Aussie’s desperate move to avoid rent rise
A young woman has taken desperate measures to avoid a rental increase as prices continue to rise across the country.
A young woman has detailed on social media some of the truly bizarre measures she has taken to avoid a rental increase as Sydney’s exorbitant rental prices continue to bite.
The woman, who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with husband, took to Tik Tok to explain that she had decided to “totally clutter our apartment ” to make it look as “cheap as possible” and give the illusion of the place being smaller than it is ahead of an inspection.
She then then proceeded to show her followers the apartment and explain the small but clever changes she had made.
“We have put the bike inside, board games out, we love to have them on display,” she told her followers enthusiastically.
The outdoor table and chairs have come in as have the bar stools and a rather strangely situated bar cart in the kitchen.
The heater has come out as have all the kitchen appliances.
Even the dead outdoor plant has been moved into the bedroom.
At one stage an excited the woman shrieks that “oh my God it looks so crammed”.
She ends the video by saying that she and her husband “love their apartment” and believe it is big enough but just don’t want the rent to go up, while promising to keep her followers updated.
Social media users wrote encouraging responses, one describing her idea as “brilliant”, another wrote it was “pure genius”.
Others offered suggestions for how to further avoid rental increases.
One said a “friend printed heaps of fake overdue bills and final reminders” and placed them on fridge in an “attempt for sympathy” at her inspection.
Another suggested “planting some stink bombs around and so there is always a smell from outside that wafts in”.
One person advised to “hide the MacBook and the smeg toaster! Fancy things will put in his head that you can afford a rent increase”.
Inflated market pushing young to homelessness
Australia is in the grip of a brutal rental nightmare.
A toxic mix of rising interest rates, soaring inflation, increasing mortgage repayments for owners and an undersupply of housing leading to crazy rental prices.
Australia’s rental market initially tightened over the pandemic due to a desire for more space, the growing trend to working from home and the need for home offices.
This saw the number of people per dwelling fall sharply, in turn lifting rental demand despite temporarily slow population growth.
More recently, immigration has soared, which has added massively to rental demand and tightened the rental market further.
Shortly after coming to office, the Albanese government announced a range of measures to accelerate Australia’s immigration intake.
These reforms pushed temporary visa arrivals to record levels in the latter part of 2022, driven by international students seeking work and permanent residency.
Australia’s rental shortage will be further inflamed by the Chinese government’s directive that it will no longer recognise foreign academic degrees and diplomas if the study was conducted online.
This decision is likely to see 40,000 to 50,000 Chinese students land in Australia over the next few months, equating to roughly one-third of available rentals in both Sydney and Melbourne.
Have a similar story? Get in touch – carla.mascarenhas@news.com.au
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