Imagine you are a tenant in a city impacted by two major floods in the space of a month, with thousands of people displaced and looking for a place to live, in a rental market already in crisis, and then you are hit with an eviction notice.
That's the situation facing Kelly-Ann Taylor and several other tenants of Dixon Place in Lismore.
Although the neighbourhood is in Lismore Heights, near Lismore Base Hospital, and well clear of the flood zone, residents there face an uncertain future as they have received notices they must leave.
RELATED STORIES:
The properties have recently been sold and the legal firm acting on behalf of the sellers agreed the timing of the evictions was "unfortunate" given Lismore's recent floods.
Ms Taylor, who grew up in Broadwater and moved to Dixon Pace with three kids and a husband in crisis mode two years ago, said the eviction notice means she will be forced to leave the region and seek accommodation with extended family in Queensland.
"I am done with Lismore, I am done with the crap politics of the town," she said.
"The community is great, and there are some great people here, but the people running it from Sydney are not that great.
"What gets me is that the eviction notice was hand delivered, it was pinned to our front door otherwise we wouldn't have got the notice, I mean, what the hell?
"When the community is in such an upheaval, so many people are displaced, this is disgusting behaviour."
Ms Taylor was advised of the eviction in a legal letter from a law firm in Sydney.
The letter was dated March 16 and gave her two weeks' notice of eviction on March 30, which was the date Lismore suffered its second major flood event in a month.
She has since been given a two-week extension and must be out on April 15.
The legal firm issuing the eviction notices aer acting on behalf of the owners, who recently sold eight properties in the complex.
A spokesperson for the legal firm, said the timing of the sale had been "unfortunate" given Lismore's two major floods
"We want to make it clear to the remaining occupants we're willing to negotiate further time if that's what they need," he said.
"We have been instructed that no further action will be taken under the notices until any negotiations have been concluded."
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
I'm a media professional with over 34 years of experience in public relations and journalism, including a decade setting Lismore's news agenda as the editor of The Northern Star. I have proven track record in growing audiences and improving engagement by delivering quality local stories for and about the Lismore community.
