Distraught tenants suddenly unable to pay their rent at Dubbo and across the region in the fallout from coronavirus are flooding a support agency with calls.
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The New England and Western Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service (NEWTAAS) reports of "heartbreaking" cases coming to it every day as four weeks of restrictions hit hard.
The calls are from workers who have lost their jobs or had their hours cut or from the self-employed who've lost work amid Australia-wide shutdowns imposed to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, NEWTAAS service manager KerryAnn Pankhurst says.
She praised the NSW government's efforts to "bring clarity and certainty" to the sector this week, with the release of its $440 million rent relief package.
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It will force landlords and tenants to negotiate before the landlord can seek a forced end to a tenancy, and also puts a moratorium on evictions for 60 days, among other measures.
Ms Pankhurst said the initiative was "definitely going to help many tenants and landlords going forward" but the 17-year veteran of the service still held concerns for people who were going to "fall through the gaps".
In particular she was worried about what she called "the imbalance of power for tenants to negotiate fair and reasonable rent reductions" and also the gap in time between when the tenant lost income and when social security benefits would start.
"So they're accruing rent arrears right now and they're going to have weeks from when their job ended or when their hours got cut, until April 27, when the extended JobSeeker payments come in," Ms Pankhurst said.
"Or they've got to wait until May [for the JobKeeper payment], so they could already have weeks of rent arrears... there's no income for them to pay those accruing arrears.
"That's really frightening."
They are absolutely desperate, 'what do I do now... I've got children, where am I going to go, what's going to happen to me, what happens to my family...'
- NEWTAAS service manager KerryAnn Pankhurst
Ms Pankhurst said NEWTAAS was receiving heartbreaking calls from people who had a fixed-term tenancy agreement, which might be requiring them to pay $375 a week in rent.
"They are absolutely desperate, 'what do I do now... I've got children, where am I going to go, what's going to happen to me, what happens to my family,' and it's really, really hard for people to deal with these things," she said.
Ms Pankhurst said the changes required landlords and tenants to negotiate together in good faith and encouraged them to do so.
She said she recognised the pandemic could "well cause hardship for landlords as well, but the pain has to be shared around".
"If everyone negotiates in good faith, there is a chance of an outcome everyone can live with," she said.
"Tenants can contact us for advice about how to negotiate with their agents... we won't let anyone fall through the cracks."
Tenants can seek advice by calling 1800 836 268 or by emailing newtaas@gmail.com
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Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
