipment, a shared cost is common.
Does a lease override electrical safety duties?
No. Work health and safety duties sit with whoever conducts the business or controls the workplace, and cannot be contracted away. Unsafe equipment comes out of service straight away, whatever the lease says about who funds the repair.
The bottom line
Find the repair clause and the definition of the premises, then work out whether the item was there at handover or arrived with your fit-out. Those two answers settle most disputes. Document the cause on the day, because that decides the category and the invoice. DM Electrical works leased buildings across Sydney as a commercial electrician. Get in touch to have a fault diagnosed and put in writing.