5.
anu students take action against poor rental conditions JULIETTE BAXTER Students continually meet fierce competition for rental properties in Canberra, where the vacancy rate is at a low of 0.7%. As a result, students often end up accepting offers for houses in poor condition and face ongoing maintenance and safety concerns. Some students have voiced their concerns to their landlords or real estate agents, with some even going higher to the tribunal level.
people at ACAT were very helpful and easy to deal with – it’s just sad that with the landlord we were left with no other choice!” April’s house has experienced other safety hazards. This includes raw sewage pumping into their backyard, the failure of the landlord to clear overhanging branches which then fell onto a powerline, and a ceiling lamp falling in a bedroom.
April* is a first time renter, whose share house is pursuing legal action after the collapse of their deck in February, under the weight of ten people. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, but the real estate agent neglected to repair the deck for six months.
Image supplied.
Image Supplied
In June, April and her housemates went to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT), where the landlord tried to place blame on the tenants for the deck’s collapse, to avoid a rent reduction. After a second hearing in August, the tenants finally got a “10% retrospective rent reduction” and a “lump sum payment for the breach of quiet enjoyment.”
Millie’s* share house was ravaged by black mould earlier this year. All four walls of the bathroom grew black mould as a result of the “private landlord not putting in an extractor fan.” The mould then spread into two bedrooms, “growing on our clothes and furniture.” Millie explains “we reported it to our private landlord who never really offered us much help” though she did “eventually reduce our rent but we later decided to mutually break the lease.”
April explains that pursuing action through ACAT “required many hours of work,” but she is ultimately, “glad we moved forward with it and the
