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Your Housing
Rights
 Tenants Rights
Rooming house residents do have legal rights even though most do
not have the protection of a lease. Our rights can be found in the
Residential Tenancies Act. However, when researching the manual it
was discovered that many rooming house residents have no idea of
their rights. Years of waging battles against the forces of
negative reinforcement has produced, in a lot of people, an
attitude of complete defeatism.
“Why
bother, they’ll be just the same as the others?”, was the answer
provided by one rooming house resident. Others provided similar
responses. However, those residents who had used the Tenants Union
had nothing but praise for the Rooming House Advice
Service.
A
“Notice to Vacate” is not an eviction order
Evictions, where illegal methods are employed to evict tenants, are
common in the inner south region. Numerous accounts exist where
housing workers and landlords have bluffed residents with a “Notice
To Vacate” and the residents have been evicted
wrongfully.
A “Notice
To Vacate” is not an eviction order. It is supposed to be a
document that informs you that you have two days to reply to the
“Notice To Vacate” or you will have to front the Victorian Civil
and Administrative Tribunal and answer the complaint made against
you by the rooming house operater.
There
exists one documented case where a housing worker first convinced
police that the “Notice To Vacate” was an eviction order, and
second, even got a police officer to serve the notice on the
resident. There are numerous accounts of housing and welfare
managers developing unofficial links with local police and using
them to to evict residents without the resident having their rights
explained.
The
Residents Tenancies Act does have a provision where a resident’s
tenancy can be suspended immediately. The resident will receive a
Notice To Leave. The intent of the “violence” provisions of the Act
is to immediately remove a resident who has committed an act of
violence or made a serious threat against another resident. If you
receive a Notice To Leave contact the Tenants’ Union.
Once again
there are numerous documented accounts where housing workers and
landlords have used the provisions wrongfully against innocent
residents. The Act does NOT require the rooming house operator to
report the matter to the police and the report given to the Civil
and Administrative Tribunal Member at the Tribunal hearing. It
should be noted: if the matter is serious enough for a person to be
evicted immediately to, in most cases, street homelessness, then
the alleged aggressor should have been charged or at least
interviewed by the police. This does not happen often.
Most
people who have been evicted by the “violence” provisions do not
contest their eviction. Some do not know they can. A person who has
no where to go first, must secure their possessions and secondly,
try and find somewhere to stay that night. The landlord still must
attend the Tribunal hearing to officially complete the eviction. It
is common practice that no police report is presented and only a
verbal assurance given that the police have been informed of the
eviction.
Getting
Assistance
There is a problem with obtaining appropriate legal assistance with
tenancy matters at the moment. One Step will be providing a more
comprehensive report over the next few weeks.
PILCH
Homeless Person’s Legal Clinic
Ring for appointment and clinic locations Tel: 9225 6680
Tenants
Union of Victoria Tel: 9416 25 77
Victorian
Legal Aid Tel: 9269 0120 Duty Lawyers that can handle tenancy
matters can be found at the Victorian Administrative Tribunal
(VTAC) 55 King Street Melbourne
St Kilda
Legal Service Tel: 9534 0777 | 