Rental crisis: Melbourne single mum booted from seventh home

A Melbourne mum was forced back into the “ridiculously” brutal rental market again – her seventh time in six years — and its cost her a lot.

Single parent Sharon Westin had been in her rental for just nine months when she got a dreaded notice just before Christmas to vacate once her lease was up.

It was a huge blow to the mum of two teenage boys as it was the seventh house the family had rented in the space of six years.

She is just one of thousands of Australians struggling in a rental market that is in crisis as the national vacancy rate is at an all-time low at just 0.9 per cent.

The 46-year-old said she has no idea why the family was booted out of the rental.

“There was nothing on the form that said anything and I inquired with the real estate and they said they didn’t want to me to stay on, which to this day I still don’t know why, and I discovered they are re-leasing it for more money and didn’t bother asking me if I can afford it,” she told news.com.au.

“I worked out for their increase they gained an extra $3200 a year and I was out of pocket $11,000 to move. It’s ridiculous.”

The rent rise would have been cheaper than moving. Picture: Supplied

With the notice to vacate landing in the first week of December, Ms Westin said she had to wait six weeks before even looking for a new home as the Christmas period ground the real estate market to a halt.

“This time there was hardly anything on the market for my requirements. I only went to four inspections this time but normally I would be going to 30 to 40 inspections each time,” she added.

“When you have a deadline to move, the stress level is ridiculously high and you tend to settle for something as opposed to finding something that you would actually like to live in.”

But even then she said her new rental has had “nothing but problems”.

“I ended up in hospital about a week and a half ago with a stress induced migraine,” she said.

The Melbourne woman said she moved in recently and had stored boxes in the garage but a fairly big downpour saw three quarters of the garage flooded resulting in $500 worth of stock from her business being destroyed because the drainage was blocked.

The single parent said her new rental had been plagued with problems. Picture: Supplied

On their second night in the house, the family suffered a power outage and had to get an emergency electrician in, while she also forked out $450 to get the carpets cleaned as they were “filthy”.

“Inside the property hardly any windows open and if they open you need two people to close it,” she added.

“The sink in kitchen was not attached to the pipe properly so that’s all flooded the cupboard.”

Ms Westin is still out of pocket by thousands with her bond yet to be returned from her previous rental despite contacting the real estate agent three times, she said.

She wants to see Australian renters treated better as she “honestly feels like I have suffered PTSD this time” from the move – which also adds up to the 40th home she has lived in since she began renting.

“I honestly felt I was going to have a nervous breakdown. My main concern was my children and making sure they don’t suffer during the process. It’s a feeling of being displaced. You are trying to build a home and to every real estate I say I would like a 24 month lease and I would like to stay for three to five years but that doesn’t seem to make a difference,” she said.

“It’s highly stressful. I work for myself and I don’t get paid if I don’t work and I have to take time off to pack and everything else and having a notice to vacate just before Christmas was not ideal.

“This is my seventh house in six years which were all notices to vacant as generally they were selling but for one we were only in there for nine months, even though we had two year lease, as the owner couldn’t finance their mortgage so we had to leave there.”

Sharon wants to see things change in the rental market. Picture: Supplied

Ms Westin feels like housing is so insecure she never fully unpacks every box, while every move she takes a financial hit – to fork out for bond and rent upfront of around $6000 for each move.

This time she also paid $3200 to removalists, which she was an “extraordinary” amount of money.

“I think certainty for families — there needs to be something in place to actually give us some stability as my kids are 17 and 15 and this is their ninth house already. I vowed to stay in the area I am in until they finish high school as I don’t want to them to change schools,” she noted.

“It scares me to be honest. I had to borrow money this time to move house so I have to pay it back and if this happens again in two years I don’t know if I will have that money saved again with the cost of everything going up … It’s really difficult to even think about the future.”

The Melbourne woman had limited options for rentals as she wanted to keep her kids in their school. Picture: Supplied by Visit Victoria/Emily Godfrey

Westpac said rents are likely to rise another 11.5 per cent this year – the sharpest rise on record – with no relief in site for renters until early next year, as a chronic shortage and influx of migrants pushes the market to the brink.

This would mean nationally the average asking rent would hit $633 a week or an additional $65.

It comes as new research showed the top five costs Aussies are struggling with are rent and mortgage, groceries, petrol, utility bills and healthcare.

Almost half of Aussies agreed that the rising cost of living pressures have negatively impacted their personal and household finances in 2023, leaving them feeling less financially secure than before Covid-19, the research from Real Insurance showed.

To help offset rising costs, almost half of households have at least one person actively looking for additional streams of income, it also found.

Almost half of Aussies agreed that the rising cost of living pressures have negatively impacted their personal and household finances in 2023. Picture: Supplied

For 88 per cent Australians, who are renting or living in their family home, the current economic environment is also delaying their ability to get into the property market.

Financial advisor Glen Hare said higher interest rates naturally puts pressure on household budgets.

“The pull back in the property market may make it harder for some homeowners to refinance, in order to get a better rate,” he said,

“These higher interest rates also add extra pressure on landlords, which leads to higher rents. Renters need to ensure they have a clear household budget, plan for the long term weighing up renting versus buying and look to switch banks with higher interest rates to boost their savings.”