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THEIR first home in Australia was supposed to bring the start of a happy new life.

Instead, they were confronted with piles of rubbish in the backyard, a broken heater and a property generally unfit for a young family.

The woman, who wants to be known only as Rahil, is an Iranian Kurd who arrived in Australia in 2010.

in September that year, she and her husband and young daughter moved into a small house in Albion that they rented through a real estate agent who was acting on behalf of the landlord.

Persistent requests for repairs fell on deaf ears and they were too scared to rock the boat in case they were blacklisted with the agent. It wasn't until February this year they finally sought the help of the Footscray Community Legal Centre (FCLC).

Rahil, through an interpreter, said they had complained four times in one month only to be fobbed off.

"We fear that if we have a bad [rental] history from complaining to the agent we can't have a good property after that."

According to the legal centre, the landlord is still dragging his feet on repairs and breached a duty to provide property in a reasonably clean condition.

Serving a breach-of-duty notice on the landlord has not fixed the problem.

This is not an isolated incident.

An FCLC investigation into disturbing client accounts of dodgy real estate agents and exploitive landlords found refugees in Melbourne's west are being exploited and living in dingy conditions. It often leads to homelessness.

FCLC community solicitor and report author Laura Berta said real estate agents often ignored refugees' requests for repairs and current laws allowed the agents to get away with it.

"We need to change the repair process so real estate agents take complaints seriously," she said.

Refugees are further disadvantaged by language and cultural barriers, at times leading to unfair eviction or loss of bond money.

Refugees face unfair evictions and loss of bond money and struggle to represent themselves when an issue arises. Others struggle to argue their case during disputes at VCAT with limited access to interpreters and limited knowledge of the process.

Refugees also struggle to access affordable housing and as a result are at an increased risk of homelessness.

The FCLC also found problems with public housing, with the Department of Housing failing to maintain properties.

When problems arose, it was not acting as a "model litigant" by acting fairly and promptly, avoiding legal proceedings and resolving disputes with tenants by agreement, where possible.

Housing Minister Wendy Lovell's spokeswoman, Alicia Byrne, said in a statement that the department responded to all requests for maintenance work on its properties in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act.

Its staff were expected to act in accord with the Client Services Charter and adhere to existing policy guidelines that promoted settlement of disputes at the local level in a fair and equitable manner.

"Urgent repairs requests are completed within 24 hours, while non-urgent work is completed within two weeks. The recent Auditor-General's report into public housing has found there was more than a decade of systemic neglect and mismanagement by the former Labor government, including a significant maintenance backlog."

State government spokeswoman Emily Broadbent said the needs of Victoria's most vulnerable groups were a matter of great concern and a range of measures to assist such groups were in place.

These included a Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) multi-lingual telephone information service which fielded more than 87,000 calls about renting and more than 10,000 calls about matters involving real estate agents in 2010-11.

"In 2010-11, CAV finalised 15 real estate prosecutions or civil actions, and also 491 disputes about estate agents."

You can also view this article at Maribyrnong Weekly: Welcome mat’s tattered

REFUGEES are being forced to live in horrific housing conditions across the west, a new report reveals.

The Making It Home: Refugee Housing in Melbourne’s West document exposes how some of the most vulnerable people in society are being exploited by dodgy landlords and real estate agents.

The Footscray Community Legal Centre has detailed personal accounts from refugee and migrant clients, including loss of bond money, unwarranted repair payments, dilapidated housing structures and forced evictions.

The centre assisted them with more than 300 legal problems for housing and opened 88 files in 18 months.

Ethiopian Khalid Muslih said he was ordered to vacate a property in Tarneit for alleged outstanding rental payments despite always paying on time.

“I had been paying rent through a rent card supplied by the real estate agent and the company processing the payments had made an error and had not forwarded my payments to the agent,” Mr Muslih said.

Mr Muslih, living with his wife and son, said he decided to vacate the premises despite providing proof of payments.

Community solicitor Laura Berta said real estate agents often ignored pleas from refugees for repairs.

“Refugee tenants make easy targets because of their language difficulties and lack of understanding of the system,” Ms Berta said.

“We helped an Iraqi family who lived with a collapsed roof for a month and a Burmese family who survived the winter with no heating or hot water.”

Ms Berta said the State Government must take action to prevent refugees from being abused.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said that despite the claims, agents had an excellent compliance record.

Housing Minister Wendy Lovell said the Government was developing a new housing framework that would reshape public housing.

You can also view this article at Maribyrnong Leader: Refugees face landlord horrors in the west

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Footscray Community Legal Centre

Refugees in Melbourne suburbs are being exploited and living in dingy conditions according to a Footscray Community Legal Centre report.

Disturbing accounts of dodgy real estate agents and exploitative landlords are only some of the revelations in the report that will be launched by the Hon. Lindsay Tanner today.

Laura Berta, community solicitor at Footscray Community Legal Centre and author of the report, said real estate agents often ignore refugees’ requests for repairs.

“We helped an Iraqi family who lived with a collapsed roof for a month and a Burmese family who survived the winter with no heating or hot water,” Ms Berta said.

Ms Berta said the failure of governments to address these issues was deeply concerning.

“Current laws allow real estate agents to get away with this,” she said.

Ms Berta said changes in the law were desperately needed.

“We need to change the repair process so real estate agents take complaints seriously,” she said.

The report, which is based on clients seen by the Footscray Community Legal Centre, details the disadvantage refugees face due to language and cultural barriers. Refugees face unfair evictions and loss of bond money and struggle to represent themselves when an issue arises. Refugees also struggle to access affordable housing and as a result are at an increased risk of homelessness.

The report will be available on http://footscrayclc.org.au/brochures-publications/

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Contact: Laura Berta or Denis Nelthorpe

Footscray Community Legal Centre

Phone: 9689 8444

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

by: Brendan Lucas

From: Herald Sun

A report titled Making it Home: Refugee Housing in Melbourne's West released today by the Footscray Community Legal Centre (FCLC) outlines how refugees are being exploited by landlords and real estate agents who ignore their pleas for repairs.

Some of the cruel accounts from several clients include unfair loss of bonds, unwarranted repair payments, dilapidated housing structures and forced evictions. 

Author of the report, the centre's community development solicitor Laura Berta, has urged the government to take action to prevent refugees from being abused.

Syagees Puri, an Iranian woman on a one-year lease, said she has been living with a broken heater and several damaged appliances for more than five months.

Ms Puri, who received no emergency numbers to contact the landlord, said she was disgusted with how her family had been treated.

Under current law, tenants can deal with landlords but are often ignored or mislead.

Clients can also apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal with assistance from the legal centre.

The landlord has since been issued with a service of breaching duty notice and has begun repairs.

From the Minister for Consumer Affairs

Members of the Burmese, Chin and Karen communities will get free advice on how to manage their bills and expenses under the first 'Bring Your Bank Account Day' this Friday, Minister for Consumer Affairs Michael O'Brien said today.

Mr O'Brien said the day would be an opportunity for individuals to bring in their bank statements and get expert advice on how they can deal with financial problems.

"The day will be a one-stop-shop for information and an advocacy clinic for disadvantaged clients, particularly those from non-English speaking backgrounds," Mr O'Brien said.

The Footscray Community Legal Centre (FCLC) will run a series of these days where legal and various ombudsman representatives will be on hand to assist disadvantaged consumers with questions about financial matters.

Read the full media release at http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/3272-free-financial-help-for-melbournes-refugee-community.html

REFUGEES and migrants with little or poor English are being targeted by door-to-door utilities salespeople, leading to large debts and disconnection of services for some.

Footscray Community Legal Centre financial counsellor Anita Smith said unscrupulous practices by door-knockers were still continuing, despite a long campaign to stamp out the practice that involved distributing "do not knock" stickers to residents.

"They know the vulnerable suburbs to go to; they know to go to Braybrook, Maidstone and they will knock multiple times."

Read the full article at the Maribyrnong Weekly: Scammers strike at refugees

REFUGEES, unaware of their rights and assistance services, are increasingly bearing the burden of debt and poor housing conditions, Footscray Community Legal Centre has said. The centre last week established two new free services to help asylum seekers and refugees living or working in the West with general issues such as fines, debt, insurance, divorce, family violence and also with Centrelink and housing issues including eviction, bonds, repairs and rooming houses.

Read the full article at the Maribyrnong Leader – 'Many don't know rights' says Footscray Legal Centre

CONSUMER Affairs Victoria is investigating claims that 'dodgy' taxi clubs are defrauding taxi drivers involved in car accidents and leaving other road users with hefty bills after refusing to pay legitimate claims.

Thousands of taxis have no third-party property insurance and taxi operators are instead funding 'shadowy' unregulated schemes, which pay for repairs to damaged taxis but often fail to cover other drivers in accidents.

Read more at The Age website: Thousands of Taxis uninsured

There's a heaviness in the air in Braybrook, of poverty and its partner - debt. It stalks almost everyone you meet - the refugee who didn't understand the phone contract he signed; the mother whose credit card debt spiralled out of control buying food for her children; the man who borrowed money to send his son to school camp.

Social welfare workers warn there are no 'quick fixes' to getting people off welfare and into work. And no matter how low the income, or how poor people's prospects, there are still companies competing to sell new contracts, new credit, the prospect of a new life that can seem - temporarily - so enticing.

Read more at The Age website: The people in Gillard's sights...