Windang Win – residents avoid eviction

The Tenant’s Union was pleased to hear that the NSW Supreme Court has appointed an administrator to manage the Oasis Village at Windang. This should lead to improved running of the community and security for residents. NSW Fair Trading made the application on behalf of home owners after the operator had let the land lease community fall into a dilapidated state. Residents at this community have been in dispute with the operator for the past five years. With the assistance of the Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association (ARPRA) and support of local MP Paul Scully, the residents have won their long and hard fought battle.

A short history of the events that led to this appointment... the local council – Wollongong Council – had deemed the park as non compliant and there was no licence to operate in place under the Local Government Act 1993. The operator tried to use this as a reason to evict the residents with only 30 days notice! The notice of terminations were disputed at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and ruled as invalid. There had also been a lack of maintenance at the community. The residents were successful at the Tribunal in getting orders for the operator to carry out maintenance at the community but the orders were ignored. The situation got so bad that the Tribunal ordered for all site fees to be paid into a special trust fund account to cover basic maintenance costs.

Now that an administrator has been appointed, they will look after the day to day running of the community and the residents are feeling very hopeful and more secure in their homes