Santa Teresa residents win tribunal case against NT government

REMOTE residents in Central Australia have won thousands of dollars in compensation from the Territory Government after a tribunal ruled it failed in its duty as their landlord

Annie Young is one of the Santa Teresa residents who have been fighting the Territory Government over the maintenance of their homes

REMOTE residents in Central Australia have won thousands of dollars in compensation from the Territory Government after a tribunal ruled it failed in its duty as their landlord.

The NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found the government did not adequately maintain the four Santa Teresa residents properties, which it took over as landlord following the NT Emergency Response in 2007.

• NT Government countersues for unpaid rent

• SANTA Teresa decision could cost NT Government tens of millions

NTCAT member Les McCrimmon said the government's bungles included leasing a home without a smoke alarm installed, taking six weeks to install a back door on another and leaving a third resident without an air conditioner for more than a year.

• SIGN up for Kayo plus NT News in our best ever subscription deal for sport lovers

“My front window did not open either, this made the stifling heat even worse,” Enid Young told the tribunal.

“Every year from November to the end of January, I had to stay at my daughter Claire’s house, because the house was too hot.”

Another resident, Robert Conway, was awarded $1000 in compensation after the government took 109 days to repair a leaking shower.

TOP STORIES

• ‘THIS girl might still be alive’: Court lashes youth justice bureaucrats

• CHAN building to be demolished as part of ‘masterplan’

• GO SUSHI shuts its doors after 19 years

• LAND council executive accused of conflict over loans

• DARWIN defence facilities in $13.4 million overhaul

“I’m on dialysis and my wife was having cancer treatment, so it was really hard cleaning up water every day just to stay safe from slipping,” Mr Conway said. “It made me really angry that housing did not fix things to make it safe.”

Mr McCrimmon also dismissed a counter suit for unpaid rent and lawyer, Dan Kelly, who represented the residents, said the decision meant “the entire housing system has been called into question”.

• NT NEWS subscription special offer: $1 for first 28 days

“After years of litigation it is clear today they had no right to this money, it is clear the housing system is in chaos, and it suggests that rentals debts across the Territory are unenforceable,” he said.

Mr Kelly promised more litigation unless the government changed its ways.

IN OTHER NEWS

“The system has been utterly exposed, and if people in Santa Teresa are entitled to compensation, the same must be true for the other 70 remote communities across the NT,” he said.