Aussie widow on the brink of homelessness after her property manager suffered a ‘system error’

A recently widowed mother has been left with nowhere to go after her tenants failed to move out of her property due to a ‘system error’. 

The single mum, who owns a unit in Adelaide, explained on a Reddit thread she had leased her property to tenants but after a series of life changes, including being widowed and becoming the solo income earner, she now needed to move in. 

The woman asked her property manager to send a notice to vacate on March 24, giving her tenant the necessary 60 days warning.

‘(The agent) sent me the signed notice to vacate form that says they advised the tenant via email,’ she said.

‘I gave notice to my place and said I’d be out by the 30th May.’

But, just over a fortnight before her move-in date, she claimed the agent said due to a ‘system error’ the notice to vacate was ‘not received’ by the tenant. 

‘They only discovered this after calling the tenant who was understandably extremely stressed at the suggestion of moving out in two weeks,’ she wrote. 

She claimed the agent told her: ‘Sorry, but you’ll have to move in for July instead.’

A widow from Adelaide fears she will be left homeless after a ‘system error’ meant her tenants didn’t know they had to move out of her apartment (stock image)

‘I’m really worried because I don’t have a back-up plan or any family I can call upon, I don’t know what to do. I don’t earn a huge amount so self funding an Airbnb or hotel is definitely not an option,’ she wrote. 

‘My kid will have somewhere to stay so I don’t need to worry about that but otherwise I’m feeling pretty stressed.’

Aussies took to the comments to express their sympathy for her situation, with many suggesting she request the agent offer her compensation.

‘Tell them to put you up in a hotel and your household items in storage until the tenant vacates. If they don’t respond accordingly then lodge a claim with SACAT,’ one said.

Another said: ‘That sounds like a big failure on the REAs part. I would expect nothing less than storage paid for and a hotel until the tenants move out.

‘This seems like the least they could do given they f***ed up.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the woman for comment. 

Increased rents across Australia, including in Adelaide, means average income earners have been priced out of at least half of the suburbs in their city. 

The woman said she didn’t have a back-up plan and that she was ‘really worried’ (stock image)

Up to 70 per cent of postcodes in Adelaide are now unattainable for average income earners, according to statistics from consultancy firm SGS Economics and Planning. 

The vacancy rate in Adelaide is currently at a record-low after dozens of Australians moved to the state in search of affordable rent.

However, the influx of people have only caused rents to skyrocket across the state.