[horizon_eclipse]

In may 2011 I signed a 12month lease through a private landlord, I paid my bond & also got half my bond paid by the department of housing. All was good. I've been paying rent by deposit every week & been keeping receipts.
As timed pasted I emailed him about my brother taking my lease as I needed a bigger home & he became homeless, he replied once saying that was fine as long as I give my two weeks notice. So I started looking for another place and got my brother ready to move in. Now that I got approved for a house my landlord has not replying to my messages or answering his phone or emails. I rang the fair trading to see how the part bond by the department of housing would be refunded as I would have to pay them back if he didn't. And fair trading told me that he never deposited any bond for this address. I've been trying to get into contacted with him ever since (this was about 3weeks later) he finally answered as told me he has been robbed and that all my paper work & information has been destroyed or stolen, and he'll get the money for the bond back to me when I am leaving the property.

I again rang him today to see if he can get the paperwork for my brother to sign for him to move in & he told me that he wasn't in charge of these houses (set of units) anymore. He did not give me a number to ring, or anything. Non of these units have copies of the lease and the landlords copies have been destroyed. I don't know what to do now, will I get my bond back- how? How will my brother be able to move in without a landlord.. Arh so confused.

[ScottGem]

First, ANY question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area.

Second, the department of housing should be able to tell you who is responsible for the units.

[MKH2U]

Where do you submit your rental payments each week? That is a start for where to start researching. If you are in subsidized housing the Department of Housing has a copy of your lease contract that is missing. Just because you were approved for subsidized housing doesn't mean the rent will continue to be subsidized and that would change the terms of the contract if you moved away from the property and allowed your brother to reside in that home. In the future I would always obtain a copy of your signed and executed lease agreement, no expectations and legally they must provide you one within the first 15 days of residency. Second option is to stop paying the rent and someone will find you or look up the ownership of the property through the Tax Collectors office in your area and go from there. Good luck!