Housing Law Brochure
Need help with a Public Housing, Community Housing or an Occupancy Agreement problem?
Call Housing Law on (02) 6218 7900.
Who are we?
Housing Law is a specialist legal service of Canberra Community Law (formerly Welfare Rights and Legal Centre) providing free and confidential legal help.
Housing Law can provide you with free legal advice if you are having problems with Housing ACT or a community housing provider in the ACT.
Some examples of problems we can help you with are:
- Problems getting public housing
- Evictions
- Rent arrears – behind on rent
- Housing transfers
- Housing debts
- Repairs and maintenance
We can also help:
Occupants
If you have an occupancy agreement or live in a caravan park, hostel or boarding house.
If you need assistance with a private tenancy matter, please phone the Tenants’ Advice Service on 1300 402 512. This service is run by Legal Aid ACT.
How can Housing Law help you?
We can provide you with initial advice on your situation and the options you have.
In some cases we may also be able to:
- Talk to Housing ACT on your behalf
- Help you to challenge Housing ACT or Community Housing decisions
- Represent you in Tribunal and Court hearings
Need Help with a Housing ACT, Community Housing or Occupancy matter?
Please call us on (02) 6218 7900
If you need an interpreter please call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450 and ask them to ring us.
If you are deaf or have a hearing impairment or speech impairment, contact us through the National Relay Service at www.relayservice.gov.au
Feedback Welcome!
Canberra Community Law welcomes your feedback. You can telephone the Executive Director/Principal Solicitor on (02) 6218 7922 or by mail at PO Box 337, Civic Square ACT, 2608.
Alternatively you can write to the Chairperson care of our postal address marking your letter “Confidential”.
We cannot provide:
- Advice to landlords
- Advice on neighbourhood disputes
- Advice which may lead to the eviction of another tenant (subject to limited exceptions)
We also have a series of fact sheets on common problems faced by people in public housing. These are available from our office (on request) and can be found on our Fact Sheets & Brochures Page.
Our other services and contacts are listed in the sidebar of this page.
Canberra Community Law acknowledges the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work in the ACT and surrounding region and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We pay our respects to First Nations elders past, present and future for they hold the stories, traditions and the cultures of their people.
We are grateful that we share this land and express our sorrow for the costs of this sharing to Australia’s First Peoples. We will continue to acknowledge the legacy of our history and strive in our goals to empower our community through social justice. We hope that our efforts will contribute to a realisation of equity, justice and partnership with the Traditional Custodians of this land.