Havelock Housing ordered to repay rent for mouldy apartment

Havelock Housing Association – a not for profit organisation which provides community housing and is funded by ACT Housing – has been ordered to pay almost $2000 to the man.

The figure is a 25 per cent reduction in the rental rate for a one year period between 2013 to 2014.

However, the money is far less than the 100 per cent repayment of two years rent the man had sought in an application to the ACT Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

ACAT member Theresa Warwick found the unit had been habitable after August 2014 and the tenant had not properly notified Havelock Housing that the unit was not habitable before that date.

In July 2014, Fairfax Media revealed the man had been forced to live with "inspection holes" in his ceiling after failed attempts to fix water leaks in the roof.

Pictures showed two holes had been patched by temporary boards, which in turn had become water damaged and covered in mould.

The tenant claimed he had been unable to stay at his apartment because Havelock Housing had not fixed the holes.

An ACAT decision, published earlier this month, said government contractors made a number of failed attempts to fix the leaks between 2010 and 2015.

The list of works included increasing the size of roof gutters and down pipes, installing extra stormwater pipes, new roofing sheets over the areas leaking, replacing flashings, and placing stronger and thicker boards over inspection holes to avoid mould.

Eventually, the whole roof was removed and replaced in late 2015.

The inspection holes had been cut in order to allow tradespersons to access the roof in a bid to source and stop the leaks.

The mould in the man's unit was not cleaned and by mid-2014 had become extensive.

After the Fairfax Media story, repairs were carried out to the unit, with the mouldy boards replaced and a new reverse cycle air conditioning unit installed.

Ms Warwick found that the condition of the ceiling in the kitchen, entrance and living areas in July 2014 had been "very poor".

"I find that the condition deteriorated over many months … [and] that there was a loss of enjoyment of the premises, increasing over the 12 months to 7 July 2014," she said.

Ms Warwick said Havelock Housing had a responsibility to provide habitable premises.

However, she said the tenant had not formally notified Havelock Housing, in writing, that the unit was not habitable.

"I do not accept that informal verbal notification was appropriate or sufficient in all the circumstances," she said.

Ms Warwick said Havelock Housing had taken action to remove mould from other units when it received a complaint from those tenants.

"I accept that water leaks were ongoing at the [complex] over many years. I assume that tenants complained repeatedly, but that the water leaks continued," the ACAT member said.

"On the other hand, I accept that, when tenants complained about mould, HHA promptly engaged subcontractors to remove the mould.

"[The tenants'] failure to formally notify HHA about the mould problem allowed the mould problem to grow over time."

"I find that, if [the tenant] had formally advised he had moved to [his girlfriend’s] because the unit was not habitable, HHA staff would have acted to make the unit habitable."

Ms Warwick also found that the tenants' unit had been habitable between August 2014 and July 2015, and that he had stayed with his girlfriend due to personal preference.

"I do not order any compensation for this period," she ordered.