Queensland families in living nightmare as rental vacancy rates hit record lows

A mother of two left homeless, a wheelchair user’s requests ignored and a family forced to apply for more than a dozen rentals: These are just some of Queensland’s rental shame stories as vacancy rates hit a new low.

Janine and her family lived in their rented home north of Brisbane for almost three years.

The young Morayfield family paid their rent on time, took care of the property and lived among the community with no concerns.

That was until one day when the mum’s world was turned upside down in an instant.

Janine* said the real estate agent never raised any concerns with them until the last inspection.

“Then they complained about the state of the house as we had baby gates and other children’s items out,” Janine said.

Before they knew it, the family had received a notice to leave without grounds.

She says the real estate agent immediately advertised the rental home in Brisbane’s northern suburbs with a substantial rent increase.

The family then lived through “an absolute nightmare” as they applied for property after property without success.

Only by chance, Janine’s family was finally able to secure another property after 12 previous knockbacks.

She made a well-timed phone call to an agent who had just received notice from another tenant wanting to break lease.

While the family was able to keep a roof over their heads, Janine says they were forced into debt to pay for moving costs.

The real estate agent never offered them the option to pay the increased rent to stay.

“We had lived in our home for nearly three years, made good friends in the community, and our neighbours are like family,” Janine said.

“Now we have had to leave, and for no good reason.

“We would have happily paid the extra rent if it meant avoiding the hassle of moving, especially with a young family.”

Faced with potential homelessness had an enormous impact on her family, who are still struggling to fathom why they were given a notice to leave.

“It just doesn’t seem fair that a property manager can push us out of our home when we’ve done nothing wrong,” Janine said.

“I can’t think about what might have happened to us if we hadn’t been lucky enough to find another house.

“It’s just too scary.”

Sadly, Janine isn’t alone in her rental nightmare.

Working mother of two Louise Brimson was forced into emergency accommodation after she was evicted from her rental property.

Ms Brimson lives on Brisbane’s bayside and is a survivor of domestic and family violence.

The rental home Ms Brimson most recently lived in had multiple maintenance issues.

At one point, Ms Brimson was without power for three days, the real estate agent eventually organised for a faulty bathroom exhaust fan to simply be disconnected, rather than fixed, leaving the bathroom prone to condensation and mould.

A breach notice was made by Louise on the landlord due to a significant water leak on the property.

The landlord was still expecting Louise to pay the water bills in full, for water that was simply going down the drain.

Recently, the real estate agent gave Louise a Notice to Leave Without Grounds with no reason given as to why the family had to move out.

Being evicted physically split the family apart with Ms Brimson forced into emergency accommodation without her two sons.

Elisha Matthews lives with her children and pets on Brisbane’s northside.

She too has rented homes for all of her adult life.

At the last couple of rental homes that Elisha has lived in, she put in requests to make temporary modifications to the homes in order to make them safe.

At one home, Ms Matthews offered to pay for a simple handrail to be located in the bathroom, and offered to restore the bathroom back to its original condition upon ending of the lease.

When an agreement with the landlord could not be reached, Elisha was forced to have a support person and shower chair in order to be able to have a shower.

Ms Matthews spent years and years struggling with having reasonable requests knocked back.

Fortunately the mum and disability advocate recently moved into a property owned by her sister, who is more than happy to accommodate any modification works.

Penny Carr, CEO of Tenants Queensland Inc

With record low rental vacancy rates across much of the state, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Queensland families to secure housing.

Current tenancy law allows landlords to evict families at the end of their lease “without grounds”.

Tenants Queensland CEO Penny Carr says the scary situation tenants are finding themselves in will remain until the Queensland Government’s proposed changes to legislation are debated.

“The government says that their changes will end “without grounds” evictions, however families can still be pushed out of their homes without a good reason at the end of their lease,” Ms Carr said.

“We don’t think the changes go far enough to protect tenants.

The latest statistics show 36 per cent of Queenslanders rent their homes and 43 per cent of renting households include children.

“The ability to build a stable life is vitally important for families and this is put at risk when agents and landlords can force families out of their homes without good reason,” Ms Carr said.

The Housing Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 is due to be voted on in parliament later this month.

*Last name withheld.