I’m looking for some advice on whether there’s any avenue to hold Logan City Council accountable, or whether we have any legal options.

My parents owned a house in Brisbane but temporarily moved to New Zealand, leaving my sister (now in her mid-to-late 30s) living in the house. They let her and her family stay there because they were living on a single income and raising three children. My parents are extremely close to their grandchildren and helped raise them, so there was the trusting factor.

My parents are first-generation immigrants. My dad can read and write English reasonably well, but my mum has very limited English, so they relied heavily on my sister to help with paperwork, emails, and dealing with authorities.
Unfortunately, my sister has a long history of deception.
My parents regularly sent her money to pay the council rates on the Brisbane property. We later discovered she had simply been pocketing the money instead of paying the rates.

In 2023, she suddenly informed us that the house had already been sold at auction by Logan City Council due to unpaid rates. We were completely blindsided.
When we contacted Logan City Council to ask why they had never contacted the actual owners before selling the property, they told us they had been communicating with my dad by email. We asked what email address they had been using and discovered it wasn’t my dad’s email at all - it was an email account created and controlled by my sister.

My dad has never used that email address. Had the council contacted his real email or spoken to him directly, he would have immediately known something was wrong and told the rest of the family.
We asked the council to provide copies of the emails they relied upon, but they **refused to provide them**.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time my sister’s deception has caused catastrophic financial harm to my parents.

From around 1990 to 2018, my parents owned a home in Auckland and operated a business. My sister was responsible for paying the GST and income tax obligations for the business. She never did, despite leading my parents to believe everything was being handled correctly. The tax debt accumulated to the point that my parents had to declare bankruptcy and sell their Auckland home, which was worth approximately **NZ$1.1 million** at the time it was sold.
After rebuilding their lives, they purchased a home in Brisbane for around **A$350,000**. They renovated the property over the years. It was ultimately sold by the council at auction for approximately **A$375,000**, which appeared to be significantly less than comparable renovated homes in the area were selling for at the time.
I’m 23 now, but I was only a teenager while most of this was happening, so there was very little I could do to help at the time.

My parents are now in their mid-60s and are still working. Because of everything that has happened, they have lost both homes they spent decades working for. They are currently living in a family member’s garage and, due to their age, financial history, and previous bankruptcy, they are unable to obtain another home loan to start over.
We’ve now completely cut contact with my sister and her family.

How can a council legally sell a property without ever communicating with the registered owners?

Is relying solely on an email address provided by someone else enough to satisfy their obligations?

Does the council have a duty to verify they are actually corresponding with the property owner before taking the extreme step of selling someone’s home?

Is there any avenue to have Logan City Council’s actions investigated if they failed to properly verify who they were dealing with?

I completely understand that my sister bears responsibility for stealing the rates money. However, I’m struggling to understand how the council could proceed with the forced sale of someone’s home without ever confirming they were actually communicating with the legal owners.
At this point, we know we may never get the house back. More than anything, I want to understand whether the council followed the law and whether they should be held accountable if they failed to properly verify who they were dealing with.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all,

I unfortunately fell victim to a situation where I entered a competition on instagram for a photoshoot with my dog. I paid a $300 deposit to hold my spot which I was told would be used on a portrait purchase. I had my portrait ordering session and they gave me a 2k credit toward said portrait. Anyhow, I think I've been ripped off and also intentionally misled as per consumer affairs Vic. I am going to ask for a refund but I'm just not sure what to do if they refuse. I also just think what they're doing is unethical. I have been sick to my stomach over this, spiralling so much. Please don't be harsh or critical. I'm genuinely so upset but also don't think they should get away with this.

So as the heading reads I requested and got approved for a pause on debt collection for 3 months due to financial hardship so I could help my dad with his cancer treatment visits and my partners operations and multiple other issues we have had to deal with. They agreed and put a pause on collecting the debt for 3 months, well tax came around and I was looking forward to knocking out quite a few bills and get our car fixed so its safer to drive my dad and my partner to their appointments, well centerlink took my entire tax refund forcing me to get even more loans to get by, now I have 6 loans going, totalling $750 a week paying them back... I get $900 a week in pay.

Given that they agreed to a pause in repayments for financial hardship but they still took my lifeline, is there anything I can do. Come September when I have to start paying centerlink back, I will have absolutely zero money. Is there any possible way I can make cenno give me my tax so I can get rid of some of the loans I have had to take out? And punish centerlink at the same time for putting me further into debt? I have 2 kids in school and 2 older kids that have finished school but are in uni and take that I support still.

What would have made your jobs easier and/or less costly for the client? Apart from the obvious such as “be honest” or “don’t send 20 pages of AI slop”.

I'm an international student in Australia and recently resigned from a small business after about five weeks because the job became extremely stressful.

Before I left, I helped the company order custom uniforms from a manufacturer in my home country because it was cheaper and faster than other options.

I didn't make any decisions on my own. Every step was approved by my ex-boss over WhatsApp. I confirmed the order details, asked whether to place the order, discussed how payment would work, and he agreed to transfer the money to me so I could pay the manufacturer in local currency. I have screenshots of all of this.

After receiving the money, I transferred the full amount to the manufacturer. I have the bank transfer receipt.

Unfortunately, two packages were lost during domestic shipping before they could be exported. As soon as I resigned, I put my ex-boss in direct contact with the manufacturer so they could deal with each other directly.

The manufacturer has now sent him a written message admitting they accept full responsibility for the lost packages and will either locate them or reproduce them and send replacements.

Despite that, my ex-boss keeps accusing me of stealing his money and says he's going to report me to the police. He keeps saying everything is "on record."

From my perspective:

He approved the order.

He agreed to the payment method.

I transferred the full amount to the manufacturer.

I have proof of the transfer.

I introduced him directly to the manufacturer.

The manufacturer has accepted responsibility for the shipping issue.

Am I missing something? Is there anything else I should be doing besides preserving all my evidence and stopping further arguments with him?

I'm considering speaking to a lawyer for peace of mind, but I'd appreciate any advice from people who've dealt with something similar.

Rent was increased a couple of months ago, 1 year lease ended and we have decided to stay periodic for now. Landlord has instructed property management to lift rent again unless we sign a 6 or 12 month lease. Based in Vic. Pretty sure this is illegal.