Lauren tried to get her bathroom fixed. Then she got told to leave

2 hours ago 3

A Melbourne renter says her magistrate landlord left her without a safe bathroom for a month, and when asked where she and her family would bathe was told by her property manager to use bathrooms in public facilities like pools and the library.

The tenant eventually left after attempting to have the bathroom urgently repaired; experts say the stoush reflects a trend of tenants choosing to leave their homes rather than engage in a legal fight.

Lauren McClean and her family have left their rental.

Artist Lauren McClean said her bathroom was deemed unsafe after she discovered water was leaking through the upstairs bathroom floor and into the ceiling above her living area.

“I got up on the kitchen table and had a feel around and my finger went straight through the ceiling,” she said.

Tenants Victoria acting chief executive Cameron Bloye said McClean’s situation was concerning. “Everybody needs a home that’s safe and up to standard,” he said. “If you can’t use the shower, or the roof is caving in, how can you go about your day and live your life?”

Victoria has spent nearly a decade trying to improve conditions for renters. New protections include limited eviction powers, minimum standards, and the right to make minor modifications to a property. Tenancy advocates have previously criticised the government for a lack of enforcement, which they said leaves the power imbalance between tenants and landlords mostly unchanged, and often leads to frustrated renters leaving their homes rather than enforce their rights.

The new rental laws require a home to have a working bathroom to meet minimum standards. If a rental falls under minimum standards and is not repaired, a tenant can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to take action against their landlord.

McClean raised the leak with the property manager when she discovered it, on May 21. A tradesperson was sent out to investigate, and McClean said she thought the repairs were on the way.

“There was no definite answer, just that there was potentially some structural damage. Then the next day, a builder had been given my number … he came and was in and out within five minutes, and he gave them a written report which gave them an expensive quote. None of them led to a fix or temporary solution.”

At the time, McClean wasn’t aware that the quote, which has been seen by this masthead, identified a risk of major structural damage that would worsen each time the bath or shower was used. The quoted repair cost was north of $25,000.

“We didn’t hear anything until the fourth of June and that was when they gave us a 24-hour notice to vacate,” McClean said. “I just assumed that [the two-week wait] was for it to get repaired. Especially because they left it so long, it mustn’t be super bad, and I assumed it would be fixed.”

The reason given on the notice to vacate was that the property was uninhabitable; this masthead has seen a statutory declaration by the landlord that said they couldn’t afford to make the repair, and could not commit to repairing it quickly because they preferred to have a builder of their own choosing. The statutory declaration listed the landlord’s profession as a magistrate. McClean asked that the landlord not be named because she feared retribution.

McClean received legal advice from Tenants Victoria, which said the notice could be invalid, if the home had not been deemed uninhabitable by an expert. She said she did not receive a report which showed the home was uninhabitable with the notice. “Two different people I spoke to said the bar is really high for something to be deemed uninhabitable, and the house would have to have burned down,” she said.

The notice came with an offer of half-priced rent for a week and a warning that the bathroom was too dangerous to use. When McClean asked where she and her family, including her two-year-old daughter, were to bathe, the property manager responded with a link to public showers in the area.

Lauren McClean tried to investigate the leak and her finger went through the ceiling.

“You can shower at family/friend’s house, local gyms, Carlton baths, Fitzroy Swimming Pools, Fitzroy Library, St Mary’s House of Welcome,” the email seen by this masthead read.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria interim chief executive Jacob Caine said if a bathroom in a rental became unusable, the landlord should cover the cost of an alternative solution.

“If the landlord cannot pay to fix a $25,000 problem with a bathroom, there is an obligation to provide an alternative. A public bathroom is not that,” he said. “That is not a solution or acceptable in this context.”

McClean brought action to VCAT to try to force the landlord to make the repair, but found a new place to live in the area instead. VCAT dismissed her application because McClean had plans to move out. The bathroom wasn’t fixed when she left the property in early July.

Bloye said it was common for tenants to move instead of attempting to get repairs done if their landlord dragged their feet.

“Renters typically hope to avoid a bad relationship with their landlord, or a bad reference when they seek a new home,” he said. “It makes some renters reluctant to go to VCAT. When you’re scared about whether you’ll have a home in the future, some people will decide not to rock the boat.

“The system only works well if everybody is committed to proactively playing their part. It shouldn’t require a VCAT hearing for somebody to comply with the law.”

McClean said she was shocked that her landlord, a judicial officer, was slow to act on what was considered an urgent repair because of its high cost. Victorian magistrates earn a $358,680 salary.

Victoria has spent nearly a decade trying to improve conditions for renters.

“Finances are none of our business. I think it doesn’t negate [their] responsibilities,” she said. “As soon as we weren’t serving [them], [they] tried to throw us out on the street because [they] couldn’t afford it.”

This masthead attempted to contact the landlord for comment; they did not respond. The real estate agency declined to comment.

Caine said the cost-of-living crisis had also affected landlords, and would make it more difficult for some investors to cover large, upfront costs.

“We’re generally less sympathetic to the people who own the properties than the people renting them, but it’s often the case that the financial pressures on the person who owns that property are just as acute as someone else in the general population,” he said.

Caine said the Residential Tenancies Act wasn’t clear on what should happen if an urgent repair needed to be completed and a landlord wasn’t able to afford it.

“The regulations are pretty murky there and that’s where going to VCAT about a continued argument for who is responsible for what in that instance, and to be perfectly honest, I can’t tell you how a VCAT member would rule in that instance,” he said.

Caine said the newly established Rental Dispute Resolution service, which began operating after McClean decided to leave her old rental, could help to ease the power imbalance between tenants and landlords.

“That’s been set up in recognition of the fact that VCAT has been slow and cumbersome for too many issues, and it doesn’t allow for a streamlined resolution when these issues present themselves,” he said. “The early info we’re getting through is it’s solving these problems in a more efficient way. But it’s early days.”

Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos agreed. “Established in June, Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria is already working to help renters and rental providers settle disputes over bonds, compensation, repairs and rent increases in a more informal setting,” he said in a statement.