Sydney landlord’s greedy move to raise rent by $280 a week

There’s a big problem in Australia that continues to be ignored and it’s causing untold heartache.

OPINION

The cold, template letter from our property managers declaring that the rent was rising by $250 a week made me burst into tears.

My husband had picked up the innocent looking envelope from our mailbox on a Saturday morning but little did we know the horror it contained.

In the middle of a rental crisis, we were going to have to either move from our Sydney apartment we had lived in for two years or cough up more than $1000 a month to stay.

A place we had made our home and where we had always paid our rent on time, kept the place in excellent condition and rarely raised issues – but none of that mattered.

The previous year we had agreed to a $20 a week increase, which we thought was fair.

But the bombshell rent rise the following year was going to see our rent skyrocket from $570 a week to $820 – a whopping 43 per cent increase.

I remember telling family and friends and they said that surely this couldn’t be legal – but sadly there was nothing unlawful about it.

Living in Australia's biggest city is painful during the rental crisis. Picture: Supplied

The ACT is the only place in Australia that limits rental increases and NSW Premier Chris Minns has ruled out introducing them in the most expensive state in the country.

For us, our impending rent rise sent me into a panic about what we were going to do – particularly as parents to a young child who was already enrolled in local services.

Nothing makes you feel more guilty than the sense that you are failing to provide your child with stability.

But that’s exactly what this rental crisis is doing to thousands of Australians around the country – leaving them with dire uncertainty regardless of whether they have kids or not – as you can never know how long you can actually call a place home.

I briefly considered trying to argue against the steep rent increase but it quickly became apparent it was futile.

The rental notice for the huge jump in rent. Picture: Supplied

We met one neighbour in our building who was moving back home after his rent was increased by a staggering $310 a week – something he simply couldn’t afford – but which made our rent rise almost look like a gift.

But it still felt like we were being slammed by another greedy landlord.

For my family, we were slugged with the rent increase in April last year and we had to endure it for four and a half months until we could move.

I thought that our little bit of revenge on the landlord would be the fact we were on a rolling contract and we gave them just three weeks’ notice that we were leaving the property.

But that is when I witnessed the landlord’s extraordinary greed – with the apartment advertised to rent for $850 a week – a further $30 increase to what we had been slugged.

The rent the landlord tried to get when it was being put out for lease again. Picture: Supplied

A sign advertising the rental at the price it was originally increased. Picture: Supplied

As we prepared to move, we had to uncomfortably watch as people traipsed through the home during inspections – however luckily there wasn’t much interest.

It forced the landlord to lower the rent back to $820 and then it appeared they got so desperate to fill the place that they even advertised a week’s free rent to get it leased quickly.

It brought a little comfort that they couldn’t just make more money out of a cruel crisis.

For us, our move was to a new suburb much further out from our workplaces and our young child had to endure an hour commute each way to get to daycare for almost six months until we could get him into a service closer to our new home.

The advertisement for the former rental offering a week's free rent. Picture: REA

That’s the thing with rent rises – they don’t just hit you financially but up-end many aspects of your life – because things like long wait lists and the crisis in daycares means you can’t just transfer your kid easily to a new area.

Naively, I thought this year the rental crisis had calmed down a bit as I figured huge increases had surely reached their ceiling but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

A recent report found that rent affordability has hit a 17 year low in Australia. Soaring rental prices, limited property listings (filled with horror rentals) and a booming population have combined to make this the toughest rental market in decades.

PropTrack data revealed Sydney is the most expensive city in Australia to rent, with a house costing $1044 a week on average – 15 per cent higher than a year ago.

Across the combined capital cities in Australia rent has increased by 17 per cent over the past 12 months.

A friend of mine was slugged with an $180 a week rent rise last year in Sydney and she’s just got the dreaded letter again. This time the rise is an extra $110 a week for the apartment she rents with her boyfriend.

That’s almost $300 extra in the space of a year – it’s astounding – and it feels like there is no relief in sight for renters.

Long lines at a rental inspection in Surry Hills today. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Another mate was telling me how she felt constantly sick and couldn’t sleep when she got notice just a few weeks ago that her rent was jumping $200 – up from $660 to $880 for a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney. It had already been upped by $100 the year prior.

Governments around Australia are paying lip service – saying they want to help out struggling people who simply want a roof over their head but nothing is changing.

Hearing the news of young families and other people having no option but to live in tents or cars is heartbreaking, while others end up on the street.

When is having a home to live in going to be seen as a basic human right in this country, rather than a way to make money off people?

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