Difficulty paying rent

If you can’t pay your rent, get in touch with your local housing office straight away and advise them of any issues. You can also seek assistance from the Social Housing Advocacy and Support Program.

If you fall behind in your rent, you’ll get a chance to make up any missed payments. If you don’t contact us and your rent doesn’t get paid, we could take legal action against you.

Unpaid rent

If you get more than $5 behind in your rent, we’ll write you a letter asking you to pay the unpaid amount. If you don’t get in touch with us within one week of the letter, your Housing Services officer will contact you to discuss your repayment options.

Repayment options

If you can’t make up your missed payments straight away, you might be able to pay what you owe in extra payments over an agreed number of weeks.
 
This is called a local agreement, and it means you would have to pay an extra payment as well as your normal weekly rent. Make sure you stick to this agreement.  If you miss a payment on your local agreement, you can’t make another local agreement.

Instead, we may take action through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to get back the money you owe.

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is an independent tribunal (like a court) that decides disputes between landlords and tenants.

If you have to go to a tribunal hearing, you can explain why you haven’t kept up to date with your rent payments. The tribunal will listen to you (the tenant) and to the Department of Human Services (the landlord), and then make a decision based on the law.

The tribunal process

If you have not kept up-to-date with your rent payments, the tribunal may establish a legal agreement. A legal agreement is the same as a local agreement except that it is backed by law. If you break a legal agreement, we can return to the tribunal and ask for an Order for Possession.

It is important that you go to the hearing to explain why you have not paid your rent. If you don’t go, the tribunal won’t be able to hear your side of the story, and could issue an Order for Possession against you.

Order for Possession

An Order for Possession means you don’t have a legal right to stay in your home any more.

If the tribunal grants an Order for Possession, you’ll get a letter from your Housing Services officer asking you to go to your Housing Office for an interview.

At the interview, you’ll be given one more chance to pay back what you owe. If you don’t pay, we’ll get a Warrant for Possession, allowing us to evict you from your home.

Avoiding legal action

If you pay your rent on time, we won’t send you any letters or take legal action against you.

It’s really important to contact your local housing office if you can’t pay your rent, or if you forget to pay your rent. If you get behind in your rent and ignore our letters, we will take legal action against you.

If you tell your Housing Services officer before the amount you owe becomes too large, we’ll have a better chance of helping you repay the money you owe.

If you are having problems paying your rent on time, ask about how to pay your rent directly from your Centrelink payment or bank account.