Tenants' obligation to Mitigate?

Having the right to fix a problem doesn’t give a tenant the right to spend freely at the expense of another. It also means that if you have the power to act and don’t, any losses incurred because you didn’t act or acted late are on you.

Mitigating is about minimising everyone’s costs even when both sides don’t necessarily agree with those costs.

So let us say the power goes out and the fridge is defrosting,
• As a tenant, you must reduce the cost of the food going off. If there is only $50 worth of food in the fridge, but the cost of an emergency electrician is an extra $200, then the cheapest solution is to wait until morning.
• As an owner, you must repair as soon as reasonably possible. That may mean getting the electrician there first up in the morning.

In a circumstance where the owner says it’s a tenant’s appliance shorting out the power and a tenant says it’s not their appliance, it is something wrong with the house; even if the tenant and owner disagree on why the power is out, the responsibility to mitigate is still the same.
• As tenants, they must stop their losses, such as food spoiling as soon as possible.
• the owner has the same obligations

The Act requires a problem handled, regardless of responsibility, and handled by each party like it’s all their money. It would be best if you sorted out who’s responsible when it is finished.