" No help for Renters "

The Star
Feb 16, 2010
By Matt Dunn

THE State Government and Consumer Affairs Victoria say there is nothing that can be done to help Bass Coast renters who have been priced out of the property market.

But the Tenants Union of Victoria says that Consumer Affairs is not doing enough to protect evicted Bass Coast renters.

The tenants union has received a steady stream of complaints from the renters, many of whom are believed to have been evicted to make way for cashed-up desalination workers.

Desalination plant workers will receive $700 a week in extra income as a living away from home allowance.

“Consumer Affairs Victoria, which is the government body responsible for enforcing the rental tenancies act, really needs to be proactive,” Tenants Union of Victoria policy and liaison worker Toby Archer said.

“It can’t sit back and wait for individual complaints. They really need to be out there working with landlords and estate agents to make sure they’re aware of their obligations. That’s a really key part of the problem.

“We’ve seen no evidence to suggest that that’s happened. We’re only a community legal service, but they’ve got a mandate from the government to do what they do. We haven’t seen that they’ve done any work in that regard.”

But Consumer Affairs said it has no power to control the rental market.

“The Morwell CAV office has received less than five requests for a rental assessment, in one instance, it was only the second rent increase in the past seven years. There have been five enquiries into termination of leases across the entire Bass Coast Shire region since the start of the year,” a CAV spokesperson said.

A spokesman from the office of Housing Minister Richard Wynne also said there was nothing that could be done to control “the private rental market”.

Mr Archer said that despite its low population base, calls from frustrated Bass Coast renters were continually being made to the union.

“We might get calls from, say Mildura, once in a blue moon. But we’re seeing, on a weekly basis, people calling in from that way (Bass Coast). That’s out of the ordinary,” he said.

Most worrying was the “seriousness of the issues being raised and the trend.

“The things that we’re quite commonly seeing is rent increases and notices to vacate. One of the things we’ve quite often seen is estate agents and landlords not following the process in the rental tenancies act,” he said.

Raising the price of rent without proper notice is a common complaint. Disputes stemming from sudden rent rises had often seen landlords issue “retaliatory” eviction notices.

“For us the key message that really needs to get out is that the law is the law and just as everyone expects tenants to abide by the law, the community expects landlords and estate agents to comply. They shouldn’t take advantage of the fact that the market has become incredibly tight,” Mr Archer said.

Member for Bass Ken Smith, who has been working on the issue, said there had now been about 20 people come to his office with complaints about not being able to find somewhere to live.

He said the rise in the cost of rental properties had happened because Bass Coast Council had allowed it to happen. He blamed council’s housing accord for fuelling the problem.

Council has set aside a pool of holiday houses, which will be rented out to the desalination workers. But Mr Smith believes the exorbitant rent put on some properties was only serving to heat up the market, not to mention upsetting desalination workers.

“They’ll be looking at those properties and thinking, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on in this place? They’re trying to rip us off,’” he said.

But Thiess Degrémont has backed the housing accord.

“The Housing Accord website hosted by Council is the only accommodation website that Thiess Degrémont will promote to its employees, subcontractors and suppliers,” a Thiess Degrémont spokesperson said.

“Thiess Degrémont will be leasing properties directly as the need arises. These properties will be used for temporary accommodation for short-term workers who elect for shared project accommodation.”

Mr Smith and a community group formed to tackle the housing issue will meet with Minister for Housing Richard Wynne on Wednesday, February 24.