Unstable landlord from Torrensville: Centrelink being defrauded

This is a story about an unstable landlord from Torrensville who uses his tenants to defraud Centrelink. The landlord in this instance cannot be named because the tenant fears further harassment and retribution.

The landlord never gave rent receipts to his tenants because his didn’t want Centrelink to find out about the extra income. If there were a database of rental properties, the agency would be able to link in and check these things.

This is what the tenant had to say: 

 

I am in Adelaide and currently having an issue with an ex-landlord in Torrensville who is taking me to court about bond he claims I need to pay him back for - he never lodged the bond with anyone.
 

This was a lodging arrangement (6 years tenancy) and he never gave me rent receipts and is attempting to claim money back for various ridiculous items including doing improvements and repairs on his own property. Incidentally, there was never a written lease, just a verbal agreement.
 

At present it is a monumental waste of my time (I will have my third court directions hearing in Feb) but I concede I have learned a significant amount about the legal process and the depths that some people will stoop for money. This guy is an invalid pensioner and has tenants in his house that he doesn't declare to Centrelink (hence he also doesn't provide receipts). It is surprising that he would make himself open to scrutiny in this way, but I suspect his comeuppance is about to occur. 
 

The landlord failed in his duty to provide receipts for rent for the entire period of tenancy (as is stipulated by Section 58 of the Residential Tenancy Act). He insisted that all rent be paid in cash and did not allow me to pay by cheque or deposit as he did not want Centrelink to be able to trace his income.
 

The interesting thing is that the tenant was successful in arguing that section 58

of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA) was breached. In most states and territories, tenants have a right to rent receipts to prove they paid if the landlord claims they did not. Pretty common sense. It’s there to protect tenants.

But strictly speaking, if the judge had found that the tenant had boarded with the landlord and had not entered into a lease she would not have won. Under section 5(b) of the Act, boarding and lodging arrangements are not covered by the Act.

Accordingly, people in this situation do not have the protection of the Act including the right to rental receipts. And there is no reason in principle why boarders and lodgers should not be entitled to rental receipts. This is very bad law.  
 

Also note that landlords can be fined a maximum of $2,500 for failing to provide rent receipts in South Australia. I would really like to know what is going on because I have not heard of any landlord getting a fine of this magnitude.

The tenant also explained how the landlord made his tenants pay for electricity as a way of hiding income. She continues:
 

The plaintiff’s initial claim for $1200 for rent in arrears on the 16/12/12 (and again on 7/1/13) was paid by the defendant on 22/1/13 (minus bond) with no mention of other monies owing (including electricity and withholding of bond) until 21/8/13.
 

Without explanation, the amount ‘owed’ for electricity has risen from $150 in the original claim to $188 in the most recent claim. The plaintiff obliges his tenants to pay the entire electricity bill without contributing monies himself as a way of hiding income and avoiding the loss of benefits from Centrelink.
 

Although never formally agreeing to comply, and at times spending little time at the residence, the defendant estimates over $5000 was paid in electricity during her six-year tenancy and is reluctant to contribute further.
 

The defendant spent very little time in the residence in the three month period of the bill in question, with ten days spent in China in late November and days spent away from the residence due to fear of the plaintiff from early December.

This is blatantly unfair. Tenants are being exploited because they need somewhere to live.

In the next instalment, we will explore how this landlord threatened and intimidated his tenants.

Bugger off! I pay for privacy...

Hopefully, you the reader would know that tenants are entitled to quiet enjoyment. It's a somewhat archaic term that should probably be replaced with the term 'privacy'.

The term is a bit confusing. I remember being told once by a real estate agent when I was a young law student that quiet enjoyment meant no loud music. Of course, I knew this not to be true. I don't want to bore you with the legalities of quiet enjoyment, but here we go...

There are differences between jurisdictions. The Victorian Act only refers to the right of quiet enjoyment. The Queensland Act on the other hand says tenants are entitled to reasonable peace, comfort, and privacy. This approach is much more advanced.

The concept of quiet enjoyment has been interpreted by the Courts in a restrictive manner, probably because the Acts are not explicit enough. Landlords and agents have made significant inroads leaving tenants with little substantive protection. 

To better protect tenants, we really need to work out what kind of privacy tenants need. And if landlords or agents breach those rules, we must throw the book at them. For something to be respected, it must have a value.

A fan wrote in and told me about their nosy landlord. The landlord would enter the property unannounced and sneak around under the house listening to their private conversations. He was eventually caught. The landlord would also challenge their guests while they were waiting out the front asking questions about who they are and what they were doing. That's just not good enough.

I remember back to the days of property law and the boring lectures about easements, covenants, and fixtures. They would have been a lot more interesting and exciting if we actually looked at the policy issues. Why? Because damn the man...

 

Public Warning: Monster on the loose…

A young man has contacted Bad Landlord Australia wanting to warn others of a predator targeting international students. His real name is Phillip but he goes by the pseudonym Richard Puller. This man lives in St Kilda, Victoria.

Misaki, a young student from Japan, found an advertisement on Gumtree for a cheap furnished room on Barkly Street. This is not her real name. Misaki moved in but managed to escape after four days with the help of concerned friends.

Misaki was cluey enough to tape some of the conversations with Phillip. I have listened to the recordings but I am unable to publish them because it is prohibited in Victoria. Victoria Police and Consumer Affairs Victoria have been notified.

It is very difficult listening to the recordings. It is truly disturbing stuff. This sixty-year old man tries to groom Misaki telling her she is special, a princess, his special friend, and so it goes on. He offers her reduced rent for god knows what, which she refuses.

The class hallmark of a molester is keeping the abuse under wraps. He repeatedly tells her that the relationship is secret. Disturbingly, it sounds like he has done this kind of thing many times before. He refers to another Japanese girl that had stayed with him previously.

Here is an account by the white knight that rescued Misaki:

My girlfriend is from Japan. She recently had her friend come from Japan to live here in Australia. My girlfriend was helping her find a place, found this ad and took her friend to met Philip aka “Richard Puller” and they decided it was okay for her to move in (mainly because there was another Japanese girl staying there). The moment she was alone with him which was the first day, he bought her clothes and told her to get changed in front of him, he continued to be sleazy trying to kiss her saying he loves her and when she wouldn’t do things he would slam door and get angry.

Luckily Misaki recorded many conversations he had with her. The recordings are well beyond grooming, controlling sexual things that made me want to vomit. “Rent goes down if you do what I say”, “we will have a special secret friendship”, “you have nice boobs and I love you and we will have good special friendship if you don’t tell people about us” etc. Complete sexual predator! I have made a statement about this but they weren’t sure about how they could handle it, as he didn’t rape her pretty much. I immediately took Misaki away from this creep, she only stayed there for four days and already all this happened. 

The other girl living there is scared of him and hides in her room. She is leaving because of him. I told she can stay with me and my girlfriend and now Misaki just to help her escape. I have spoken to people that have heard of this man and said he always has Asian girls stay with him. Obviously he preys on WEAK scared venerable Asian women so nothing probably would have been reported. These girls cry themselves to sleep every night and then just flee home scared with this as their main memory of Australia. These girls wouldn’t go to the police you see. It makes me sick. All I pray for is that no more travelling Asian girls can walk into this trap. If this man is not stopped it will definitely end in rape.

The difficulty is that the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 does not deal with situations like this. Anyone can become a landlord, there are no restrictions. To protect vulnerable people, property owners should have to apply to the regulator to rent out their place. We need to safeguard the public.