Landlord's home goes up in flames right before reclaiming it from squatters | A Current Affair

Nicole's tenants stopped paying rent and did a runner then squatters moved in she fought hard to get her home back only to have it burned down was it Revenge [Music] could these people have done it as just that one last dig to get back at me did squatters burn down Nicole's home given the history of all of the things that have happened it's only natural to ask yourself that question did they do this this is a landlord who's gone through the perfect storm to have nothing to show for it I just didn't know what to do after everything that you've been through yeah I I just didn't believe it was real um and then I got a call from the police Nicole hicks's rental property in Melbourne burned to the ground on May 8 bringing to an end an 11-month fight just to get it back off strangers I'm just feeling angry fair enough I'm going through I think the phases um where I've cried a lot I haven't slept a lot and now I'm just really angry and just want the people to pay who have done this to me we brought you Nicole's story two months ago she was the landlord who'd literally been locked out of her house the tenant stopped paying rent and disappeared while squatters moved on in and the law was on their side people don't believe that there's nothing I can do I can't believe there isn't anything I can do for months on end the house was being lived in but by who so do you think it's true [Music] it was trashed in the listing dumped by two agents who refused to help Nicole Fight vcat The People's Court after their mistake left her high and dry I pay their money to look after my property and the fact that I can't trust them to do their job out of pocket an estimated seventy thousand dollars and Falls to live in a hotel apartment Nicole was fighting the system that failed her when her house went up in smoke a week before she legally wanted back I wanted to be able to move back into my own property you know as soon as I got it back and this was all over at vcat technicality real estate agent at Square Investments Jason Croft Smith began working with Nicole pro bono after watching our first story he inspected the property on May 5 and deemed it unfit for human habitation issuing an abandonment notice three days later it suspiciously caught fire seven days after that Nicole won it back in vcat it's strange in the sense that I'm happy that finally I've gotten possession of my property back but a little strange because there is no property when I tend to say I'm going for abandonment and gaining possession of your property to then the house burning down three days later that's that's that's that's suspicious I think they heard very clearly that their time in the property was coming to an end and the games are over with vcad might finally be over but another battle is just about to start in the courtroom she now wants to take legal action against her former agents I will be taking the real estate agents who have got me in this situation to court I know it won't be easy but I've come this far so I just got to follow it all the way through to the end um because it's my money I worked hard for it and they shouldn't get away with it scot-free the details that I got in the file were very few old contact details for the renters there was nothing to go on Jason believes Nicole can win if I was them I'd be pretty worried about this chord action coming forward I think there's enough compelling evidence there for Nicole meanwhile Nicole's fired for justice he's only just beginning with the old tenant the tenant was a single mum and I really wanted to give her the opportunity and now here I am 11 months down the track and she hasn't paid any rent at all so you know I've got to do my best to try and recoup this money from her um so that you know there are some consequences for her actions Nicole has rightfully been granted the bond not that 1700 bucks really cuts it when your house is in pieces visiting the property I was shocked to see exactly what I saw needles knives weapons of All Sorts I actually feared for my safety walking into the property because you weren't sure what you're going to find when he turned up to the property um both the front door and the back door were wide open so so open door policy yeah pretty much whoever they were they got away with trashing Nicole's house for far too long and the jury's still out on whether it was torched police are investigating that it's a mystery Nicole's determined to try and solve the law has been on the tenant side for so long and I'm just hoping that the law will be on my side in this situation foreign

Channel: A Current Affair

Views: 96,262

Keywords: a current affair, a current affair reporter, a current affair australia, channel 9 news, 9 news australia, australia news, world news, australian news, channel 9

Id: cVvUkN0mXvE

Length: 5min 53sec (353 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2023