Mum stung with $28k bill from ex-partner's violent rampage

When Victorian mother-of-two Sarah was hit with a $28,000 bill from the state's public housing department, she was shocked.

The reason for her surprise? She didn't cause the damage to her social housing property which made up the bulk of the debt - it was her violent ex-partner who trashed the vacant home in a terrifying rampage, six weeks after Sarah had moved out.

"He was trying to go above and beyond just to make my life hell," the domestic violence survivor told A Current Affair.

Despite Sarah repeatedly telling the department's housing officers she wasn't responsible for the damage, and couldn't afford to pay for the repairs, the department sent in the debt collectors.

"It was so heart-wrenching because I've worked really hard to maintain this house I've had for nine years, and I've never really had a problem at all until - one bad year," Sarah said.

"When I spoke to the department about my ex-partner, there was really no concern at all. It felt like they didn't care."

Sarah claims she was "harassed" on a daily basis by debt collectors, and begun to feel like she was the criminal, instead of her violent ex-partner.

"I felt like I was a second-class citizen to be honest," she said. 

Her debt was referred to VCAT by the DHHS, and was eventually waived, but the process was painful and time consuming.

Sarah's legal aid team believed she was treated so unfairly, they complained to the Ombudsman- which has now accused the DHHS of routinely bullying its tenants.

The damning investigation into the Department's conduct revealed public housing tenants are copping unfair repair bills at the end of their tenancy.

The review also claims staff are sending correspondence to vacated addresses, and failing to take tenants' circumstances into account when assessing debts, as they were referring a staggering 38 percent of their ex-tenants to court.

"I felt like I was a puppet to the Department and they were pulling all the strings and I was just going with what they said," Sarah said.

The review has been welcomed by many - including Daniel Stubbs, from Inner Melbourne Community Legal.

"There needs to be massive structural and systemic change in the way the Office of Housing pursue these debts," Mr Stubbs said.

"We're really pleased that this report is going to turn around that practice (of pursuing unfair debts) and I believe we will have a better Office of Housing as a result."

In a statement to A Current Affair, the DHHS said it's made positive changes since the report.

"We've introduced new guidelines for tenant property damage assessment so that we can intervene earlier and better negotiate with tenants," the statement said.

*not her real name.

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