Recently, it cost Steve Zitsis almost $100,000 in legal fees to learn that even when renting to his own brother George, without a signed lease it is an expensive process to evict a tenant.
It started on friendly terms - there was a verbal agreement that George would rent the house for $250 per week plus paying council rates, water rates and utilities. Steve would pay the home insurance and be allowed to stay in one bedroom every six months when he came to Sydney for medical appointments.
Eight years later, it turned into a family dispute when Steve asked George to move out so Steve could sell the house. George refused to move.
George argued that he was entitled to stay in the house because Steve had promised him he could live there forever, and had even promised to leave the house to him in his will. George also said he had treated the house as his own, he had spent $50,000 renovating the kitchen, ripping up the carpet and polishing the floorboards, installing an air-conditioner and wardrobes.
If there was a signed lease, George would not have been able to argue he could live there forever because the lease would have a fixed term. Nor could he claim the renovations gave him the right to stay, because no renovations are allowed without the landlord's permission.
Steve could not use NCAT (the Tenancy Tribunal) for the eviction because he was now residing at the Surfers Paradise and interstate residents cannot use NCAT. So the eviction proceeding was in the Supreme Court of NSW, hence the high legal fees.
There, Justice Megan Latham (ex ICAC Commissioner) threw out George's arguments and ordered George be evicted.
The photo is of the house, and if you look closely, you will see George's black Mercedes parked in the garage.
The lesson is: Even if it's your own brother, anytime you're allowing anyone to live in your house, ALWAYS HAVE THEM SIGN A LEASE
For my legal case note