VCAT & Vic Ombudsman COVER UP the Dept of Housing's Maladministration &Corruption -NO Govt Integrity

[mariem888]

Dear All, 

My family and I are shocked by the level of Corruption & Misconduct within Victorian Government Departments (Dept of Housing , Victorian Ombudsman and VCAT). My family and I are very good Public Tenants (my Son has a disability Autism) but since our very valid complaints against Two Dept of Housing Problem Managers, we are experiencing discrimination, Maladministration and reduction in essential services by the Dept of Housing. The manner in which the Victorian Ombudsman and VCAT Mishandle our complaints is nothing short of Appalling Misconduct and Corruption. We are uncovering a deepset Lack of Integrity, Lack of Accountability and Lack of Transparency within each of these Government Departments, Laws need to be changed to Protect Public Housing Tenants but Also the General Public.

It is the job of Victorian Ombudsman to make the Dept of Housing staff accountable for their actions, but they have done nothing to resolve our complaints

• Dept of Housing are Discriminating against us and have stopped sending Automatic Rental Statements. Their policy states that Tenants are to receive statements every three months.
• Dept of Housing Refuse to send us an Account Reconciliation despite our numerous requests,which is also against their Tenancy Management Manual.
• Dept of Housing Breach the Residential Tenancies Act by Not maintaining our premises in good repair, No programmed works in Fifteen Years and also (leaving a 24 year old window lock faulty and unsafe (we had to replace it, and VCAT ordered Dept of Housing Reimburse us and 5 years later Dept have Not reimbursed us, leaving an old gas stove faulty (unsafe) and not servicing in 5 years, not repairing Storm damages in Years, ETC.
• Rude and Confrontational Dept of Housing Staff
• There are more complaints but they will exceed this page.

Until The Victorian Ombudsman Act 1973 is corrected, Vic Ombudsman staff will not bother to do their jobs properly. A report (full of errors) came back from a "Junior officer" at the Ombudsman office who stated she will not investigate our complaints. She got all the facts wrong. We escalated this to her manager who replied "Sorry but we have limited resources" The Law states that the Victorian Ombudsman decides whether to make enquiries or investigate complaints (two different things), when we ask for the details of the responses by the Dept of Housing to the Vic Ombudsman, the Vic Ombudsman refuse to provide this information as they state that the Victorian Ombudsman are not subject to Freedom of Information. So where is Transparency to allow us to correct Department of Housing Inaccuracies and Misleading Statements???

As for VCAT, from our experience they take the Cake for Misconduct and Corruption. In our last Tenants Application to VCAT against the Department of Housing, Senior Member completely Left Out of the Final Written Reasons all the repairs that the Dept of Housing were Requested to do by Consumer Affairs, also VCAT Senior Member convenientely left out most of our vital evidence, he also made numerous Errors for eg "Big hole in the roof finally filled after days instead of Three and a Half Years".

Our Family again have taken the Dept of Housing to VCAT but we are currently experiencing, Biased Members which we requested be Disqualified, also No fair hearing, No impartiality and gross Misconduct. VCAT have Prevented Three persons we Summoned into VCAT which is vital evidence to our case (One being the Junior Vic Ombudsman Officer who made nothing but errors in her report).   All the Best to you All.     mariem888

[johcaschro]

Oh mariem, that's just awful. How could they?

[lind9650]

As much as I understand and feel for you, it is useless to post all this here, as nobody here can change your situation.

Take it to the Media. A widly circulating Newspaper or a TV channel like A Current Affair.

They will have a field day with your story.

Erica

[mariem888]

Thanks Erica for your Great suggestions. The Media is a very good idea and we will definitely continue to pursue these to bring about Natural Justice for our Family as well as other Victorian Families.

From our experiences there are No adequate Government Integrity agencies in Victoria, hopefully our stance will make a positive difference.

Happy Easter to Everyone

Marie

[bright.ton42]

I'm sorry this has happened to you and I am genuinely surprised that the Dept of Housing hasn't made good on the repairs required.

From our experiences there are No adequate Government Integrity agencies in Victoria, hopefully our stance will make a positive difference.

Your experience has obviously been a very bad one as  having worked in Welfare I know of many people in public housing who are very happy with the services they get.   As for VCAT and the Ombudsman I am equally genuinely surprised that they could be accused of corruption as again  I know of numerous people who have been helped enormously by them. 

There seems to be a very poor lack of communication between the services in your case and I'm not exactly sure why.  Perhaps it is a good suggestion to go to the media about it as if they take an interest the problems will be clarified for once and for all. as they need to be in your case.   

I sincerely hope this can all be sorted out for you.   

[mariem888]

Thankyou for your comments Bright.ton42.

The Victorian Public Tenants Association (VPTA) mentions in their Reports that they have received numerous Complaints about the Director of Housing Failures and Poor standard of repairs and Services and improvements are needed. 

Also **A Media Release Report based on a Survey of 100 Tenants by Footscray Community Legal Centre Published in Parliament Confirms what we have conveyed, that Victoria Urgently Needs Enforceable Housing Standards and an Independent Regulator to fight substandard rental accommodation and protect Disadvantaged Tenants who fear rent increases or eviction if they Seek Urgent repairs from landlords.

This is a key finding of "Home Sweet Home" a Report based on a Survey of 100 Tenants in the Western suburbs launched at the Parliament of Victoria by Footscray Community Legal Centre Community Projects Solicitor which Stated:-

“The threat of homelessness or being cast adrift in an acute rental shortage should not be the price you pay for asking a landlord to make necessary repairs,” said Jane Berry, report author and Community Projects Solicitor with Footscray Community Legal Centre.

“Cars require roadworthy certificates, new homes must have a certificate of occupancy, and food must meet safety standards, but when it comes to rental accommodation, a landlord can lease a house with no running water, no locking doors or windows, or is infested with rodents and mould, yet there’s little tenants can currently do without the fear of rent increases or evictions,” she said.

“The current system is so broken that it took one client Seven VCAT Hearings and 120 hours of Legal help from a community lawyer to get her Shower fixed and for five months she had to wash herself and her children from a bucket. In the end, the shower was fixed, but the landlord escaped without penalty,” Ms Berry said.

The report details that the living conditions of another tenant were so poor that her seeing eye dog was removed from her care because the Seeing Eye Dog association did not believe it was a safe place for the dog to live. The tenant unfortunately had no such protection.

Of the 100 people surveyed for the report, 71 said they needed from one to five repairs to their rental property. Of the 71, only 50 alerted the landlord, but not one had the repairs undertaken. Fear and anxiety also meant that none of the tenants was willing to take their matters further, even with free legal assistance.

“In contrast, VCAT has become a landlord’s tribunal, with 95 per cent of matters on the Residential Tenancies List initiated by landlords. Without urgent law reform, there is currently little prospect of tenants securing orders for urgent repairs to address disgraceful living conditions, or of having orders enforced when they do,” Ms Berry said.

She said the report’s six recommendations would meet these issues head-on. They include:

1. Legislating Victorian Housing Standards for all Victorian rental properties;
2. Legislating for an independent body, such as a tenancy ombudsman or Consumer Affairs Victoria and/or local councils to enforce the Victorian Housing Standards;
3. Legislating for an independent body such as a Tenancy Ombudsman or Consumer Affairs Victoria to have special powers under the RTA to act for the house and pursue the landlord for costs;
4. Introducing penalties to scale for landlords who do not comply with the proposed Victorian Housing Standards;
5. Subsidising energy bills for tenants living in properties that fail required energy efficiency ratings specified in the Victorian Housing Standards; and
6. Developing a program encouraging landlords to lease to tenants with low socio-economic backgrounds so these tenants are not required to lease substandard housing.

Home Sweet Home launched in the Legislative Council Committee Room of the Parliament of Victoria.

We need an Independent Tenancy Ombudsman, again Thanks to everyone who is reading our comments.  

Marie

[chameleon54]

Tenancy housing standards are a very difficult area. Back in the housing boom I purchased a number of run down houses and spent several months rebuilding each one. We ended up with around half a dozen rental houses which we managed and maintained ourselves. Some tenants where wonderful and took pride in their houses, maintaining nice gardens and keeping things neat and tidy. We always went out of our way to keep on top of any little jobs they requested.

Others ?????????  Lets just say I dont ever want to go back renting houses to tenants ever again. The worst tenant left six truck loads of rubbish, broken windows, filthy bathroom, dog feaces on the carpets etc. etc.

My house usually has a few jobs which need doing, and they dont always get fixed this week, this month or sometimes even this year if they are not that important. Thats just what life is like for home owners. A few tenants ( definately the minority ) have some unrealistic expectations of landlords and refuse to even change a light bulb. Thats not my job, they say and expect the landlord to drop everything and rush straight around to change it for them.

I dont know your circumstances Marie and are not directing my comments at you in particular. It is reasonable to expect that our public housing authorities would have a regular maintenance programme and provide reasonable repairs in a timely manner. Is the non working gas oven something that is owned by the housing authority ? If it is then it is terrible that you have had to wait 5 years for repairs. Either you have been treated shamefully by the entity responsible for your house, or there is other factors at play that we dont know about.

[mariem888]

My Family and I have been exemplary Tenants and in Rental Credit for many Years, and we continue to be.

We have a Letter in Response to our previous complaints (from one of the Problem Managers in the Dept of Housing) stating "I would like to commence by acknowledging that you have been Good Tenants for the past Fourteen years and there is No question of any issues with your Tenancy".

In our case the Responsibility to rectify all these issues rests with the Director of Housing, Victorian Ombudsman and V/Cat they need to abide by their own Governance Frameworks: Transparency, Accountability, Impartiality, Integrity, & Fairness.

mariem888

[chameleon54]

I realise there are always going to be a few people in every organistion that are unsympathetic and hard to get on with, but by and large most of the staff in government agencies I have dealt with try their best with the limited time and resources they have. It is usually in their interest to try to resolve problems quickly and not drag things out for months or years. They just dont have the time for that.

Is your experiences common ?     If not, do you have any thoughts on why you have experienced these problems with the agencies you have dealt with ? 

[chameleon54]

OK I have read all of your other posts on other threads and it appears you have been in dispute with a number of agencies for many, many years. You have sent a huge number of emails and made multiple complaints to various authorities and ombudsman's on issues such as scotias around your roof etc. They have sent inspectors out to have a look into your complaints without the inspectors placing much validity or importance on your claims. This has resulted in you becoming more disgruntled and making even further complaints including allegations of corruption and negligence. 

Maybe after 22 years in public housing,  have you considered moving to the private rental market ?