‘Not negotiating’: Sad twist after Sydney woman’s brutal $1400 rent hike

A Sydney woman who went viral after her rent was increased by a staggering $350 a week has shared a depressing update in the saga.

Chantelle Schmidt became the face of Australia’s brutal housing crisis after she and her housemate copped a whopping $1400-per-month rent increase earlier this year.

The tenants, who live in Redfern in inner Sydney, received notice their rent would jump by a staggering $350 per week in February, soaring from $1900 to $2600 a fortnight “to bring rent in line with what the current market is achieving”.

Ms Schmidt went viral after posting about her predicament on TikTok, later appearing on Nine’s Today show.

Just a day before they received the devastating rent increase, the housemates had contacted their real estate agent to complain about a “dead animal smell” plaguing the home and making it “unliveable”, leading them to speculate that their complaint may have sparked the increase.

Ms Schmidt became the face of Sydney's rental crisis. Picture: TikTok

In a separate TikTok, Ms Schmidt also pictured and listed an array of issues, including “water damage and mould that gets worse every time it rains, a hole in the floor from said water damage, cockroach infestation” and the “dead animal smell coming from the bottom level”.

“Yes, we’ve raised these issues with our real estate agent multiple times,” she wrote with a sarcastic heart-face emoji.

Now, Ms Schmidt has shared a TikTok update on the situation, revealing what happened after she and her housemate took the matter to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

The pair took the rent increase to the body, arguing the increase was “excessive” and that it should be reduced due to the premises being “unusable”, “uninhabitable” or “destroyed”, given the raft of issues with the property.

They decided to fight the increase officially after their real estate agent told them the landlord was “really stern on not negotiating”.

She revealed that two days after submitting the application, the property had a routine inspection which was booked in before the conflict, which resulted in a handyman coming to view the issues first-hand, followed by the landlord themselves.

She claimed it was the first time the landlord had visited the property in two years – and soon after, the tenants received an email confirming the landlord would “now like to negotiate”.

But in a sad twist, the offer was a reduction of a mere $50 a week, meaning they were still expected to pay an extra $300 per week, or $1200 a month – still representing an increase of more than 31 per cent.

The housemates took the matter to the tribunal. Picture: TikTok

Commentators were quick to share their sympathies and outrage at the lack of protection for vulnerable renters.

“This offer of a $50 discount in the increase tells me he thinks he will lose at tribunal. I hope they assess his entire portfolio,” one person wrote.

“Don’t back down! You got this,” another added.

“How generous, a whole $50 off the increase … but nothing, still not fixed …” another said.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh recently told news.com.au the rental crisis was a “critical issue” affecting regions across the country.

“There’s a lack of rentals and very strong demand, which is outstripping supply, driving weekly rents higher and vacancy rates lower,” she explained.

“Since the pandemic, vacancy rates have plunged by half, which illustrates just how tight rental conditions are.”

She said during the pandemic, rental households got smaller, with the share of people living alone increasing. At the same time, many investors also sold off their properties, and few were buying, which kept supplies constrained.

And thirdly, migration is now rebounding strongly, along with a rebound in international students, which is stretching the already struggling system even further.

“Unfortunately I don’t have good news – we know the main issue is lack of supply … and unfortunately there’s nothing meaningful on the horizon that suggests an increase,” Ms Creagh said.

“There really isn’t a release vale at the moment so there’s no reprieve for renters.