raytaylor: Personally I would stop paying, but put the payments aside so you can pay in a lump sum once it has been resolved.

- Send a 14 day notice to remedy
- State the total amount of damage to clothes, furniture and belongings and subtract a one off total from the rent. Eg. If you lost $300 of clothing because it was leaking through a closet, then delay payments until you have credited yourself the correct amount to offset the damage. A customer of mine was telling me last week he ended up having to bill the landlord when their pump broke and brown water went into the washing machine and household plumbing and damaged a load of washing.
- State that if the issues are resolved within 14 days, the outstanding full amount of rent will be paid in a lump sum
- If they require more than 14 days to remedy from the date of the notice, they will need to reduce the rent to an acceptable level (thats acceptable to you)
- You will not resume any payments until the situation has been remedied and that they will be paid in full if resolved within 14 days (so you give them an opportunity to call you a nice person) and at this point, the payments may be delayed further to offset damage to clothing, furniture and belongings.


A suggested acceptable level, if it takes longer than 14 days in my opinion would be
 - Measure up the square metres you can no longer occupy or place furniture
 - Take this as a percentage of the total house floor space and reduce the rent by the same percentage
 - If a room such as a bedroom cannot be occupied because too much of the floor is damage, or you cannot move around in the room, take the whole room size as lost square metres, rather than just the portion.
 - Payments will still be delayed until you have credited your bond back, and if not resolved in 30 days you will be moving out. If resolved within 30 days, the bond will be repaid to them in full.


Two things you will want to have for the tennancy tribunal if it reaches that point
- Make sure you get lots of photos and video clips showing soggy carpet.
- Keep the cash so you can say you are acting in good faith, and in a reasonable manor so you can pay it in a lump sum if they resolve it within the 14 or 30 day timeframe, or if you loose your tribunal case. Ensure you can show bank statements showing you are transferring the correct amounts into a secondary account to prove that you are keeping the money aside for them.