It was only when the woman’s partner bashed her unconscious and the police banned him from entering the family home that she realised she owed Frankston City Council $6000 in rates.

The woman, who asked not to be named, had co-signed a home loan with her partner. The deal was she would pay off the mortgage and he would pay the council rates. But he failed to keep his side of the bargain.

The woman only discovered she was in arrears after her abusive partner left. Credit:Simon Schluter

“I didn’t realise he had not been paying the rates,” she said.

The woman was left with the rates debt as well as the fines her ex-partner racked up while driving her car.