Better Renting national survey asked Territorians to share their rental cost of living horror stories

Broken ceiling fans, rising rents, tight vacancy rates. These are the pressures facing 40 per cent of Territorians who are battling it out in the rental market.

Executive director Joel Dignam said the Territory was one of the worst places for rental protections, with tenants slugged with high costs, a tight market, and no specific minimum property standards. Picture: Floss Adams.

Rental advocates have called for reform to the “basket case” of protections which have left Territorians unable to leave unsuitable homes.

Better Renting held its national survey into the pressures facing Australian tenants, with a particular focus on cost of living pressures following rent spikes and increased energy costs.

Executive director Joel Dignam said the Territory was one of the worst places for rental protections, with tenants slugged with high costs, a tight market, and no specific minimum property standards.

“The Territory is a bit of a basket case,” Mr Dignam said.

“It’s definitely one of the worst jurisdictions.”

The rental advocate said a consistent theme among the Territory survey responses was the lack of regulations around heating and cooling standards.

A March report found the latest Wet Season created “virtually unbearable” conditions in some NT rental properties, with median overnight indoor temperatures in NT homes rose to 29.3C.

Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam.

Yet the Territory is currently the only place in Australia without specific minimum standards for rental properties.

Mr Dignam said the current cost of living pressures meant that Territorians were being “trapped” in hot, sweaty and muggy homes.

“We’re also hearing that ‘because of the costs of renting I can’t use my appliances’, or ‘I’ve had to settle in a crappy rental that I can’t keep cool in summer’,” he said.

One Territorian told the survey that they their repeated requests to fix a broken ceiling fan had been ignored, but it was “too expensive” to leave the property.

Another Territorian told Better Renting that their home had little insulation and was only cooled with a “very old A/C box that is very noisy and very costly to run”.

“The house does not properly seal which makes cooling almost impossible, there is also not insulation on the extremely old house,” they said.

“Safe, suitable and affordable housing is a human right, and not an investment for a small portion of the population.”

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics research found the Territory had the highest rate of renters in the country, with 40 per cent of the population leasing their property in 2019-20.

Mr Dignam called for more protections to give “renters greater confidence that they can contest a rent increase, or as for their ceiling fan to be repaired, and they won’t be at risk of being kicked out of their home because of that”.

Attorney-General Chansey Paech backed the recent “targeted, considered changes” to modernise the private rental system, promising further protections for renters. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

At the start of 2024 changes to the Residential Tenancies Act came into effect, offering protections for domestic violence survivors, greater clarity around bonds, bans to rent bidding and increasing no cause termination periods, and allowing renters to add safety modifications to their homes.

Attorney-General Chansey Paech backed the recent “targeted, considered changes” to modernise the private rental system, promising further protections for renters.

“Energy Ministers are currently considering at the National level, a National Framework for Minimum Energy Efficiency Rental Standards as part of the broader Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings initiatives,” Mr Paech said.

“For new builds, the premises is required to also comply with the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme under the Building Code.”