Essential service worker, single mum facing homelessness after lease dispute

Amanda is an essential service worker who is facing homelessness with her children after raising concerns with her landlord.

While other Territorians celebrate the start of a new year, *Amanda and her three children will be searching for a new place to live.

With the end of their lease fast approaching on Monday, the close-knit family of four didn’t even unbox their Christmas presents, instead spending the day packing up their belongings as they brace for the worst.

“I was sitting on the couch yesterday, looking at the boxes under the tree, thinking we’re going to open our presents and they’re going to have to stay in the boxes because that’s the only way they’re going to stay together,” she said.

“So even though we’re having Christmas, there won’t be any sitting around enjoying our presents. We have to pack up and don’t know what we’re gonna do next.”

Amanda is a single mum with a rental history that’s “clean as a whistle”.

Over the past seven weeks she has applied for more than 25 properties but has been unsuccessful each time after her lease was terminated after she raised concerns about a broken sprinkler system.

Amanda and her family spent the festive season packing up their home. Picture: iStock

The family moved into their Palmerston rental 15 months ago and have since put up with outstanding repairs including a faulty glass door, spa and towel rack that wasn’t properly repaired.

Amanda said she made many attempts to raise these issues with management who had agreed to provide a tap timer, hoses and sprinklers after deciding to decommission the sprinkler system.

When offered a renewal of her lease, Amanda attempted to negotiate two changes.

The first change stated the sprinkler system was decommissioned in the previous lease period. Second, she would not be responsible for any plants that died as a result of failing to provide hoses and a tap timer.

However the human services worker’s lease was terminated, leaving her and her children house hunting over the holidays.

“I have potted plants that are tidy. The grass is mowed, the edges done. The grass is green. I even managed to get the grass to grow back in places where it was brown and dead when we first moved in – I hand transplanted the grass from other areas in the garden,” she said.

“I always pay my rent on time but I have been labelled as a bad tenant because I stood up for my rights, I challenged authority.

“It’s soul destroying, I work to empower women and empower the vulnerable to access their human rights and have a better life. But It feels like human rights are just on paper. I tried to access my Tenancy Rights and now I am facing homelessness.”

Amanda believes this dispute influenced a negative review from her current proptery management who she believes are criticising her upkeep of the gardens.

Now, she is worried that if she doesn’t find a place soon, she will be forced to separate from her three children, who live with disabilities and long term medical issues.

“My younger two were only toddlers when my oldest got sick and they would have to be taken to their fathers and I had to stay with their brother and it killed me; being away from them kills me,” she said.

“And then when we started going through this, I said to them: ‘the younger two can stay with their father, *Emma you can stay at your partner’s parent’s place for a little while,’ and she goes into tears, ‘No, mum, we can’t, we can’t separate, we have to stay together.

“And I said, ‘honey, I don’t think we can with the way it’s looking,’ and I’m doing the best I can but it’s just not enough.”

Tennants have the right to negotiate the terms of their lease with landlords, however landlords also have the right to terminate the lease if unable to meet an agreement. Picture: iStock

NT Consumer Affairs Deputy Commissioner Danielle Wilks said while tenants were allowed to negotiate their lease conditions, landlords still had the right to terminate the lease if an agreement couldn’t be reached.

“Landlords and tenants have the right to negotiate the terms and conditions of any further lease agreements however this does not prevent a landlord from giving notice of their intention to terminate should the parties be unable to reach an agreement,” she said.

“Part 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 sets out the circumstances for which a landlord may place a tenant on a default tenancy database, which does not include situations where a tenant may be in dispute regarding maintenance requests.

“It is an offence for landlords to list tenants on a database without meeting certain criteria.”

*Names changed for privacy