Housing Tenant Refunds
1.1. A tenant may request a refund if they have excess credit in their account or they have mistakenly overpaid their invoice amount. Refunds can only be made to the tenant recorded in Habitat as the Head Tenant.
1.2. Before processing a refund, the Housing Services Officer will check:
- a. That there are no arrears on any of the revenue accounts,
- b. There is sufficient credit in the rental account to cover the required two weeks in advance before the next rental payment is due,
- c. The tenant’s payment arrangement in Habitat. If the deduction type is IMCREN the tenant is income managed by Centrelink and all refunds must be initiated by the tenant through Centrelink’s Income Management (IM) Payment Team. The IM Payment Team will contact ICT who will then process the refund accordingly.
- d. Who the refund is to go to:
- i. If the refund is to be made to a co-tenant, contact Client Services at CentralOpSupport@Communities.wa.gov.au for assistance before processing the refund.
- ii. If the tenant requests the refund be made to anyone other than a cotenant, advise the tenant that Communities can only provide a refund to the tenant, and it is the tenant’s responsibility to make arrangements with the other party.
1.3. Urgent Refunds
1.3.1. Clients who can demonstrate financial hardship as a result of Communities incorrectly withdrawing funds from their Centrelink payment or bank account can be offered an Urgent Refund.
1.3.2. Communities must have evidence in Habitat that an incorrect transaction has been processed. Bank statements can be accepted as evidence.
1.3.3. The amount refunded must be equal to or less than the amount incorrectly deducted from the client’s Centrelink or bank account.
Other refunds
A customer may request a refund if they have mistakenly overpaid the debt due. Refunds can only be paid to the entity name stated on the invoice or debit note issued to the customer.
All refunds
A Refund Request Form must be completed. Download the Refund Request Form below.
Email the refund request form to AccountsReceivables@communities.wa.gov.au. If Financial Operations receive the Refund Request before midday the refund will be processed within 3 working days. If received after noon the client may not receive the funds until the fourth working day.
The tenants and customers bank account and address details must be correct in the Department’s records before the refund is processed. If the client provides new bank details, write to AccountsReceivables@Communities.wa.gov.au for the procedure to follow to Update Party Bank Account Details - Refunds.
