International student accommodation tenants in financial difficulty

Then if you can't pay the rent then you lied on your Visa application?

 

your application was to demonstrate a certain income, not reference to paying rent, like having a valid student visa,
circumstances change, what if they underestimated living expenses?, what happens if they developed a gambling habit?,

ive never heard anyone being deported for not paying rent

 

Hey Anne
What action have you taken? I think this is dragging out a bit too long.

Have any of the students changed their minds or at least had open discussions with you about a solution? If not - send them notice of eviction - before Easter.

 

The income was to pay such things as rent. What part of that don't you understand? You come to this country and you are expected to have a certain amount of money which bides you over whilst you are here. Now we see people like yourself and a couple of other posters making excuses for these visitors to our shores whom we have kindly taken into study at half the price the rest of the world charges. Gambling habit...so what. What has that got to do with it? Just stupid statements which don't belong on the forum. BTW I don't care if they get deported or not.

 

do you actually know of a case where someone has been deported for not paying rent?
unfortunately, your feelings are irrelevant to immigration laws, its a bit more complex

 

Can Vcat order you to refund when they are not paying anything ?
Also can they order you to put the internet on , pay for the power when they pay no board ?

 

Hope this may help @AnneC

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...ort-for-foreign-students-20200408-p54i63.html

looks like Melbourne City Council is putting something together to offer financial support to any international students in a jam. Maybe contact the council to explain your predicament and see if they can help out ?
Best of luck

 

1st Id ask students for documents that help prove their request that they can not pay the rent?
Also I would consider how long their course is . Consider if it does not finish until the end of the year , how are they going to purchase food??? and other expenses for the next several months.

Also If / When they are here longer than 12 months , the government has said they will have access to their super paid - re $20K withdrawal. The may or may not have any money in super account , but it should be checked.

Id also ask for recent bank statement for last 60 days, to show what their savings are.

Id also determine when their course finishes and if any more tuition fees are to be paid. Often these fees are from a few $K to up to $15K a semester - depends on course. I F they will have fees due before they finish their course , then how will they be paid ?

Id request this information / documents in writing , explaining it is needed for you to consider giving them a discount. Obviously do not explain why you need this information. I ask for this information , if person wants rent reduction. And I have given rent reduction based on information they give me. If they do not want to give me the documents etc well then I'm unlikely to give them discount.

Id also start the eviction process, at the same time. ( even if can not be evicted for 6 months ) You can always withdraw the eviction document.

Some of my student tenants from SE Asia have government scholarships of $600+ AU a week.
Others work at Woolworths and have not lost their job. Some I know have parents in SE asia that that pay their bills So I would not automatically assume they are all low income


Also Id note , "Then if you can't pay the rent then you lied on your Visa application?" lie on visa application means they can have visa cancelled. Understand if they would have revealed truth on Visa form they never would have got visas anyway. Many people use fake loans to show they have visa money ...

When a international student apply,s for a visa , they need to show they have enough money for full costs for the 1st year . That is course fees and rent and food - everything. So if student has been here for less than a year they need to be questioned why not using this money.

I have previously had requests for discounts , but when I said , .... can you show me the evidence, like bank statement for last 60 days, the tenant never mentioned it to me again. So my conclusion is the tenant was lying to me.

 

Hi all, We called and emailed each student individually. We did not ask them to fill in any financial hardship forms. We explained our own personal situation and informed them that there was aassistance available from the University. I had contacted the University to discuss. They informed me that students had been emailed about the different types of assistance available to them in the event that they were suffering financial hardship. Most of the students ended up paying within a couple of days.

 

Excellent news Anne!

 

Guess you were wrong.

 

Great outcome Anne!

Hopefully the rest will follow suit and everyone can move on.