Single mother Samantha Hartwig and her four-year-old son have been given 24 hours to leave their rental home in Ipswich after a car smashed into it on Sunday morning.
The crash damaged water pipes and caused structural damage to the house, which has now been deemed unliveable.
"I have nowhere to go," Ms Hartwig said on an online fundraising page.
She said the owner's insurance did not cover short-term motel accommodation and she was left to find a place within a day — in a tight rental market.
"I have been applying for a house, but they need two weeks' rent and bond, which I don't have as I was not expecting this mess to happen," she said.
Police say a 20-year-old Curramore man has been charged with drink driving, his licence has been suspended, and he is due to appear in Ipswich Magistrates Court on March 31.
Frightening situation
Ms Hartwig's mother, Julie, who was visiting from Rockhampton, said she was fast asleep when she heard smashing glass as the car drove into her bedroom in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"It was pretty scary," Ms Hartwig said.
She raced down the hallway to check on her grandson and then saw the damage.
"The car was a write-off; the corner of the house was basically through his windscreen."
Builders and an engineer inspected the property and found the room the car smashed into had moved on its foundation. It could take months to fix.
Ms Hartwig said the owner then issued her daughter with a notice to leave on Sunday evening.
"So we didn't even get 24 hours' notice," Ms Hartwig said.
The real estate agent was looking for another property, but there were very few available and her daughter could not afford the bond and two weeks rent, she said.
The water was reconnected on Monday afternoon, and the owner said the house was now liveable and that Ms Hartwig could not end her lease, her mother said.
Ms Hartwig said after the shock of getting the notice to vacate and then being told they had to stay — despite the front of the house being boarded up — was "all too much mentally".
Get advice
Penny Carr, the chief executive of Tenants Queensland, said it was important for tenants to get legal advice in these situations.
"It won't always end up with what the owner is arguing," Ms Carr said.
An owner could end a tenancy if a place was destroyed or made partly unfit to live in.
"If it genuinely was unliveable, you would be hoping that there'd be some negotiations to give the tenant the bond back as soon as possible," she said.
"The tenant's got to take stock and think that if it's fair and reasonable and try to come up with a solution for it."
But Ms Carr said there was no requirement under tenancy laws for a landlord to rehouse a tenant if the rental became unliveable outside the owner's control.
Ms Carr said if there was a dispute that could not be negotiated between the two parties, it would have to go to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
"So there are still some steps a tenant can take if they aren't sure that what's being told to them is correct," she said.
