Woman wins compensation from landlord over dead possums found in roof space of SA rental property

For months, Lorraine Lane had to deal with “extremely pungent” smells and brown liquid dripping from the exhaust fans in her SA rental property. Now, she has won compensation from her landlord.

A woman has won compensation after two dead possums were found in the roof space of her South Australian rental property, causing an “extremely pungent” smell and brown liquid to leak from an exhaust fan.

The South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered the landlord to pay $700 in compensation to tenant Lorraine Elizabeth Lane for taking too long to remove the carcasses.

Ms Lane first reported a “foul odour” and “a dozen flies” at the back end of the house in early January – writing in an email to the property manager, saying “it’s almost like something has died in the roof or wall cavity”.

“I’ve had a problem here with a foul odour the last two weeks,” the email on January 9 read.

“The smell is intermittent which puzzles me. It was evident again last night and I have woken up this afternoon to a dozen flies or more in the back end of the house.

“It’s very strange as it’s not a smell that I have smelt here before.”

Two dead possums were eventually found in the roof space, as Ms Lane predicted.

A few days later, she wrote again, saying she had borrowed a step ladder from her neighbour so she could inspect the exhaust fan in the laundry herself.

“There is where the smell is coming from,” she wrote.

The landlord, via the agent, responded the next day, saying: “Unfortunately with the lack of access into the roof space even if there is something present there may be no way to retrieve it”.

Email correspondence shows that, on January 22, the agent suggested the smell was from a build-up in the drains – but a plumber discounted this in mid-February.

The court heard Ms Lane had to clean brown liquid coming from the exhaust fans and avoided using the laundry and bathroom area, except when necessary.

Back-and-forth emails continued between Ms Lane and the agent until April 24, when the roof space was finally inspected and two dead possums were found.

The court agreed the landlord had taken some steps to address the problem, but “fell short of the reasonable diligence standard” by not investigating the roof space earlier.

“It is somewhat surprising … that the roof space was not investigated sooner,” the tribunal’s judgments, published online, say.

The court stated it was the landlord’s responsibility to address the problem, because the possums entered the roof space through a “structural gap” in the home.

The landlord was found to have breached the obligation to act with reasonable diligence under Section 68 of the Residential Tenancies Act and ordered to pay $700 to Ms Lane.