NSW Lodger or Tenant?

[familynfriends]

Please help me, would my daughter be considered a lodger or tenant?
I will give as much detail as possible.
My daughter found a room in an apartment last June.
She viewed the apartment and room, which she found on flatmates.com.
The girl who owns/is paying off the apartment was happy for her to move in.
My daughter paid a bond of $1000 and signed an agreement. On the top of the agreement, the girl has called it a
" Room Rental Agreement"
(I will attach this agreement with all names, addresses, and bank details blanked out, of course.)

Please let me know what information NCAT would need, to decide if this were a tenancy they could help with, or if this agreement would make my daughter a lodger and not give her much legal rights.
The girl (landlord) has evicted my daughter and at first gave her 7 days to leave. After my daughter begged and pleaded with her, she gave her another 7 days to leave the apartment. So, a total of 14 days.
A month to six weeks after moving into the apartment (her room came furnished, including a bed) my daughter complained about a rash or bites on her arms and legs. After months of being bitten and doctor's appointments. which they could not tell her what was biting her but had suggested bed bugs at one stage. Also sleeping on the lounge in the apartment for several nights because the bites were so bad.
The "landlord" offered to borrow a friend's steam cleaning machine and offered to steam clean the mattress.
Which brought bed bugs to the top of the mattress, and explained the bites.
Then my daughter was blamed for the bed bugs, was instructed by the "landlord" to replace the mattress in the bedroom and was told she would have to leave the new mattress she purchased in the room after she moved out. This was after having the whole house and beds in the apartment fumigated (which she was also told the fumigation would be withheld from her bond money if she could not pay for it at the time, which she could not afford).
She was then forced to sign a new agreement that said mentions all these things.
Only days after this, she was then given the 7-day eviction, even though she agreed to everything (by cohesion).
So, do we try to fight any of this with NCAT or chalk it up to just a crappy experience?
Any advice is welcome, and if more information is needed, please let me know.
Thanks

 

[Tim W]

Just so I am clear, she wants to fight to stay in a bug-infested dump,
where the head tenant is an aggressive nutter?
---> Is there no alternative at all?
The narrow black-letter answer is that she is not a tenant unless her name is on the/a lease.
That document isn't one.

 

[familynfriends]

No, she has moved out, but she has kept her whole bond and blamed my daughter for the bed bugs, which I think is a joke. I would like to take her to tribunal for the bond money back, and this isn't a lease, but it's a contract. So, I thought it may be enough to prove she is a tenant

 

[familynfriends]

We are happy to pay half but lumping the whole amount of the treatments and buying a new mattress, she had to leave behind is a lot.

 

[familynfriends]

Are you aware that we are in a rental crisis in Australia?
Which means it's hard to find somewhere to live if you're a renter, especially in such a short amount of time.
Luckily, my daughter has an excellent job, and a friend was looking for someone to rent an apartment with, as her roommate is moving out.
It is pure luck and good timing, but for many this is not the case. For those who are not so lucky, are living in tents or in their car.
Which is just sad and an absolute disgrace for the country we live in.

 

[Tim W]

Are you aware that we are in a rental crisis in Australia?

Yes. I'm a landlord.

Now...
NCAT has a wide discretion to hear disputes around tenancy, bonds etc.
I suggest that she start by making an application.
Assuming that the Tribunal agrees to take the matter on,
it will then be up to the respondent "landlord" to show that your daughter is ineligible.
Pretty hard to do that....
The worst thing that can happen is that she doesn't succeed, in which case she has lost nothing but time and effort.

 

[Ozemedia]

She is not a Lodger, to be a Lodger, the property must be registered as a Boarding House. All tenants must be listed on the lease, otherwise she is an occupant, generally a tenant cannot sub lease unless the sub lessee is listed on the lease, the lease will show the maximum number of occupants and if this is exceeded then that is a breach of the tenancy agreement.

 

[Tim W]

She is not a Lodger, to be a Lodger, the property must be registered as a Boarding House. All tenants must be listed on the lease, otherwise she is an occupant, generally a tenant cannot sub lease unless the sub lessee is listed on the lease, the lease will show the maximum number of occupants and if this is exceeded then that is a breach of the tenancy agreement.

This statement is wholly incorrect.
It is perfectly possible to be a lodger in a premises other than a registerable boarding house.
(the correct term is "registerable" not "registered")
Consider, for example, where a person is a lodger in a private home.

 

[Ozemedia]

This statement is wholly incorrect.
It is perfectly possible to be a lodger in a premises other than a registerable boarding house.
(the correct term is "registerable" not "registered")
Consider, for example, where a person is a lodger in a private home.

I suggest you check with Fair Trading on that matter - as I have done.

 

[Tim W]

I suggest you check with Fair Trading on that matter - as I have done.

Why don't you point me to the part
where the act and the departmental publications don't match?