The High Court of Australia has been asked to consider whether Northern Territory public housing tenants should be able to sue their landlord for distress and disappointment over a failure to carry out repairs.
Two public housing tenants from the remote Central Australian community of Santa Teresa, south-east of Alice Springs, will today have their case heard in Australia's top court, asking it to overturn a previous ruling that they are not entitled to compensation for the impact the lack of repairs had on them.
The case was initiated by 70 claims to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2016, over failures by the chief executive officer of the Northern Territory Department of Housing to carry out repairs and provide habitable housing.
No back door for five years: claimant
One of the claimants leading the High Court challenge, Enid Young, told the tribunal she had been left without a back door for five years and that snakes had come inside, leaving her feeling insecure as she could not shut the house.
She also said wild horses had flattened her fences.
A second tenant, who has now died, is being represented by his executors.
In follow-up cases in Northern Territory courts, it was established that the Department of Housing chief executive, was required to provide habitable housing, which is "humane and reasonably comfortable".
The tribunal found several breaches in relation to Ms Young, but it only awarded nominal damages for the missing door, saying the landlord had installed it six weeks after being notified.
But the High Court appeal has arisen out of the later Supreme Court ruling, that found the door was necessary for security and the landlord was in breach of its obligations by not providing one.
Ms Young was then awarded compensation for disappointment and distress.
That ruling was struck down by the Northern Territory Court of Appeal which found that damages for breach of contract were not normally awarded for mental distress.
In their submissions to the High Court, Ms Young's lawyers said the appeal judges had got it wrong.
"Where parliament limited the tribunal's power to award compensation…, [it] did not exclude the power to award compensation for distress or disappointment," the submissions said.
NT government rejects claim snake got inside due to missing door
But the Northern Territory government will tell the High Court the foundation of the case is wrong.
In its submissions it has cast doubt on Ms Young's account.
"The premises were not, as the appellants' submissions suggest, invaded by snakes as a result of the missing back door, or destroyed by the return of roaming wild horses who bent [Ms Young's] metal perimeter fence," the submissions said.
"Rather, the Tribunal found that: While [Ms Young] noted that a snake came through a gap, it would appear that this occurred after the back door was repaired."
"[Ms Young's] evidence about the perimeter fence and wild horses was simply that the fence around the property was bent to the ground in many places."
The submissions noted that Ms Young observed it could have been because of roaming wild horses.
The High Court case will come down to whether the law allows for compensation for mental distress in such circumstances.
Lawyers for Ms Young and the other tenant in the case have said they believe the case will have ramifications for renters across Australia.
