Electrical switchboard upgrades, Victoria: The $1500 cost looming over landlords

Jan 25, 2024

Switchboard upgrades are proving costly in Victoria.

Rental providers have just three more months to find another $1000-$1500 to upgrade switchboards that do not meet Victoria's new minimum standards.

The incoming electrical safety standard requires rental properties to have modern-style switchboards, with circuit breakers and electrical safety switches installed, known as residual current devices (RCD, RCCB or RCBO), by March 29, 2023.

Older properties may have a panel and fuse board or a federal fuse board, rather than a circuit breaker-type switchboard.

RELATED: Victorian rental minimum standards: Market impact one year on and what's to come

Victorian rental minimum standards: Call for mandatory cooling in rental properties

Rental minimum standards: What existing tenants need to know

The requirement has proved one of the more controversial and costly of Victoria's minimum standards, which began to come into effect from March 29, 2021.

Barry Plant head of property management Emma Gordon queried why the switchboard upgrade would "not be compulsory on everybody's house?" if it was important for safety, referring to the fact the requirement does not affect owner-occupied homes.

She said rental providers were under financial stress amid sharp interest rate rises over the course of the year, and the switchboard upgrade was another $1000-$1500 cost.

"There is a heightened level of stress among property managers at the moment trying to encourage landlords to spend money to meet the new legislative requirements that come in March. What do we do when landlords say ‘we’re not prepared to do that’?", she said.

Property managers are under a heightened level of stress at the moment, Barry Plant's head of property management says.

"It's a difficult predicament of do you manage properties that are not compliant, or do you lose the business? There is a lot of pressure on property managers dealing with landlords who don't want to spend money, who are under more financial pressure because of interest rate rises, and have to spend $1000-$1500 on a new switchboard, $1000 or $2000 on a heater, and all this stress on the landlord is pushed back onto property managers."

A state government spokeswoman said the electrical switchboard upgrades were a key component in ensuring safety was "up to scratch".

"Rental providers have been provided with a lengthy transition period to meet the new electrical safety rental minimum standard," she said.

The government did not respond to a request on how many rental properties needed the electrical switchboard upgrade, or how many upgrades had been made.

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: Rental reforms Victoria: Full lists of minimum standards, minor modifications

Chinese buyers remain the dominant force in Australian real estate market

One Room Renovations: Melbourne spoof reality web series making waves internationally

[email protected]