National Bank Just Awful

These two articles appeared in my google news alerts side by side:

"Big banks head for $24bn profit, but slowdown looms" 

and 

"NAB seeks right to evict renters"

The first story reported that:

National Australia Bank will begin the banks' reporting season on Thursday with a likely $5.35bn cash profit. The bank, Australia's fourth largest by market capitalisation, is expected to show the strongest revenue growth as a result of its aggressive approach in mortgages.

The second story reported that:

RENTERS face being evicted without notice when owners default on home loans if the National Australia Bank wins a Supreme Court battle against Victoria's Sheriff. ...

In a case that could have far-reaching implications for Victoria's renters, NAB has taken the Sheriff to court after it failed to evict the tenants of two Ivanhoe East properties.

The mortgagor of the properties defaulted on repayments to NAB after letting them out without the bank's knowledge, prompting it to seek repossession orders.

NAB wants the Supreme Court to force the Sheriff to evict the tenants without it needing to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act, which requires renters be given 28 days' notice.

A tenant of one of the properties, Darren Burke, said the uncertainty and stress had forced him to consider moving home.

''I've got an 84-year-old mother living with me and the last thing I need is the stress for her. She thinks we're going to be kicked out every five minutes,'' he said.

''If the owner goes belly up and can't pay their mortgage, that means the bank can come in and say to every person: 'Right, here's your eviction notice, get out!' ''

In court documents, NAB argues the Sheriff should enforce a warrant of possession on the homes without requiring the bank to go to VCAT and give the tenants notice.

But the Sheriff has refused to act on the warrant because the Tenancies Act obliges owners to give the tenants notice ''to the exclusion of any other law''.

''At the very least, there is a right [of tenants] to receive notice to vacate,'' says the Sheriff

It's probably not very often the role of Sherrif has been seen so benignly!!

No wonder the banks have a bad reputation in Australia.