January 2015
How to apply for special circumstances if you were homeless
If you were homeless when you were fined for breaking the law, you may have special
circumstances.
If you have special circumstances you can apply to get your enforcement order or infringement
warrant cancelled (revoked). You may also be to get your unpaid fines dismissed.
What is ‘special circumstances’?
The law says you have special circumstances if you were homeless – you were living on the
streets, you did not have a stable place to live for a long time or you were couch surfing.
You may not have to pay your fines if:

you had special circumstances when you were fined and

you found it difficult to avoid breaking the law. This means that because of your
homelessness:
o
you could not control your behaviour when you broke the law or
o
you did not understand that you had broken the law.
What to consider before you apply
If you decide to apply:

you must accept that you broke the law. This means that you will have to plead guilty at
court and there will be a record of this

your demerit points may be affected if your fines were for driving offences

you will have to pay $40.00 for each Citylink or Eastlink toll offence. This is not a court fine.
It is the toll company’s administrative costs for prosecuting the matter in court.
Contact Legal Help on 1300 792 387 for more information about how this process may affect you.
How to apply
To get your enforcement order or infringement warrant cancelled (revoked) you must prove to the
Infringements Court that you had special circumstances at the time of the fines.
Make sure you keep copies of all your letters.
Step 1: Write to Civic Compliance Victoria
Write to Compliance Victoria to ask for a list of all your unpaid fines. You can use the sample letter
attached to this fact sheet.
Add your personal details and send it to the address on the letter.
Civic Compliance Victoria may take a few weeks to get back to you.
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Victoria Legal Aid
How to apply for special circumstances if you were homeless
Step 2: Get a report
Get a report from a housing support worker or organisation that confirms you were homeless when
you broke the law. Use the sample letter is attached to this fact sheet. Add your personal details
and give the completed letter to the housing support worker or organisation.
This letter asks your housing support worker or organisation to write the report for free. If they will
not do this, talk to them about how much they charge and what you can afford to pay.
Step 3: Write to the Infringements Court
Once you have obtained a list of your fines from Civic Compliance Victoria and the report from your
housing support worker, you can ask the Infringements Court to cancel (revoke) your enforcement
orders and infringement warrants. This means the Infringements Court will not follow up the
enforcement order or infringements warrant it sent you.
Use the sample letter attached to this fact sheet. Add your personal details. Send it with the report
from your housing support worker to the address on the sample letter.
The Infringements Court’s decision
You will be notified in writing of the Infringements Court’s decision.
If the Infringements Court decides you have special circumstances, it will cancel (revoke) your
enforcement order or infringement warrant.
The court will also ask the agency that fined you if they are willing to withdraw the fines. Sometimes
the agency will withdraw the fine. Most of the time, the agencies will keep trying to prosecute you
for the infringement offences. If this happens, the offences will be referred to the Special
Circumstances List in the Magistrates’ Court to be dealt with as a criminal offence.
If the Infringements Court decides you do not have special circumstances contact Legal Help on
1300 792 387 for free legal advice over the phone.
If you are referred to the Special Circumstances List
You will get a letter informing you of your court date and which courtroom to go to.
The Magistrates’ Court will have a copy of the report that you sent to the Infringements Court when
you applied for special circumstances. They will consider this information when making a decision
about your sentence and what happens to your unpaid fines.
Help at court
We have lawyers on ‘duty’ at the Magistrates’ Court who can help you. This service is free. Duty
lawyers can represent you in court or give you advice about what you should say if you represent
yourself.
Tell the clerk if you want to see the duty lawyer.
Get help
Contact Legal Help on 1300 792 387 for free legal advice about your unpaid fines and how we can
help you.
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Letter to Civic Compliance
Date: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _
Civic Compliance Victoria
Infringements Court
PO Box 14487
Melbourne VICTORIA 8001
Attention: Infringements Registrar
I request information about my unpaid fines.
My details are:
Full name:
____________________________________________________
Date of birth:
__/__/____
Current address:
_____________________________________________________
Previous address:
Licence number:
Postcode:
__________________
State:
____________________________
_____________________________________________________
Postcode:
__________________
State:
____________________________
_____________________________________________________
Registration number: _____________________________________________________
Could you please forward the following to my current address:

a list of all my outstanding fines

any fines listed with the Infringements Court

any orders that have been made in relation to any fines

any current instalment plans.
If you have any questions please call me on :
Home phone: _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ OR mobile: _ _ _
Kind regards
(Signature)______________________
___
___
(Print name)____________________________
Letter to doctor or psychiatrist
Date: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _
Dear: ______________________________________________________
RE: Request for a report for my Magistrates’ Court matter regarding outstanding fines
I am a patient of yours and I am writing to you using a template letter that Victoria Legal Aid has
given me. I am requesting that you write me a report about my homelessness.
My details are:
Full name:
____________________________________________________
Date of birth:
__/__/____
This report will greatly assist me. I have a number of outstanding fines which are now at
enforcement stage. If I can establish that I had ‘special circumstances’ (see a or b below) at or
around the time that I incurred these fines, then the fines can be heard by a special list of the
Magistrates’ Court.
A ‘special circumstances’ application must meet two tests:
1. A person must be suffering from either:
a. a mental or intellectual disability, disorder, disease or illness or
b. a serious addiction to drugs, alcohol or volatile substance or
c. homelessness
2. If a person claims to suffer from one of the above, they must also show:
a. that because of the condition, they could not understand the behaviour was against
the law or
b. that because of the condition, they could not control the conduct for which they
received the infringement or
c. that because of their homelessness, they could not control the conduct for which
they received the infringement.
If the Magistrates’ Court believes that I had special circumstances, then I will not be burdened by
having to pay back the unpaid fines. I have included with this letter a brochure from the Department
of Justice called A Guide to Special and Exceptional Circumstances Applications. This has more
information about special circumstances.
To help convince the Magistrates’ Court that I had special circumstances, I need supporting
evidence. Rather than calling medical practitioners to come to court as witnesses, the Magistrates’
Court will be satisfied with a report from you.
If you are able to write me the report, can you ensure that you please address each of these
specific points:

whether I am homeless or living in crisis or transitional accommodation

whether I was homeless or living in crisis or transitional accommodation from the period _ _ / _
_ / _ _ _ _ to _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _

whether I have accessed a Commonwealth supported agency in the last few months

whether my homelessness may have contributed to my conduct that led to me getting fines. For
example:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________

whether I have options in relation to secure and permanent housing in the foreseeable future

any other information you consider relevant.
When you have completed the report, can you please ensure:

you print it out on your letterhead

you sign and date the report letter

you have it ready by _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ .
Please contact me when the report is ready to be collected.
Due to my current financial situation, I request that you please provide this report free of charge.
If you have any questions please call me on :
Home phone: _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ OR Mobile: _ _ _
Kind regards
(Signature)_____________________________
(Print name)____________________________
___
___
Letter to the Infringements Court
Date: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _
Infringements Court
PO Box 14487
Melbourne VICTORIA 8001
Attention: Registrar
I request revocation on the basis of special circumstances.
My details are:
Full name:
_____________________________________________________
Date of birth:
__/__/____
Current address:
_____________________________________________________
Postcode:
__________________
State:
____________________________
I apply to have all outstanding Enforcement Orders revoked on the basis that special
circumstances exist and request that my fine(s) be referred to the Special Circumstances List.
Or
I am the person named in the Enforcement Order in Infringement Court Case Number(s):
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
I apply to have the above Enforcement Order(s) revoked on the basis that special circumstances
exist and request that my fine(s) be referred to the Special Circumstances List.
Please find enclosed:

a list of my outstanding fines

a report prepared by ______________________________________________
If you have any questions please call me on :
Home phone: _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ OR Mobile: _ _ _
Kind regards
(Signature)______________________
(Print name)____________________________
___
___