Need advice - breaches by rental provider

VIC

I moved into a new house (it is a rooming house with individual tenancies for each room) a little over a month ago and have encountered a liturgy of issues. I am looking for advice regarding a possible VCAT submission and if anyone has experience of similar problems and what the resolution or outcome was.

The issues are:

  1. there is black mould in various areas of the property. I have reported this twice and the landlord arranged cleaners to wipe it away but did nothing to investigate or rectify properly and the mould is already coming back. The landlord claims the issue is ‘resolved’, but my guess is there’s a waterproofing issue and damp rising below tiles, but no investigation has been carried out and they are refusing to take further action.
  2. there is a severe mice infestation which according to other housemates this has been going on for over 12 months. The landlord has laid traps / poison and put some flimsy tape over some holes however as it has persisted for 12 months and no building survey has been undertaken (to my knowledge) it is obviously not going to resolve the issue. The landlord claims to have done everything in their power but I dispute this.
  3. I was not issued a condition report.
  4. they charge a mandatory ‘end of lease cleaning fee’ at the start of the tenancy, but the property was not in a clean condition at the start of the tenancy so I believe this fee to be illegal and should be refunded in accordance with the prescribed form TA at S27C.

I believe they are in breach of S65A minimum standards (mould and pests at time of tenancy commencement, which they knew about); section 68 and possibly 72 due to these issues not being properly addressed and no plan to do so; section 69 due to property not being reasonably clean at tenancy commencement. The lack of condition report and fee are more straightforward breaches from my understanding.

Has anyone been to VCAT with similar issues and can offer any support / advice?

Thanks if you have read this far - any help will be greatly appreciated.

Posted Dec 3, 2025, 1:54 AM UTC

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