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A property management department has found itself in hot water after evicting a tenant under false pretences.
Adelaide Realty, trading as LJ Hooker Flinders Park, was forced to pay $300 compensation for failing to provide appropriate notice of termination to a tenant.
South Australia’s Consumer and Business Services said the agency used false grounds to order a tenant to vacate a property within 60 days instead of the standard 90 days.
The Residential Tenancies Act 1996 allows a landlord to issue a notice of termination for either their own occupation or for a spouse, child or parents.
However, George Kamencak, deputy commissioner for consumer affairs, said the tenant believed this reasoning to be false and elected to take the matter to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal.
“In this situation, the tenant claimed the new tenant was not a family member, which was later confirmed during the hearing by a property manager for LJ Hooker Flinders Park, who has since resigned,” he said.
“The property manager advised the tribunal that the landlord’s family member had reneged on the tenancy and the new tenant was indeed not family.”
Mr Kamencak said LJ Hooker Flinders Park failed to provide an appropriate notice of termination to the tenant of at least 90 days as outlined in the act, which resulted in the business being forced to pay $300 compensation to the tenant.
An LJ Hooker spokesperson told RPM that LJ Hooker Flinders Park treats all dealings with the utmost of importance, including compliance.
“While extenuating circumstances led to the situation in question, the office is ensuring that these events won’t be repeated by undertaking immediate and ongoing accredited training to ensure compliance of the act,” the spokesperson said.
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