How can we help?
The SCALES Tenancy Clinic assists private, public and social housing tenants with tenancy matters including:
- terminations,
- bond disputes,
- rent arrears,
- breaches, and
- disruptive behaviour matters.
Our assistance is focused on providing tenants with legal advice and information, so they are best prepared to handle their tenancy issues independently. In some cases, however, we may be able to offer extended assistance and court representation.
We prioritise our assistance to clients who would otherwise find it difficult or overwhelming to access justice including women experiencing family and domestic violence. We can assist with termination of the tenancy agreement (within 7 days) and/or taking the person who committed family violence off the tenancy agreement and holding the person who committed the violence responsible for damage.
Our tenant advocate, who is not a lawyer assists private and social housing tenants with all aspects of their tenancy, including:
- advice, negotiation and advocacy for residential tenants about termination, bond disputes, rent arrears, property maintenance
- assistance with preparation for court proceedings and representation in some cases
- department of housing appeals and priority applications
- advice on the Department of Housings Disruptive Behaviour Management systems including the 3 strikes policy
Tenants Court Service
Our tenant advocate and law clinic students attend the Rockingham Magistrates Court each Tuesday morning to provide a “duty law service” for tenants appearing in Court.
For tenants who have received a court application and have not had the opportunity to attend an appointment prior to the court date, SCALES can assist through our Tenant Advice Court Service (TACS) at the Rockingham Magistrates’ Court each Tuesday morning. This service is available to assist tenants with ‘one off’ legal advice and assistance on the day. No appointment is needed for assistance at the Court, (but the assistance is subject to the usual conflict checks/eligibility requirements.