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  • Landlord has suddenly withdrawn any option of negotiation - her accountant has apparently told her she "has" to up her rent to match market rates.

    110/week extra. 21% increase. 550/week. This system is just not bearable any more. I'm going to seek advice... at least as to whether market rates include typical real estate agent fees or not

    • Oh biggest hugs. That is absolutely so wrong. Near me there's a whole strip of shops that's now half empty because it's worth more to the landlords borrowing potential to have it on paper as "rental return potential is $x" even if that means it stands empty.

      It's criminal.

      • We keep waiting for the house of cards to fall but I don't know when the heck that's happening

    • vcat

      • It does appear that market rates are somewhat similar to what's being proposed (though idk if they take into account age of property etc - huge variation in this suburb)

        Key difference is there is no REA fee in my case, so I'm contacting Tenants Vic tomorrow on advice regarding whether that's included when benchmarking rent increases. Because if the 550 benchmark includes REA fees of say 10%, I should only be paying 500/week

        It looks like challenging a rent increase is free so I might just do it anyway. LL has taken the nuclear option so I might as well do the same

        • Look up the minimum standard laws Re heating, locks, insulation etc. send them a breach notice for everything

          • Nothing in breach I can see just yet, however I regret not breaching them when they gave me fucking less than 1hr notice for a tradie to access the unit because they sent it to the wrong email, and pleaded because he was already there and waiting and was gonna charge them a hefty callout and cancellation fee.

            Will be applying the most stringent of standards going forward, also not replying to texts, emails only. I dunno how insulation works with apartments though

    • That’s nuts. It’s going to get to the point where wealth is so stratified that nobody can pay (ie anyone with money buys a house and the rest of us can’t even pay rent)

      …Lemmy DT squat? I’m not ablebodied but can contribute to subsistence farming and patching up the communal abandoned shack between shifts at the workhouse

    • We were notified our rent was going up $100/week. We requested it only go up by $75, and the landlord accepted. Small wins!

      We're paying well above $550 though. That's a 1-bedroom apartment in my suburb. Even though we were paying that for a 4 bedroom house 18 months ago.

      • Insane. This is why the only way I can envisage catching my breath is to stay with family for a while... It's absolutely unmanageable on one income let alone part time.

        • The kids and I went to some lady's house a few weeks ago chasing those Woolies Disney cards. She had loads of spares. It turned out she was a single mum who worked at Woolies. I've been thinking about her since. I have no idea how she manages to live on that wage. She has to be on better rent than we are, our rent alone is about what a full-time Woolies worker would be paid.

          • Inheritance, family support, maybe a little windfall from insurance...

            I know someone who will be coming out of 6 years prison soon and his parents will buy him a place so it's okay even if he takes a lower wage job... Another dude who had a breakdown maybe 12 years ago and never worked for a wage since, his parents have offered to cough up for a deposit after supporting his rent and treatment for years (I'm thinking there's a workplace payout involved as well)... There's a regular on the reddit DT who seemingly hasn't worked in many years, gets the DSP, but doesn't have to worry a cent about rent - presumably gifted the house by family...

            Otherwise yeah. Rent is now easily a normal person's entire wage. Impossible on a single income

          • @Nath @justkitten there a few compassionate landlords around, but they are few and far between.

            Personally I don't get the cards, though I got a stupid amount of the bricks farm bricks a couple of years back and stored them, waiting for my daughter to be old enough to get excited by them, which is finally happening now she is 3, and we've been opening a few a day for a week or so. Much more fun than cards!

191 comments