FAWOS: Successful intervention in preventing the enactment of laws favouring evictions
Author: Renate Kitzman

This update provides insights to how civil society organisations in Austria, and FAWOS in particular, were able to repeal intended changes in law that would make it easier to evict tenants. The orginal case study on how FAWOS has been successful over the past few years in preventing evictions and protecting the tenancy rights of disadvantaged groups in Vienna and in Austria is available on:

http://www.bestpractices.org/cgi-bin/bp98.cgi?cmd=detail&id=2023&key=DylAabcdkbhaf

In Austria there are four ways in which a contract of tenancy can be terminated. These include:

Evictions – This accounts for 76 % of all cases.
Notices to Quit issued by the owners of the apartments and these account for 22 % of all cases related to termination of tenancy.
"Räumungsvergleich" - An agreement in the case of evictions.
"Übergabsauftrag" - Renewing lease agreements.
In relation to evictions, the landlord/landlady has to notify the district court and the presiding judge verifies if the notice complies with established legal procedures and requirements. The tenant is notified by the court of the impending eviction and is summoned to appear before the judge to give their own account of the impasse. The landlord (the aggrieved party) and the tenant (the defendant) have to be present during the hearing after which the judge makes a ruling which is communicated to both parties. After receipt of the judge‘s ruling, usually in form of a letter, the tenant is given 4 weeks to appeal against a negative ruling. If no appeal is lodged by the tenant within the 4 weeks, the landlord is free to apply for a date of eviction. Effectively, the period between the time the court is notified of intent to evict and application for a date of eviction is at least 8 to 10 weeks.
A "Notice to Quit" comes into effect when the presiding judge gives legal consent to the landlord’s intetion to evict without giving the tenant a chance to present their side of the story. The tenant has 4 weeks to appeal against the notice after which the landlord is free to apply for a date of eviction. This procedure takes about 5 weeks.

An agreement in the case of evictions - In the case where the landlord and and the tenant come to an amicable solution, an agreement is drafted witnessed by the judge and it spells out the obligations of each party and the consequences of breaching the terms of the agreement.

Renewing lease agreements - After the expiry of a lease agreement, the tenant is given a grace period of 4 weeks to renew the lease failure to which the the landlord can apply for a date of eviction.

In 2000, the Ministry of Justice set out to reform the court‘s procedures, to make them more efficient (less time consuming) as well as streamlining procedures. At the same time, the Ministry intended to repeal some outdated laws. Of particular interest was the law governing tenancy. One suggestion was to eliminate the hearing session whereby tenants were given a chance to present their views, thus shortening the period of court procedures. This would effectively have shut out the tenants in eviction processes even when landlords were acting out of spite or malice. This would imply that social institutions, especially those dealing with secure tenancy such as FAWOS, would have little time to strategise and help counter the landlords‘ claims or eviction procedures and provide assistance to tenants in risk of eviction. In effect, FAWOS requires between 2 to 5 weeks to contact the tenants and effectively mediate the dispute.

FAWOS received information on the intended repeal of the law in December 2000. In order to counter this move FAWOS lobbied across the country garnering support from all social institutions to stop the intended modifications of the said law. Further support was mobilised from the media (print and electronic) through public statements and interviews by FAWOS. The intense lobbying has paid off well and the intended modification of the Law governing tenancy has been abandoned. This successful intervention by FAWOS and other social institutions shows the importance of partnerships, networking and the use of information in combating social exclusion and influencing decision-making processes.