Renters living in properties badly in need of repair are fearful of speaking up for their rights, according to a new report.
The Footscray Community Legal Centre’s Home Sweet Home report found landlords are refusing to fix broken windows and locks, leaking pipes, unstable floors, rotting walls and ceilings. Of the 100 western suburbs tenants surveyed, 71 claimed to need one or more repairs to their property – 240 in total – none of which had been carried out.
Report author and FCLC community projects solicitor Jane Berry said the threat of homelessness or being cast adrift in an acute rental shortage should not be the price people pay for asking a landlord to make necessary repairs.
“When it comes to rental accommodation, a landlord can lease a house with no running water, no locking doors or windows, or infested with rodents and mould, yet there’s little tenants can currently do without the fear of rent increases or eviction.”
The bulk of surveyed tenants were newly arrived migrants or people experiencing financial hardship.
Most had been waiting far longer than the 14-day legislated time period for home repairs to be completed. “The current system is so broken that it took one client seven VCAT hearings and 120 hours of legal help from a community lawyer to get her shower fixed,” Ms Berry said.
The report’s six recommendations include minimum Victorian Housing Standards enforced by an independent body and greater penalties for landlords who do not comply with the proposed standards.
