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Jennifer defends herself against notice to vacate
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Jennifer‘s story
Justice Connect is helping tenants, real estate agents and private landlords sustain tenancies and avoid unnecessary evictions.
Jennifer is a single mother working part time to support three young children. She experienced family violence from a young age, and more recently from her husband after their marriage broke down. This led to her fleeing the family home into a private rental property.
Jennifer began to accrue rental arrears as a result of confusion over the frequency of her rental payments, and this was exacerbated by serious depression and anxiety, a lack of any support or counselling after recent trauma, and further health complications that forced her to exhaust her sick leave.
Jennifer contacted Justice Connect after receiving a notice to vacate for arrears. Through the Women’s Homelessness Prevention Project’s social worker, Jennifer gained access to $900 private rental brokerage, which we then used as leverage to negotiate a repayment plan with her real estate agent.
The landlord was happy to withdraw the eviction proceedings and avoid the stress and inconvenience of attending VCAT.
Jennifer repaid her arrears and signed a new two-year lease. She is also now getting support for her mental and physical health issues following a referral from the WHPP social worker and has been able to maintain her employment and a home for her family.
By stepping in early and working with all parties, Justice Connect helped Jennifer avoid eviction and keep her family safely housed.
Practical legal negotiation, paired with financial brokerage and wellbeing support, turned a crisis into a sustainable tenancy. This intervention not only protected Jennifer’s home, but gave her the stability to recover, keep working and care for her children with confidence.
Please note, Jennifer* is a pseudonym. All individuals in this story have been deidentified.
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