Nurse Mikaela Cowan (left), is calling for the Victorian government, led by Premier Jacinta Allan (right), to overhaul its rental legislation.
Nurse Mikaela Cowan is warning other property investors away from Victoria as she struggles to evict tenants who owe her about $6700 in unpaid rent.
Ms Cowan is calling for the state’s rental laws to be reformed amid her ongoing efforts to take back possession of her Mill Park townhouse, with the case going through several Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearings since August last year.
As a single nurse trying to cover two mortgages, Ms Cowan said she was “incredibly frustrated” by VCAT continuously putting her tenants, a family, on five separate plans to pay back the rent – even though they continuously failed to stick to them.
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The situation is all the more disappointing because Ms Cowan was hoping that her sister, who has a five-year-old son, could move into the rental property.
Ms Cowan moved out of the home herself and into a one-bedroom residence after going through a break-up in 2022, with the tenants settling in during 2023.
She first applied to VCAT over their non-payment of rent midway through 2025.
But at the tribunal, the couple claimed they were experiencing financial hardship, although the tenants had never communicated this to either Ms Cowan or her property manager.
After being given a notice to vacate the property within 60 days, in October 2025, the tenants failed to do so in December.
But VCAT decided it was too close to Christmas and the family could remain in the townhouse.
Ms Cowan has been through several VCAT hearings relating to her tenants. Picture: Mike Keating/HWT.
A January hearing granted Ms Cowan a warrant to enforce the notice to vacate, but the tenants contested it.
A follow-up hearing decided they could stay and put them on another payment plan
At a further hearing in May, VCAT member John Sharkie gave the tenants yet another payment plan.
Ms Cowen said she had been trying to pick up extra shifts to cover both of her mortgages.
“I got a letter on the day of the hearing from my bank saying both my mortgages are going up another $145 a month combined, so my bills are increasing while I’m receiving nothing,” she said.
“I feel like I’m putting my life on hold because I don’t know what kind of financial position I’m going to be in, as I don’t know how long it’s going to take for them to vacate the property.”
Figures from VCAT and Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria show more than 38,500 Victorian landlords have lodged a case regarding their tenants, in the 12 months to April 2026.
The experience has left her feeling infuriated, and she has no intentions of ever being a landlord again once the saga is over – at least in Victoria.
“I will never invest in property in Victoria again and I hope my story warns others of the dangers of doing so,” she said.
Ms Cowen said the Victorian government needed to overhaul how VCAT approached cases like hers.
“The system is far too lenient on tenants who do the wrong thing,” she added.
“It’s just completely and utterly ridiculous that these people can just constantly get away with doing the wrong thing.”
Another VCAT hearing for regarding her tenants has been scheduled for later in June.
The Victorian government has introduced more than 150 rental reforms since 2020. Reforms to the notice to vacate process form part of the 130 rental reforms that came into effect in 2021. Picture: NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw.
In recent years, the Victorian government – first under former Premier Daniel Andrews’ leadership and now lead by Premier Jacinta Allan – has implemented more than 150 legislative reforms to strengthen renters’ rights and protections.
In 2024, data from the Australian Taxation Office showed teachers, nurses, truck drivers and police officers were among the nation’s most-prolific property investors.
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