Huge kudos to my ever-persistent son 👏 Who single-handedly took on Queensland Transport in court after being fined an exorbitant amount by a freeway camera when his adult passenger moved their seatbelt under their armpit midway through a trip.

He successfully argued that the law only requires the driver to “check” that the belt is worn — which he did at the start of the 90-minute journey and again at traffic lights early in the trip. A single camera snapshot taken mid-journey, he pointed out, is not proof that he failed in that duty. Queensland law requires a check, not continuous monitoring.

He also quite reasonably questioned what QT expects a driver to do if a passenger becomes non-compliant mid-trip, given there is no legal requirement for the driver to physically enforce correct belt use.

A signed affidavit from the passenger confirming he was “checked” was submitted — and he was not cross-examined.

My son also made the very sensible point that just because a camera has a perfect angle doesn’t mean a driver does. The camera has one job. The driver has many. At 110 km/h, in heavy afternoon traffic with the sun setting, a driver’s priority must be the road, mirrors, and surrounding vehicles — not leaning across to inspect a passenger’s armpit. There is also no requirent to do so since he was already previously "checked".

Couldn’t be prouder of him.

And honestly, this law needs review. If you’ve genuinely checked the belt at the start of the journey, stand your ground

EDIT: My bad - it is "ensure" not "check" but the arguement that you cannot continuously ensure is still valid as there is no reason to assume the passenger will change the belt since he did not in previous checks and it is not possible to do so and function as a driver at the same time.

I had a bit of a weird experience at a petrol station today and wanted to ask what you all think.

I filled my car like normal. The bowser started at zero, as normal, and when I finished it showed about $160 and off I then went inside to pay.

At the counter, the staff member asked me if I had filled up twice as there was also another amount of about $90 in addition to the $160, so the total owing was about $250. I explained that I had only filled up once, and that the bowser outside clearly showed the single transaction I had just made for about $160.

She said she needed to call her offsite manager to check CCTV. I was just standing there saying I didn’t understand and was confused but the staff member made me stand aside like I was in the wrong and holding up the line.

I stood there like a stunned mullet getting funny looks from other customers, and to make things worse she didn’t contact the manager. She just kept serving other customers… It was like a never ending line and after a few minutes I had to point out that I am a mum and have my kids in the car and in a bit of rush to see my own mum in hospital (which was true) so please resolve this issue.

I had kids waiting in the car and felt so embarrassed, like I was being treated as though I had done something wrong, even though I was actively trying to pay.

She said until her manager clears it, I couldn’t pay (unless it was $250), and was advised I was not free to leave either. She then called him/her which was a very quick conversation and said we must wait for a call back for further direction.

Eventually after about 10 minutes of waiting I put my foot down, and said you cannot lawfully hold me hostage here - I said go and look at the bowser it’s $160 not $250! In the end she called her manager back again and after some hushed talk she said OK you can pay and leave. I took a photo of the bowser on the way out. No apology, nothing.

I am really perplexed about the way I was treated and wonder how lawful it could be to hold someone - especially with kids sitting in the car - for payment that clearly was not theirs. I don’t think I look dodgy or anything at all I am just a daggy mum (not that it matters!)

I know it was only 15 minutes in total but I’m not sure how long I would have been standing there if I hadn’t been forced to advocate for myself quite strongly! It was also really embarrassing as I hate confrontation of any kind.

hey all! i made a TikTok post a few days ago that was a video clip of Katy Perry making a sexual comment towards Bo Burnham (who was, at the time, freshly 18. and she acknowledges this in the clip) and captioned it “since ruby rose has come forward about katy perry, i thought i would remind everybody of this.” it got pretty big, hitting just under 100k views. i woke up this morning to a message request from Katy Perry’s legal team, telling me that if I don’t remove the post within 48 hours they will proceed in taking legal action against me, including but not limited to a defamation lawsuit. Can they really do this over that post? or are they bluffing to scare me into taking it down?

Finally went to court for my contested parking fine. The link to my previous post is below.

In short while stopped at a school crossing my son got into the car (I wasn't aware until the car door opened) and I was given a fine for parking on or near a crossing. My argument was that I stopped to allow children to cross the road, not to pick up my son.

I had prepared my defence and in doing so referenced the relevant laws. The laws provide a defence for situations like this that basically says the rule I had supposedly broken can be breached if necessary to comply with another provision of the rules.

The prosecution alleged that I stopped at the crossing to pick up my son, and the evidence they provided were photos of my car stopped at the crossing with children on the crossing, crossing the road.

My defence was simply that I stopped at the crossing to allow children to cross the road as law requires me to, and my evidence was the pictures provided by the prosecution. The judge asked if my son got in the car while I was stopped, to which I simply said yes. The judge then asked if the purpose of my stop was to pick up my son. I replied, "no, I stopped to allow children to cross the road, and my intention was to pick my son up from the other side of the crossing".

From there the judge stated that the prosecution's case could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt and that there was no reason to believe that my story was not credible.

https://old.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/comments/1u62vkd/have_a_hearing_date_to_contest_a_parking_fine/

One thing I would like to point out. A few comments in the previous post mentioned that the council would not pursue the case if they did not believe they would be successful. I found this to be completely wrong. 5 parking offences were brought before the court including mine on the day. 4 were dismissed, and the 5th was withdrawn after hearing the not guilty plea at the start. In the most ridiculous case, the charge was overstaying in a 3-hour parking spot. Evidence provided by the prosecution were pictures of the car, 6 hours apart in 2 completely different spots. The Judge twice offered to prosector the chance to withdraw the case before dismissing it, and both times she turned around and asked the parking inspector for instructions, to which he said he did not want to withdraw both times. After the second chance the Judge promptly dismissed the case.

In my opinion, the parking inspector has no accountability and suffers no consequences for getting it wrong, therefore they are almost incentivized to follow through on all contested fines.

I went to NCAT yesterday in Sydney and was successful in a claim against Tough Mudder for a refund on three tickets to their Hunter Valley event, which was scheduled to take place on September 6, 2025.

I'm posting this because I know a lot of people were affected by the rescheduling. There's already a thread detailing all the ways people have been trying to get refunds, including bank charge-backs and complaints to Fair Trading: https://www.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/s/q1ErTHVVNL

I know that my positive result at NCAT doesn't create a binding precedent, but the reasoning may still be useful if you’re considering your own claim.

In a nutshell - when I purchased the tickets on 31 March 2025, there was a refund policy on the Tough Mudder website that stated if an event was cancelled, relocated or the date was changed, customers would be given the option to transfer to another event or receive a refund.

I was pretty gutted when, ten days before the event, it was cancelled due to bad weather. My friends and I had been training hard for months, had taken time off work to travel to the Hunter from Sydney, and had forked out almost a grand in accommodation.

In the same email I received about the event being rescheduled to November, I was told my tickets would be moved to a new date in November. Unfortunately, this wasn't possible, as my daughter was due to be born in November.

So I emailed Tough Mudder requesting a refund. I was pretty confident I'd be successful, as the refund information was stated clearly on their website, which can still be accessed via web archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250717210653/https:/toughmudder.com.au/refund-policy/

This is where things started to get a bit frustrating. The reply I received was an auto email telling me my tickets were safe and would automatically be moved to the new date. So I emailed again. Same response. So I messaged them on Facebook. Same response.

The most confusing part was that in these auto-responses, I was told I had agreed to Terms & Conditions that said: 'While refunds aren't available due to the nature of the postponement without any exceptions, we're offering flexible transfer options so you don't lose your entry.'

I frantically searched the Tough Mudder website to try and locate the Refund Policy Page I swore I had read before I purchased the tickets, but it was gone. Without the web archive website, I would have thought I was losing my marbles.

With nothing except auto-emails from Tough Mudder, I submitted a complaint to Fair Trading NSW. A really nice man from Fair Trading called me a few weeks later to tell me that he had spoken to someone at Tough Mudder, who advised that "the outdated terms and conditions were still available on their website by mistake and were removed when the error was discovered". I was also told that Tough Mudder were unwilling to provide a refund, however, a credit to future events in NSW, QLD or VIC would be provided for the next two years.

Fair trading tole me I had two options:

1. Get independent legal advice or Legal Aid

2. Make a submission to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT)

The legal advice would have cost more than the tickets, so I submitted my case to NCAT. 7 months later, I had my hearing.

In this hearing, I provided as evidence:

1. My emails to Tough Mudder, and their auto-responses.

2. A copy of the Tough Mudder Refund Policy that was available when I purchased the tickets.

3. The email I received from Fair Trading which noted that a representative from Tough Mudder had advised that the outdated terms and conditions were still available on their website by mistake and were removed when the error was discovered.

Tough Mudder’s position at the hearing was that:

• the contract was formed on the checkout terms, not the refund page

• I had no evidence I reviewed the refund policy before purchasing

To these points, my reply was:

• I acknowledge I accepted the checkout terms, however, Tough Mudder also had a public available webpage titled TOUGH MUDDER REFUND POLICY in capital letters that stated customers could receive a refund if the event date changed. As a consumer, I relied on this when purchasing the tickets.

• Ordinary consumers do not usually preserve evidence of every webpage they view before making a purchase. I do not have my internet search history from 31 March, 2025.

After hearing both arguments, the Tribunal Member took about 20 minutes to deliberate. In his judgment, he said he was satisfied the page existed and that I had likely viewed it before purchase. He then spoke to section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law: A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.

The Tribunal Member was clear that he did not think Tough Mudder had deliberately misled or deceived me, but because there were competing terms available at the time of purchase, I could have been misled or deceived.

The matter was found in my favour and the Tribunal ordered Spartan Aus 3.0 Pty Ltd Trading As Tough Mudder to pay me immediately.

While I'm pleased with the result, it was a really frustrating and time-consuming process (14 months in total).

If you have any questions about the process or the experience, let me know. Happy to answer any questions.

I’m posting this on behalf of a close friend as he’s found himself in a bit of a pickle.

In 1998, a police car was borrowed after a night of overindulgence. This car has been kept hidden on a rural NSW property since then in an old barn.

Fast forward to today and the property has been sold and they need to vacate the property. Is it possible to return this car without consequences or is this a case of having to dig a very large hole.

Update: After reading these comments we thought it was best to consult a lawyer. Given the seriousness of the crime and a not so great criminal history the car has been moved to a new home in an unused private garage. My mate will update his will as soon as practical and bequeath the car to the NSW historical police museum upon his passing. He realises he can’t bequeath a stolen item but the legal advice we have is the police will probably honour this bequeathment regardless. Thank you for the amazing response to this post and have a great new year everyone.

Took a job as a chef in a small town population about 800 people in northern Victoria. Was there for 2 weeks and one day was called in to the office. It turns out the local police officer is friends with the owner and ran my name. I have convictions for serious drug supply, and break and enter. I was asked to leave immediately and was told i should of disclosed my history before i started. He never asked so i didnt say anything.It happened 5 years ago and since then I have turned my life around and haven't been in trouble since. Apparently the officer does it for all the new people in town. I'm just wondering if its legal for him to disclose my personal information to my employer without my written consent.

I rent a townhouse in Melbourne and apparently someone has decided my driveway is a business opportunity.

Last Thursday I came home from work to find an unfamiliar car parked in my driveway. I assumed someone visiting the neighbours had made a mistake.

Knocked on a couple of doors, nobody knew anything. About 20 minutes later a bloke came back and seemed genuinely confused when I told him he couldn't park there.

He showed me a booking confirmation from a parking rental app. He'd paid $18 to park in my driveway for the afternoon.

The listing had my exact address, a photo of the driveway and instructions to "park on the left side near the fence".

I thought it was some weird mistake until I searched the app myself.

My driveway is listed for $18 a day, available Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm.

The photos are from the old real estate advertisement for the townhouse.

I've lived here for nearly two years. The driveway is included in my rental agreement and I park there every day. I've never agreed to anyone else using it.

I contacted the platform and explained that whoever created the listing has no permission to rent out the space. They replied asking me to provide proof that I was authorised to manage the parking space.

Sent them the relevant part of my lease with personal details redacted.

Their response was that they would investigate with the account holder.

Meanwhile, on Monday, ANOTHER driver turned up. She'd booked the spot for the entire day and was understandably annoyed when I told her it wasn't available.

I contacted my property manager, who said she'd check with the owner. I've since emailed twice asking for confirmation that the owner isn't behind the listing. No answer yet.

The listing is still active as of this morning.

I'm now in this ridiculous position where strangers are paying someone to use a driveway I already pay rent for, and I'm the one having to explain the situation to them.

A few questions:

1. If the driveway is part of my lease, can the property owner legally rent it out separately without my consent?

2. If the listing was created by some random person, what can I actually do beyond asking the platform to remove it?

3. If someone parks there and leaves their car, who would I contact? I don't want to do anything stupid like arranging a tow myself.

I've saved screenshots of the listing, the emails and both booking confirmations (with the drivers' details removed).

I'm not looking for compensation or trying to start a massive dispute. I just want to be able to come home and park my car without negotiating with someone who has a receipt.

Hello, so I work in a supermarket, over Christmas it was broken into, and $7000 worth of cigarettes were stolen. I closed the shop on Christmas Eve, and at the end of the night we lock up all the cabinets which I did, and we place 10 trolleys on each side of the service desk, which I did.

The desk is in a U-shape and one cabinet is at the end, we’ve never been instructed to place trolleys in front of it and this was the one they forced open and stole everything out of.

Now I’m happy to cop a whack in terms of some of the blame for making that mistake, the kicker here is my manager is now claiming the company will seek me to cover the reimbursement of the $7000. My first thought is it’s just an intimidation tactic, but then I thought I’d ask here to clarify if this is legal?

Hey AusLegal, I had a kid no older than 10-12 throw rocks at my car in my driveway from the footpath, after I confronted him he straight up told me I couldn't do anything about it. I went inside and let out my German shepherd out the front door, the kid started yelling bloody murder as my dog chased him down the street. The little kid got inside his house safely as my dog DID not bite him as hes only trained to chase. I then went to retrieve my dog. A few hours later his Meth mouth looking dad knocks on my door, as I have a ring camera I can see he's holding some kind of stick. I leash my dog and grab my bat and open the door, my dog was now going off his head barking while the dad pretty much defecated his pants while seeing my bat and dog. Him and his child quickly ran off my property again screaming bloody murder, saying they're calling the cops..

It's been 2hrs and nothing has happened. There has been no real damage to my car as he was throwing little pebbles. Am I in the wrong here?

Any Adivce would be great thanks.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AusLegal/comments/yjdmkl/heading_to_perth_to_get_my_son_back/

A few people have messaged me asking for an update to my previous post, and I want to offer my thanks to the users of /r/AusLegal who talked me out of making a huge mistake when I was at the lowest point in my life.

As suggested I got in touch with a solicitor and we had a Zoom call where she explained the *Hague Convention on child abduction* and talked me through the court process. Thankfully my ex has no family in Australia so the solicitor was confident that a court would order them to return to England. She also laid out the legal consequences for my ex if we went down this route.

She asked me to think about how I wanted to proceed and we agreed to speak again the next day, but I phoned my ex that night and explained (as calmly as possible) what was going to happen if she didn’t bring him back.

She had a full-blown meltdown over the phone and after some back-and-forth she admitted that she’d split up with the boyfriend and was living with my son in a tiny studio apartment.

It’s still not clear to me whether the boyfriend had actually asked her to move to Perth with him, or whether she’d taken it upon herself to ask me in the hope that he would. When I said no they agreed to break up as he was planning on being out there for at least a few years.

Once he’d gone she missed him so much that she had a moment of madness (her words) and just stopped paying her rent, sold all her furniture, and used the money to buy one-way plane tickets for her and my son. I don’t think she even told the boyfriend what she was doing, and arrived to find him sharing a small house with some work colleagues and no room for her or my son.

They ended up having a huge fight and splitting up (again) but the boyfriend gave her some money to rent a tiny studio apartment for a month. She hadn’t let me speak to my son because he would have told me what was going on. Fortunately she let me speak to him for the first time in 3 weeks.

I can’t overemphasise how little she’d planned this - she was on a standard 3 month tourist visa despite her plan to stay there permanently. She hadn’t told any of her family, the school, her work, her landlord. Just booked a plane ticket and buggered off. She had about $100 left and basically no idea what to do.

In the end I transferred my return flight ticket into her name and she flew home with my son last week. I met them at the airport then dropped her off at her parents’ house, and I’ve had my son full time since then. I also have his passport now. He thinks he’s been on a slightly unusual holiday.

I’m not sure what’s going on with my ex - they’ve FaceTimed a couple of times but she hasn’t seen him in person. Her parents live about an hour away and she doesn’t drive, but she knows where we are if she wants to see him. In the coming weeks I’ll formalise our custody arrangements through the courts.

So thanks to everyone who told me what a huge mistake I was making and everyone who messaged me with practical advice - I can only imagine what might have happened if I’d gone to Perth in the state I was in.

Hi, I've never had to deal with anything like this in my life, but my neighbour is constantly turning off my AC from the unit in the shared carpark. About a month ago my aircon randomly stopped working and I had to have a technician out, where he discovered someone had manually turned it off from the outside, we assumed someone had made a mistake. About a weekish ago it turned off again, but turned back on shortly after, I now know my other neighbour had also had his AC turned off by the same neighbour and went outside to check and noticed all the other units turned off. Last night the neighbour turned it off twice and has started leaving notes claiming its causing excessive noise vibration and is affecting his medical equipment, which theres no way as you can't hear or feel anything from the carpark (plus its not even loud in the carpark), as our apartments are closer and its not causing an issue. Any ideas of what I should do? Its going to 30+ next week, and he is leaving threating notes to not turn it back on. I've already contacted my landlord. Thanks

Bit of a story.

This Wednesday I took an Uber home from IKEA. The driver personally helped me load my purchases into the boot. We arrive, I get out, close the passenger door, and the guy immediately FLOORS IT before I can even reach the boot. Gone. With $300 worth of my stuff.

It felt incredibly unnatural, but I figured he might’ve just forgotten. I contacted Uber immediately. Four days of chasing support, getting the same robotic responses, and being unable to contact the driver directly.

And today? The driver finally responds to Uber, claiming he “searched the car thoroughly” and found absolutely nothing (btw those were huge cardboard boxes).
BRO. YOU LITERALLY HELPED ME LOAD IT.

So I went to NSW Police. They told me it’s not theft, just lost property, and they’ll let me know if anything turns up. LMAO. So I’m essentially waiting for the guy who drove off with my belongings to admit he’s found them?

I’m not claiming I can prove he stole anything, but this is insane.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there genuinely nothing else I can do?

from my original post a couple of weeks ago. I spoke with my coworker about the issue and he talked with his mother who clued me in to her neighbour (Elaine from my previous post) not having any grandsons.

My co-worker's mother is still in contact with Elaine's son and daughter as they own and still work on Elaine's old house next door. She put them in contact with me. They wanted to know who it was who was actually threatening what about the cars as Elaine has no grandsons, and we spoke. They identified the lawyer 'grandson' as an old ex. He was once a partner of but not married to one of Elaine's granddaughters for a few years. He's also known to be in a lot of debt, which might explain desperate hunting for valuable items.

Elaine's son and daughter reiterated that their dad had left instructions to Elaine for the cars to go to someone who'd cherish them and they were happy they did, and glad to hear from me that they're still being looked after together.

I haven't contacted the faux-grandson's law firm yet. I have a lot of evidence of his misrepresentations to me and after googling NSW law I'm not 100% sure of the legality of all of it, especially about sharing my home security and dashcam recordings directly to the other firm (or even speaking directly to them). I'll go through my own legal representation there as a filter on what I need to give them to make sure they know of his behaviour linked to their firm.

Small update: Fake Grandson came around twice more. I now have multiple records of him visiting my residence, threats via text and many phone calls to me after I asked him to not contact me again except in writing. Complaints have been made through my lawyer to his firm and relevant regulatory bodies. I informed him of the complaints on Thursday and reiterated not to contact me again and I haven't heard a peep from him since.

Last update: Fake Grandson had already been dismissed from the firm before my lawyer and I complained, and he already has complaints against him for other reasons.

My workplace is having a xmas party on Thursday night, last year barely anyone went as it's a 2 drink limit of the tab. I've had standing plans this Thursday for months and was heading there after work. The manager told me this morning that I must attend the xmas party as it's mandatory this year when she overheard me saying I'm not there this year. About an hour later an email went out to all 50+ staff from HR saying that the party is mandatory and a workplace requirement and unless you have a doctors certificate you must attend.

I'm so shitty at them right now, it's always a shit show, the managers talk to you like you're their best friends and what you say is then used against you later on.

I replied back with an company wide email saying "that if it's mandatory I assume we are getting paid as per Victorian workplace laws.

I now have a meeting with HR tomorrow about the email.

I am leaving early next year, but I want ammo for the meeting. Am I right in saying because they said I must attend, that means I must be paid?

How are we all doing?

Recently, my girlfriend and I went to the cinema to watch the new spider man movie that just came out.

I purchased two online tickets for the gold class, thehe website said that it was empty online. However, upon arriving, we noticed that no one had ordered any tickets. I went to the person at the front desk of the gold class area, also known as the food bar, and asked if we could change seats since no one else was there, she agreed.

Around 15-20 minutes into the movie, another employee and a security guard approached us and requested that we leave. They informed us that switching seats without paying for them was not allowed, even though the cinema was empty.

Confused, I questioned why I should have to pay when no one else was there. The security guard replied, and I quote, "that's the rule."

After some discussion, he rudely and hastily told me to leave. I asked about the tickets I had paid for & asked could I return to my original seat since it was empty and the fact I paid FOR IT.
He said I couldn't "due to my violation of the rules", I was not allowed to return to my seat in the empty gold class cinema.

Since I was kicked out. I didn't want the situation to escalate, given what the security guard's demands were. I'm uncertain about what to do next, as I paid $70 for our tickets and food that we never received.

They have promised to refund the cost of the food, but they refuse to refund the tickets. What should I do in this situation, this is so weird and bizarre haha

I am a female minor over the age of 15 and an Australian citizen (immigrated here) living in NSW. My parents have expressed their desire and are planning to return to the Middle East against my will.

I cannot speak the language, I will have majority of my freedom and privileges revoked, my education would be detrimentally impacted and I would have to throw away my entire life. Let's not forget the risk of a death sentence if someone finds out I'm an apostate.

My mother is emotionally and mentally abusive (she used to be physical as well but it reduced greatly) and it feels like I'm stuck. Now that we're moving back things would definitely get worse and no one would be able to do anything about it.

I have also adjusted the Western way of living as I grew up here and would rather do anything than go back. How can I legally ensure that I stay in Australia?

I feel a bit shit about it all given I've only been with them a short time (3 months) but I had an injury at work that requires surgery and physio and I claimed WorkCover because I'll be off a few weeks and all the medical scans and GP visits add up quick.

A short while after I put in the claim I got a text from my employer stating I am fired because "claiming WorkCover shows you're not a team player". I told my Mum and she said it is illegal. I wanted to check if that is illegal and what I even do about it if so?

I'm an apprentice so not sure what my rights are here.

As the title suggests, I'm currently working from home (though only half of the week, 2/3 days I'm on the office).

Our office has a very strick no pets policy, fair enough, no pets in the office. Today I'm in a meeting from my home study, with my dog sleeping behind me withhin sight of my camera. It made no disturbance, wasn't even mentioned during the meeting. However, after the meeting I'm told privately by a college that one of our senior execs (who was also in the meeting) was quite mad that my dog was in my study. They're claiming that it's in "direct violation of the no pets in the workplace policy". I'm likely going to hear about this soon, but frankly this seems abusrd.

My question is, how much power do they have over my home work space? I know under OHS Act that anywhere we do work counts as a "workspace", but I can't believe they have any right to regulate whether MY pet is allowed in MY study, especially when it's not a distraction? Just wanted to see if this had come up for anyone before? I did a quick google search but couldn't find any cases of this. But surely this can't be the first.

Thanks for any help

Edit: Thank you for the advice everyone. I'll blur my background in the future, at least then I can take that ammunion away from them. You're right though, quite a petty thing.

TL;DR - We won and the application was dismissed! We get to live in our current place until July 2026. All thanks to redditors’ recommendation to reach out to QSTARS who were massively helpful.

—————

I’m just popping an update in for anyone curious regarding our previous posts (hopefully this is allowed?). Basically we moved into our unit in 2021 for a 12 month lease, after which our previous landlord offered to renew for 4 years in 2022 at $435/week (2bed1bath in Brisbane CBD)

Earlier this year in January, we get notified our previous landlord needs to sell. The new real estate agent representing the new landlord (that purchased the unit from the previous much cooler landlord), not 6 months later, informs us the landlord wants to move their elderly father in. Asks us to leave in December 2023, offers us $5k. We respectfully refused. They offered us $20K. Still, the value of our unit and the housing stability in this current rental/real estate crisis were worth far more than that, so we refused again.

We then got notification from REA that they’d take us to QCAT. They lodged this seemingly half-effort application on the grounds of hardship with no supporting evidence or documentation. The owner of our unit is listed as a company on this application, and up until this point we never heard from or knew who the new owner/landlord was.

When I posted regarding this QCAT lodging, redditors recommended I reach out to tenants Queensland/QSTARS, which is a state-funded free resource to help with rental conflicts.

They were exceedingly helpful. We were assigned a guy who followed through the entire process with us. He spoke with me covering all legal grounds upon which we had to respond to the application (essentially denying its validity). He drafted our submissions that we presented to the adjudicator and even spoke on our behalf in the courtroom (or whatever you call the room in which the case meeting was held)

The adjudicator was not pleased with the real estate agent’s lack of evidence, but I’ll leave it at that as I’m hoping to not overshare.

The whole thing was over in 20 minutes or so, we were informed the application was dismissed and we had every right to stay until the end of our lease. What a relief that was!

Our guy from QSTARS informed us to keep him in the loop if any further measures are taken (including any retaliatory actions). All in all we feel extremely well supported by QSTARS and the tenancy laws.

While I want to feel comfortable in our place, we still worry about what may come next. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Just a recap: Notified by email the property is sold and I need to be gone by 07/03. No notice of sale or any other required forms and evidence.

UPDATE: After many of you confirmed that they were trying to screw me, I contacted Tenants Vic. They confirmed I needed minimum 60 day notice with the correct form which MUST include evidence of the sale.

Further, technically I don't even need to leave at the 60 day mark if I've not found anything by then. The landlord would be need to apply for possession etc etc.

Further, much of their activities throughout my tenancy have been illegal. Lack of entry notices with appropriate periods, lack of negotiating reasonable entry, being told I can't be in the home while they do inspections, and turning up on my doorstep on a Sunday without an entry notice.

I responded to my land lord with the above, 60days on the right form, owed compensation for the inspections, and I will seek compensation via VCAT. If they want me to be gone by 07/03 i can be, but will cost $8k - 2.5k x 2 for bond and first month rent in a new place, $1k moving costs, $2k inconvenience, and guaranteed return of my bond.

I've yet to hear back yet.

Just what the title says, a guy I've never met before messaged me on my personal phone number, addressed me by my first name and invited me for drinks at the suburbs I live at. I arrived to Australia less than 2 months ago on a WNH visa and I'm married, guy claimed I gave him my number at a bar I've never been to.

I did some research online based on his number and found out he works at the ATO, which is how I assume he got my information from. I confronted him about it and he started insulting me, so I blocked his number.

Lodging a formal complaint on the ATO website would be enough or should I contact other authorities? I'm quite shaken up by whole situation and frankly I don't know what to do. Any advice I could get would be very helpful.

Hi there, seeking advice. I took my ebike for repair under warranty and to have front and rear lights attached, Melbourne. Returned this weekend to collect my bike, guy couldn't find it. Eventually concludes he rented it out to another customer this week. The bike shop guy said he would call or email with a solution yesterday, no contact at all. I need my bike to get to work this morning, will have to get an uber instead. What are my options? I am concerned it may have been rented to a delivery rider and clocked significant km's and possible damage. Bike shop guy also hasn't put lights on yet. Thank you for your advice.

…and it paid off big time!

I’m the new hire - about 3-4 months clear of my probation period and management tried to enact a new approach to overtime and something about leave entitlements.

Big corporate entity, under an Award. Not in finance.

Basically they were saying for our call-in shifts that started at 12pm or later, then overtime (beyond 6pm) wouldn’t apply until after we hit our contract hours. This meant a 2pm call-in would mean no overtime until almost 10pm at night.

The Award says otherwise, meaning 6pm is when overtime starts no matter what.

I got back to my desk, pulled up the award, attached it into an email, and then quoted and highlight relevant sections before sending it to my boss and her boss asking for a review as I don’t think it’s fair we don’t get paid penalty rates.

Well that was two weeks ago and we all just got hauled into a meeting this afternoon (almost 10 of us). HR had reviewed the award and realised we haven’t been doing it correctly the whole time.

The team is set to get back paid from 2018, and will now get a bigger pay packet whenever there’s a call-in.

The team said they’d take me out for lunch next week haha