Ms Jacobs, a First Nations public housing tenant living in the remote Pilbara town of Wakathuni will have her test case against the WA Housing Authority heard today, in what could set a state-wide precedent and have far-reaching implications for renters across Australia.

Ms Jacobs is taking her government landlord, the WA Housing Authority, to court over its ongoing failures to repair her home, leaving her to live in unsafe conditions which fall short of local health law standards. Ms Jacobs is also challenging the WA Housing Authority’s many attempts to increase her rent. She is arguing that the rent increases were unlawful, not in line with her tenancy agreement, and also excessive, particularly in light of the government’s neglect of  the property and the median rent in surrounding areas.

In a novel legal question that could benefit renters nation-wide, Ms Jacobs’ legal team is arguing that the WA Housing Authority breached its obligations to repair and maintain her home under national consumer laws, not only the state tenancy laws. They will argue that the WA Housing Authority, as a landlord and provider of housing, owes a consumer guarantee to tenants to maintain rental properties so that they are reasonably fit for use as a home and place of residence. 

This is the first time the question of whether a tenant-landlord relationship is a consumer-supplier relationship has been tested, and if won, could open up a new legal pathway for renters living in rental homes neglected by their landlords,  providing stronger legal protections for renters nation-wide facing an increasingly hostile rental market.

Ms Jacobs has experienced many issues with her house, including malfunctioning stove, septic blockages, faulty shower facilities, faulty exhaust fans, and insect infestations. The lack of air conditioning also means that in the soaring temperatures, reaching towards 50 degrees in the Pilbara, her house is often uninhabitable during the summer months. 

This case follows the success of the remote community in Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) in the NT which won historic rights to habitable homes in the NT Supreme Court and to compensation for disappointment and distress in the High Court of Australia earlier this year.  

Ms Jacobs, is represented by the same team that successfully backed the NT community of Ltyentye Apurte, Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR) and barrister Matthew Albert, at no cost to her. Grata Fund has provided Ms Jacobs with the support and financial backing she needed to bring her case to court.

A follow-up media release summarising the hearing and select quotes will be circulated on Thursday.

Hearing details:

• 9.30am AWST, Tuesday 24 September to Thursday 26 September
  Magistrates Court of Western Australia, 1 Court Road,Tom Price WA 6751

Available for comment:

• Daniel Kelly, Principal Solicitor at ALRAR. Daniel will be at the Magistrates Court in Tom Price for the hearing and available over the phone.
• Isabelle Reinecke, Executive Director, Grata Fund, available over the phone

Media contact: Madeleine Burkitt, [email protected], 0435045516

Additional information:

• In its survey of remote communities in WA, Ms Jacobs’ solicitors, Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR) consistently found that the WA Government's method for calculating rent lacked transparency, leaving tenants unable to determine the rent they should be paying, and allowing the Housing Authority to freely adjust rent amounts without a clear limit. They also found that the maintenance neglect faced by Ms Jacobs are commonly experienced by Aboriginal tenants in remote WA.
• The WA Housing Authority provides housing in 122 remote Aboriginal communities (to approximately 36,278 households directly and approximately 8,000 in partnership with community housing organisations).
• Ms Jacobs' case builds upon the recent High Court ruling, which found that remote public housing tenants are owed compensation over dilapidated housing due to neglect by the NT Government.
• It also builds upon a determination in 2022 by the Northern Territory’s highest court, the NT court of Appeal, which confirmed that the NT government must provide decent housing to its tenants.