Condo air-con issue needs maintenance in 2nd month of lease. Who pays?

[Kopi0]

Hi, just need a bit of advice here. In the second month of our new lease, one of the aircons started intermittently blowing warm air. We reported the issue on a Friday and the landlord reluctantly arranged for engineers to come out the following week to look at it, which meant all weekend with no aircon in the bedroom. The engineers came out, did a clean and said nothing as wrong. Obviously the issue persisted and we reported it again. The engineers came out again and said nothing was wrong. That was one month ago. This weekend, the engineers that we have contracted with for our regular cleanings (who we have been contracted with for two years at our previous condo) came out and immediately diagnosed a choking fan and recommended a chemical overhaul (which is more than just a chemical clean). They also said that the units were dirty and that it looked like the previous team did a poor job.

Our lease says that we are responsible for cleanings and chemical every three months. Does this mean that the landlord is responsible for this as it began before our first scheduled maintenance? The landlord is really fighting us on this. We have been sleeping in our spare bedroom for a month.

We would really really appreciate some advice.

[PNGMK]

Your LL should pay for anything more than just routine cleaning IMO (but subject to your TA clauses that we are not aware of).

[martincymru]

Landlord is responsible: "existing fault".
I would give 7 days to fix. If they reject then organise and pay yourself; fight later.

[Kopi0]

Thanks all. We've asked the to pay twice. They are refusing. I think we will file in small claims tribunal and go to mediation.