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A Queensland judge has ordered a Gladstone woman out of a house she claimed was meant to become hers, finding her 15-year stay was a tenancy, not a backdoor path to ownership.<\/p>\n
In a District Court ruling, Judge Carl Heaton KC found the evidence \u201coverwhelmingly supports the conclusion\u201d that Tammy Ellem and those living with her were occupying the Clinton property under \u201can informal rental agreement\u201d, not under any deal to buy the home from former partner Brian Coop.<\/p>\n
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Judge Carl Heaton KC. Picture: NCA NewsWire\/Tertius Pickard<\/p>\n
The court declared Mr Coop the sole owner of the property and ordered Ms Ellem and co-occupant Brian Freeman to vacate within 21 days, while damages for unpaid rent and costs will be decided later.<\/p>\n
The bitter property fight centred on a house bought in 2003 during Mr Coop and Ms Ellem\u2019s de facto relationship. <\/p>\n
Although they lived there together, the title was registered only in Mr Coop\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
Years later, after the relationship had ended and both had moved on, Mr Coop let Ms Ellem and her then partner move into the property in 2010. <\/p>\n
There was no written lease, no bond and no formal paperwork, but regular payments were made for years.<\/p>\n
When relations later broke down and Mr Coop sought vacant possession so he could repair and sell the home, Ms Ellem claimed the payments were not rent but instalments under a verbal agreement that would eventually see the house transferred to her.<\/p>\n
The judge rejected that account.<\/p>\n
His Honour said the alleged oral deal was \u201cnebulous at best\u201d and found Ms Ellem could not properly explain its terms. <\/p>\n
According to the judgment, she accepted there was \u201cno timeframe, no repayment amount or schedule of payments, and no interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court also found there was no reliable evidence to show what she had supposedly paid towards buying the property, or when any purchase would have been complete.<\/p>\n
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The house at the centre of the case. Source: Google<\/p>\n
The judgment noted that payments made by Ms Ellem and her then partner were \u201cfrequently described in the bank transfer records as \u2018rent\u2019\u201d. <\/p>\n
In 2023, Mr Coop sent her a \u201cRent Increase Notice\u201d and the court noted she did not object to the payments being described that way .<\/p>\n
In 2024, Ms Ellem served Mr Coop with a Notice to Remedy Breach under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act, asserting rights available to a tenant through the Residential Tenancies Authority for Queensland.<\/p>\n
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