Tenants in strife find eviction ban relief

Struggling tenants have been given a new lease on life as the State Government’s moratorium on residential tenancy evictions became law this week. It was a particular relief for a Bayonet Head family, who had not been able to pay their rent for the past month. Sherie van Burgel and her husband, Andrejs, had rented the same house for the past seven years and had always paid their bills on time. But when they both lost their jobs in hospitality because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple and their three children were forced to survive on just a few hundred dollars they had left. “If we had paid any bills then, we would not have been able to eat for the last four weeks,” Mr van Burgle said. “Everything we had left had gone on food, nappies and formula.” Mrs van Burgel said while she understood their real estate agent’s position, receiving a breach notice for non-payment a few weeks ago added stress to an already testing situation. “It’s not just the rent situation, it’s utility bills ... we can’t pay a loan repayment on the car, we can’t even get through to the bank to try to sort that out but they’re sending out letters saying they’re going to come and repossess it.” The moratorium was welcome news to the family, who were told many tenants in Albany had been in the same situation. The law meant residential tenants would be protected from eviction and shielded from rent increases for the next six months. It will apply to all residential tenancies including those in public and government housing, park homes as well as boarders and lodgers. Real Estate Institute of WA deputy president Lisa Joyce said the moratorium on evictions would be backdated to March 30. “What (tenants) will then do is work with a property manager to determine a rent repayment agreement — that’s one option available to them,” she said. “But that’s not best for every-body. If you’re paying a lot of rent, you might not want to stay in that property and accumulate a debt that will have to be repaid at a later date. “In that situation you might decide to issue the 21 days notice and vacate the property and your fixed-term lease agreement without penalty.” Mrs van Burgel said the couple was still waiting for Centrelink payments, due to come through on Monday, but they were determined to catch up on their repayments. “We’ve always been hard-working people so for something like this to happen it’s been really hard,” she said. “We’re just sort of sitting — literally — sitting and waiting.”