Security screens and locks in a Wollongong rental: who pays, how fast, what it costs.
The landlord pays. Under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW) the owner must provide and maintain the locks and security devices that keep the premises reasonably secure, and anything that leaves a property unsafe or insecure falls in the urgent repairs category. If the owner or agent cannot be reached, the tenant can arrange an urgent repair and claim reimbursement of up to $1,000 within 14 days. The tenant pays only for damage beyond fair wear and tear, such as a dog-torn flyscreen at $35 to $70 a panel. New screens where there were none are an owner decision, not a repair, at $180 to $480 per window.
We screen a lot of investment properties across Wollongong, Corrimal, Fairy Meadow, Warrawong and Dapto, usually between tenancies. This page is written for the two people who actually make the decision: the owner who signs the invoice and the property manager who has to get it done inside a legal timeframe with a tenant in place. It is general information about how the NSW rules work in practice, not legal advice. NSW Fair Trading publishes the current rules and NCAT decides disputes.
Obligations table: the situation, who pays, the timeframe, the cost
| Situation | Who is responsible | Timeframe | Typical 2026 cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front or back door lock broken, home cannot be locked | Landlord | Urgent as soon as practicable. Tenant may arrange it and be reimbursed up to $1,000 within 14 days if the owner or agent cannot be reached | $140 to $300 |
| Security door forced in a break-in | Landlord, insurer if a claim is lodged | Urgent make safe the same day | Make safe $150 to $450, replacement door $900 to $1,400 |
| Sliding security door off its track and will not lock | Landlord | Urgent if the home cannot be secured, otherwise routine | $150 to $280, new bottom track $220 to $400 |
| Bedroom egress screen will not release from inside | Landlord | Urgent, it is a blocked escape route | $90 to $180 |
| Smoke alarm not working when reported | Landlord | 2 business days from being told, under the NSW smoke alarm rules | $30 to $120 per alarm |
| Flyscreen mesh perished or torn at the start of the tenancy | Landlord | Non-urgent, within a reasonable time | $35 to $70 per re-mesh |
| Flyscreen torn by the tenant’s dog or cat | Tenant, beyond fair wear and tear | Before vacate or as agreed | $35 to $70 per re-mesh |
| Tenant asks for security screens where there are none | Owner decision, an improvement rather than a repair | No legal timeframe | $180 to $480 per window, $450 to $1,400 per door |
| Tenant wants to install their own screens | Needs the owner’s written consent, tenant usually restores at the end | Answer within a reasonable time | Tenant’s cost |
| Locks changed after a break-in | Either party may act in an emergency, and a copy of the new key goes to the other party unless a court order says otherwise | As soon as practicable | Re-key a set $90 to $180 |
| Missing window fall-prevention device, strata unit above 2m | Owners corporation for common property windows, owner must not remove a device | Already overdue, the strata deadline passed in March 2018 | $120 to $250 per window |
| Screens bent or blown out by an east coast low | Landlord, insurer if claimed | Urgent if the home is insecure or unsafe, otherwise routine | Refit $90 to $160, replace $180 to $480 |
Costs are 2026 Illawarra rates, supplied and installed, and line up with our pricing guide. Timeframes describe how the NSW rules work in practice; NSW Fair Trading publishes the current requirements.
Urgent versus non-urgent, in plain words
NSW tenancy law lists a set of urgent repairs, and the one that catches screens and doors is the catch-all: any fault or damage that makes the premises unsafe or insecure. That is the test a property manager should apply. Not how expensive it is, not whether the tenant is annoyed: can the home be locked and can everyone get out in a fire.
- Urgent. Front door will not lock. Sliding door will not close. Broken window with a damaged screen. Bedroom egress screen that will not open from inside. Any damage after a break-in that leaves the property open.
- Not urgent. Torn flyscreen mesh, a dragging screen door that still latches, tea staining on stainless, a squeaky closer, a bent flyscreen frame on a first floor window nobody opens.
The practical consequence of getting that call wrong is money. If the repair is genuinely urgent and neither owner nor agent can be reached, the tenant is entitled to organise a suitably qualified tradesperson and claim reimbursement of the reasonable cost up to $1,000 within 14 days. In screens and doors that is nearly always an after hours attendance at $180 to $300 plus parts, when a next-day booking would have cost $90 to $150. The saving is in answering the phone, not in arguing later.
One Illawarra-specific note. Security doors are made to measure and take one to two weeks to manufacture, so an urgent repair on a forced door is almost always a make safe first and a permanent fix a fortnight later. Tell the tenant that up front and put both dates in the work order. Our emergency page sets out exactly what a make safe looks like and what it costs.
Screening a rental between tenancies?
One visit, every opening measured, one itemised quote per property. We work to agent access windows and send the invoice with the ABN and job address on it.
Notice, access and the practical bit nobody writes down
Entry rules in NSW are straightforward once you separate them. Emergencies need no notice. Entry to carry out or assess repairs and maintenance usually needs 2 days notice. A general inspection needs 7 days written notice and there is a cap of 4 in any 12 months. Entry is between 8am and 8pm and not on a Sunday or a public holiday unless the tenant agrees.
What that means for a screens job: a whole-house install is 4 to 6 hours with someone drilling around every window, so a notice is the wrong tool. Ask. Nearly every tenant says yes to security screens, because it means they can sleep with the windows open in a Wollongong February without leaving the house open. Offer two dates, confirm in writing, and give the installer a contact for access. A missed access costs you a return fee of $90 to $150.
What to put in the work order
- The property address, the tenant contact and the access arrangement in one line.
- Whether it is a repair, a make safe or an improvement, because that decides the approval path and the tax treatment.
- The mesh grade you want quoted: perforated aluminium, 304 stainless or 316 marine grade. On beach streets in Corrimal, Fairy Meadow, Towradgi and Bellambi it should be 316 or you will be replacing it inside a decade.
- Whether egress releases are required on bedroom and exit openings. On a rental the answer is yes.
- The approval limit you are working to. Most management agreements carry a standing repair authority of $300 to $1,000 without owner sign-off, which covers a lock or a re-mesh but never a door.
Since the 2025 changes to NSW tenancy law a landlord needs a prescribed reason to end a tenancy, which makes keeping a good tenant worth more than it used to be. Screens are one of the cheaper ways to do that: a tenant who can leave windows open through summer, with a compliant egress release on the bedrooms, tends to renew.
Vacate inspections: fair wear and tear versus damage
Screens are one of the top three arguments at an outgoing inspection, along with carpet and walls. The line is whether the deterioration would have happened anyway with normal use.
| What you find at vacate | Usually treated as | Cost to put right |
|---|---|---|
| Flyscreen mesh sagging and brittle after 7 years of UV | Fair wear and tear, owner pays | $35 to $70 per re-mesh |
| Mesh pushed out at the bottom corner by a dog | Damage, tenant pays | $35 to $70 per re-mesh |
| Tea staining on a coastal stainless screen | Fair wear and tear, and largely cosmetic | $60 to $120 per door to clean |
| Bent security door frame with pry marks | Break-in damage, an insurance question, not a bond one | $900 to $1,400 replacement |
| Pet door cut into a security screen without consent | Unauthorised alteration, tenant restores | $180 to $320 re-mesh, or a new door |
| Missing insect screens that were listed on the ingoing report | Tenant replaces | $90 to $160 per new flyscreen |
Everything above turns on the ingoing condition report. In NSW the report is completed before the tenancy starts and the tenant has 7 days to add their comments and return it. Photograph every screen and every door lock, name them by room, and do the same at vacate. A bond claim lodged without matching photographs generally fails, and the bond sits with Rental Bonds Online rather than with the agent, so there is no informal way to settle it.
Deductible repair or capital improvement
This is general information, not tax advice, and your accountant decides your situation. The distinction that matters is between restoring something to its previous condition and creating something better than what was there.
- Likely a repair. Re-meshing an existing flyscreen frame at $35 to $70, replacing a failed lock on an existing security door at $140 to $300, replacing rollers at $150 to $280. Restoring what was there, while the property is earning rent.
- Likely capital. Fitting security screens to windows that never had them, replacing a whole door with a better one, screening a house for the first time. Generally claimed as capital works over 40 years at 2.5 per cent a year, or depreciated as an asset.
- Almost certainly capital. Anything you fix in the first weeks after settlement to make the property rentable. Initial repairs to defects that existed when you bought are treated as capital, however much they look like maintenance.
- Watch the second-hand asset rule. Since 1 July 2017 most investors cannot claim depreciation on previously used depreciating assets in a residential rental. New screens bought and installed by you are a different case from screens that came with the house.
Practical consequence: if you are going to screen a rental, screening it properly in one visit is usually the cleaner treatment and the cheaper job, because per-opening rates fall on a whole-house install. Screening four openings at once typically saves 10 to 15 per cent per opening against four separate visits.
What we tell landlords not to spend money on
- Do not screen every window. On a typical Illawarra three bedroom house, the entry doors plus the ground floor bedroom windows carry nearly all the benefit. That is roughly $1,900 to $3,400 rather than the $4,500 plus you would spend doing the lot.
- Skip retractable flyscreens in a rental. They are $350 to $700 an opening, the mechanism does not enjoy tenants or salt air, and a damaged one is an argument at vacate. Fixed or hinged screens are the rental answer. See retractable flyscreens if you want them on your own home.
- Do not fit aluminium mesh on a beach street to save $300. It will be tea-stained in two years and finished in eight, and you will be paying twice inside one tenant cycle. The stainless versus aluminium comparison has the numbers.
- Do not replace a door that needs a $150 roller set. Ask for a repair-or-replace opinion in writing before you approve a replacement.
- Do not claim on insurance below your excess. Most single screen repairs are $150 to $320 against a $500 to $1,000 excess. The insurance page works the maths through.
Landlord and property manager questions
Who pays for a broken lock in a NSW rental?
Is a broken security door an urgent repair in NSW?
How much notice is needed to enter and fit screens?
Does a tenant have to accept new security screens?
Are security screens tax deductible on a rental property?
Who pays for flyscreens wrecked by a tenant pet?
Quote a rental property, one visit, one itemised invoice
Send the address and the access arrangement and we will measure every opening and return an itemised written quote within two business days.
Managing a portfolio in the Illawarra?
We measure across Wollongong, Figtree, Corrimal, Fairy Meadow, Unanderra and Dapto, quote per property, and invoice with the job address on it for owner statements.