Sydney rental crisis: flooded tenant told to ‘put down towels’ | video
Sydney’s rental crisis remains in full swing with a woman taking to TikTok to share her real estate agent’s advice after her property flooded. Meanwhile renters are being charged top dollar for subpar living arrangements.
NSW
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A Sydney woman whose rental apartment was flooded said she was denied help from her landlord after the ceiling gave way.
Taking to social media, the Sophie posted a video of her walking around her bedroom which is covered in water.
“You know this room is a bit wet, but thankfully when I called my real estate and explained the situation they’ve told me you just need a couple of towels to soak it up and it should be right,” she said in the video.
“So I feel like a bit of an idiot for even complaining now because I’ve got a couple of towels and I only need a couple, so I’m a dickhead.”
In response to the video other people shared their bad experiences with estate agents.
“Our last rental property was riddled with mould,” said Tegan Tamsett.
“They said put a little bleach on it and when we left property had a strong chemical smell.”
Another user commented, “I’ve been waiting three years for the plumbing to be fixed. My room constantly floods because of it.”
One user replied that after their hot water system burst, the realtor took six days to fix it and told the tenant to just fill a buckets with water from the neighbour’s house in the meantime.
This is yet another example of the rental crisis gripping Sydney, which has seen renters being forced to accept subpar living arrangements.
Sydney landlords have been taking full advantage of desperate renters in recent months by
bumping up rental prices to a fee that doesn’t appear to match the property’s value.
A lack of new properties and an influx of national and international migrants has continued to skyrocket the city’s rental crisis, allowing landlords to bump up rents.
A tiny Surry Hills studio apartment that lacked privacy reportedly found a tenant for $520 per week recently.
The accommodation looks quirky and cosy at first glance, but with a closer look a toilet separated by clear glass walls can be spotted facing the kitchen.
Hosting dinner parties at this abode may be difficult as people’s business would become everyone else’s business.
A suburb away, people vented their frustrations at a pair of studio apartments available for rent in Sydney’s east listed from $350-$345 per week.
One of the Paddington rooms features a bed in proximity to a toilet and washing machine, sitting on noticeably damaged tiles.
The Daily Telegraph shared images of the small rooms on their Facebook page, drawing exasperated reactions from dozens of users.
“The agents and landlords need to be more regulated,” Alexandra Keen said.
“Something needs to be done about this rental crisis.”
Steve Berba Srbinoski said, “I wouldn’t even put my cat that I don’t own in there.”
Other users pointed to the sad reality many face with the ongoing rental crisis.
“The sad thing is. Someone will take this and pay the full amount. Because it will either be this or a shelter or homeless. Something needs to be done,” Kallarra Corrick commented.
“Someone will have no choice but to take it though,” Taneha Curry added.
Leo Patterson Ross from the Tenants Union of NSW said a combination of Sydney’s competitive market and the nature of desperate buyers allows landlords to increase the rent.
“We have an essential service that’s been run as a competitive process and people are being pressured into paying more and more and sacrificing quality, location and size.
“We are seeing more and more places coming on the market needing more repair, with significant issues that you wouldn’t see in a sensible system.”
This comes months after the NSW Government banned real estate agents from asking renters to bid higher than a property’s listing price, but despite the ban renters are still facing unideal listing prices.
Long queues for housing inspections and limited availability of properties has seen tenants under pressure to accept conditions that are below minimum standards.
One in ten households across Western Sydney are suffering from acute housing stress compounded by overcrowding and unaffordable rents.
The Sydney median for house rent is currently $630 per week.
According to data from UNSW City Futures Research Centre released in January, 17.8 per cent of household in Fairfield have what is defined as “unmet need”. This includes homelessness, overcrowding or being forced to spend more than 30 per cent of income on rent.
Ten per cent of Parramatta households and 15.5 per cent in Bankstown are facing severe housing stress.
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Originally published as Sydney rental crisis: flooded tenant told to ‘put down towels’ | video
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