Art Deco doors are a hazard?

We own a renovated Art Deco strata apartment in NSW, which we tenanted after we moved out.

After about eight years of renting the place out, our property manager recommended we get a Residential Safety Report. To our surprise it identified the interior French doors as a hazard because they don’t have safety glass. I e if someone broke the glass they may get cut.

The doors are original, meaning, I understand, they don’t violate the building code.

They’re a period feature, hardwood with 20 panels of patterned glass. We’ve been quoted well over $4,000 to replace the glass. Even at that price we can’t get safety glass in the antique pattern. The report didn’t mention the front door, which has the same glass. So the final cost might actually be around $6-8,000.

The safety inspector mentioned the hazard to the current tenants, who are asking the property manager when it’ll be fixed.

Of course there are other solutions like removing the doors, removing the glass or nailing plywood over it. But this would destroy one of the apartment’s main Deco features. The period elements are a reason tenants want to live there.

Other hazards were things like, the (lovely travertine) kitchen tiles could be slippery if wet and should be coated with non-slip stripes.

Don’t get me wrong, we want the apartment to be safe. But we also wonder whether anywhere would be safe to live according to this report! Realistically what is our liability? How should we handle the situation?