How I Explained Australia’s Rental Crisis To My Mum Over Text

I’m 29 and I live in an inner-Melbourne sharehouse with my best friend. We each pay $1000 a month for a small, standalone house. It’s a dream set-up and the place is a huge vibe, brimming with potential. But unfortunately, it’s fucked. 

The front door is broken, the hallway walls are crumbling, the whole house is on a slope, a tree root has grown under the shower and cracked the base, forcing the water to pool at one end, never draining and causing mould overhead and there’s a gaping hole in the kitchen floor. Someone just put their foot through the boards one day – nine months ago. 

Why has none of this been addressed, you ask? Because the landlords don’t have to. And why would they?

Maintain their own investment? That would be crazy. 

This is one contributing factor in Australia’s multi-faceted rental crisis that has seen vacancy rates continue to break record lows over the past 12 months and prices soar to record highs. Tenants are buckling under mounting cost-of-living pressures and, as a result, wealth distribution in this country is the worst it’s ever been by far. 

Australian housing affordability is now so low, households earning the median income of $105,000 can only afford 13% of properties on the market, according to a report published last week. 

Three years ago, households on the median income could afford 40% of properties on the market.

This means more of us are renting than ever, and we’re forced to rent for longer. 

My boomer mum sort of gets the rental crisis – she knows it’s bad, but having owned her own home since she was about my age today, it’s difficult to make her fully grasp just how bad.

She has, however, been extremely emotionally invested in making sure I have a nice place to live. Bless her. She even drafted a letter to the landlord listing all the issues (I never sent it), and checks in with me regularly for updates.

She means well, but the constant check-ins have shown she doesn’t quite understand our position.

So last week, when our toilet and shower spontaneously blocked, I snapped and explained it to her over text – and the penny finally dropped. Real world examples that affect her darling daughter.

Here’s how that conversation went:

Mum: Hello hello — any movement (lol) on the plumbing??

Me: Lol nope, landlord never replied. Nothing’s draining properly, gotta flush heaps etc. 

Omg! And you’re paying for water! Crazy!! What are you going to do?

I just have to keep nagging.

*Mum sends a screenshot of snippets from Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act* 

“A rental provider must ensure: 

• your home is ‘maintained in good repair and in a reasonably fit and suitable condition [section 68]

• All repairs are done by a suitably qualified person [section 68].

The rental provider must follow these laws regardless of the age or character of the property, the condition it was in before you moved in, or the amount of rent you pay. 

I know

What am I supposed to do though?

Get a lawyer? [Redacted] will just evict us

The tenancy laws are so weak in Australia (even though Vic prob has the strongest), this is the whole issue with being a renter.

Unbelievable

Like yes the law says all those things but landlords can evict tenants with no grounds 

They can just decide they want their property back

Ok, but will they find another renter? With all those issues? 

Probably! Again, that’s the whole issue right now

The rental market is exploding because everyone is priced out of buying their own homes

So rental vacancy has been breaking record lows since October 2022

The rich few are hoarding wealth and land. The majority of Australian landlords now own three or more properties

While they find another renter they could lose money in the changeover time?

Maybe, for like a month max, but they can just raise the rent to cover their loses. There’s no rule against that and no cap on the amount rent can be increased in Victoria. We live in the inner city, it’s in high demand, like they could decide to fix the shower but kick us out anyway just to get new tenants in at a higher price. 

Gotta buy your own place

Ok mum

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