‘Nowhere to go’: NSW renter given less than 24 hours to leave home over repairs

A New South Wales renter has been left in a state of shock after being given less than 24 hours to vacate their home.

The tenant, who we’ll call Amanda, revealed she received the sudden news after returning to her apartment to find a letter from her property manager.

“Have received this today at 5.30pm. No way to contact agency as was after close of business,” she wrote on June 24 in the Facebook group Don’t Rent Me.

She shared a screenshot of the letter with her personal details, location of her apartment and name of her real estate agent cropped out.

The subject line of the letter read: “Termination notice of residential tenancy agreement frustration of residential tenancy agreement”.

The letter stated the termination was based on the whole building needing “significant repairs” and as a result “the entire building is uninhabitable”.

It also stated the premises needed to be immediately vacated the following day on June 25.

The letter also offered housing support for the renter.

“We would like to extend to you our services in helping you locate another suitable property, enclosed herewith is our current rental stocklist,” it read.

It then urged Amanda to contact the property manager’s office urgently.

“Will obviously contact them tomorrow,” she wrote.

She then sought clarification from the group’s more than 90,000 Facebook followers.

“Am I safe to assume that from tomorrow I have to have all my stuff out – even with nowhere to go?” she wrote.

She then asked for advice on next steps as she attempted to “get a list together instead of panicking”.

A steady stream of questions and advice soon filled the comment section of her post, numbering more than 100 comments.

“Twenty-four hours is absolute insanity, if there’s nothing glaringly wrong / they should have to tell you what the issue is? Crazy,” one person wrote.

“Contact them as a matter of urgency to discuss further. Sends a next day termination notice after hours. Why is the property uninhabitable?” one person wrote.

Amanda replied that her rental is part of a unit block.

“Many of us with the same notice. Unsure of reasons – not listed and not something the real estate have ever discussed with me,” she wrote.

Amanda’s post soon compelled others to share their own experiences.

“Live-in landlord gave me and my housemate no notice (two separate instances) and we both were only given 2 hours to pack. Insane,” one person wrote.

“At least your agency offered to help. I got the same email, half an hour after insurance assessors came through, and no help was offered,” yet another person shared.

There were even some who questioned the authenticity of the letter.

“I would keep tabs on this property once vacated incase its relisted to rent in the next few weeks/months or listed to sell,” one person wrote.

Tenants’ Union of NSW Acting Policy and Advocacy Manager Eloise Parrab said under current laws in NSW, a landlord can give immediate notice when the premises are destroyed or become wholly or partially unlivable not due to any breach of the agreement.

She said, however, it’s important for the renter to know that such a termination notice does not end their tenancy.

“If the renter doesn’t move out then the landlord can apply to the Tribunal to seek orders for termination. The Tribunal will decide whether the premises are unlivable and whether this is due to a breach of the agreement or not,” Parrab told Domain.

“The renter should contact their local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service to get some advice about disputing this type of termination notice. 

“The renter should make their own decision on whether it is safe and if they are not prevented by council orders or emergency services then they can stay living in their home until the Tribunal makes a decision.”

As for whether a termination notice could be misused, Parrab had this to say. 

“The Tenants’ Union is aware of this type of notice being misused by landlords,” she said.

“We have seen it misused particularly when a renter has reported repairs to the landlord and the landlord has failed to undertake the repairs and the property falls into disrepair due to the failure of the landlord to comply with their obligations under the tenancy agreement. 

“Uninhabitability clauses should not be used to evade repairs obligations, or bring viable tenancies to an end.”

Domain is not suggesting the letter sent to Amanda is a fake.

Parrab said the NSW government surveys landlords and tenants at the end of each tenancy and from the 1st of July landlords will need to report the reason they are ending a tenancy.

“This will deliver much greater transparency,” she said. 

“The current voluntary survey is mostly completed by tenants* who reported that over the 12 months to April 2025, 17.7 per cent of tenancies ended by landlords used the ‘uninhabitability’ ground. 

“This suggests about 13,000 a year (or about 4 per cent of all tenancies ending in the period). This is roughly the same as previous years, other than years with large flooding or other disaster events.” 

The Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Program saw a peak in these types of evictions in 2022, and an increase again in 2024 due to the floods in the middle of the year. 

“We are assisting approximately 300 people a year facing this type of issue in a usual year, with peaks following particular events,” Parrab said.

*We suspect this may not accurately report the numbers due to the poor response rate from landlords and agents. Since 2021 out of 1.15million requests there have been only 50,000 responses from landlords or agents compared to 130,000 responses from tenants. The reporting mechanisms introduced by the government from 1 July should significantly help to address this issue.”

A day after publishing her post, Amanda provided an update.

“Went into the real estate yesterday. They couldn’t advise the reason the building has been deemed uninhabitable,” she wrote.

“Whilst the notice says yesterday’s date – we can stay at the moment, however be actively looking for properties to move to and could need to be out at any given point in time.”

“Thankfully, after looking at a couple of properties yesterday I was approved for a little unit not far from where I was. Now just trying to organise a bond transfer as this move is not something I had budgeted for.”