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Melbourne rental: Defective window leads to $1200 mold nightmare

A Melbourne man has been locked in a draining battle after discovering a widespread mold issue in his rental property.

It wasn’t until Jason, his wife and son were forced to move out of their two bedroom, Melbourne apartment, that they realized their mold problem was much bigger than anticipated.

Although the issue was enough for the family to terminate their lease early, the father-of-one estimated he’s spent more than $1200 on rent.

This is despite the fact the property has been vacated while work was performed at the property to fix an issue with their window caulking.

“We had to continue to pay rent for something that wasn’t our fault. It was a structural issue. It’s a building defect,” Jason told news.com.au.

After six months of living in their Doncaster East residence, Jason’s wife began noticing mold growing on the balcony door frames in May this year.

However, they say that their property manager advised them to treat the mold with Domestos – a disinfectant which contains bleach.

“We were like OK, but this is a mold issue. We had photos and we asked them if they wanted to send someone out,” Jason said.

“They were like, ‘Use Domestos and if it doesn’t work, then get in touch and we’ll send someone out.’”

While the initial treatment using Domestos worked, the mold returned a few weeks later. Their frustration was compounded by the fact that prior to signing the lease, the family were informed that while the apartment had mold issues and showed signs of water damage, they were told the issue had “all been fixed”.

Around the same time, the family also began getting sick. Jason said both him, his wife and are experienced recurring breathing difficulties and an “itchy feeling inside their nostrils”.

Although the family did visit a doctor, they didn’t know their symptoms could have been connected to the mold that was unsuspectedly growing in their home. Instead they were diagnosed with allergies and prescribed antihistamines.

“If you woke up at seven o’clock in the morning, you’d be sneezing until midday,” he said.

“We just thought it was maybe a cold because it was winter but over the course of the next month or so, we decided we would try our best to move out as soon as possible.”

‘It covered a quarter of the wall’

By June, the family had made the decision to end their lease and purchased a property instead. However, while moving out, they made a ghastly discovery.

“The issue is that the mold we saw at the time was just around the door frames, so we didn’t think to remove all our furniture to check if there were further issues,” he said.

“The mold behind the bed head was so significant, it covered a quarter of the wall.

“When we moved the baby change, everything underneath it was filled with mold and it was damp and there was water. It was really bad.”

While Jason was organizing the final cleaning for the apartment, they were informed by the agency that a builder had identified an issue with the caulking in the windows, which had caused the water to leak on the carpet. They were also told that the mold was caused by condensation from a lack of ventilation in the room.

Emails seen by news.com.au, confirmed the correspondence between Jason and the agent.

“The way I read it is that if it’s a ventilation issue, then it’s either a building design issue, or the blame is being put on us for not opening the window,” Jason said.

Despite this, the family was told that they had to continue paying rent until the apartment was re-leased.

“We were like, ‘The builder might need to get out the window guy. The window guy has to then come out to fix the corking, and then they have to fix the carpets.’” Jason said. “That could have taken weeks, if not months.

“Then when we went back and gave them the keys, (the agency) had the tenacity to say, ‘The mold issues still needed to be cleaned, how about I give you the keys back and you go back and use more Domestos?’ ”

While news.com.au approached the agent for comment, a spokesman for the agency declined to comment as a claim has been lodged with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

“We must respect the process and not prejudice the tribunal’s decision,” he said.

Changes to mold and rental laws

Their dealings with the real estate agency have left Jason and his wife “incredibly upset”.

“When we found the mould, we were shocked, disgusted and upset,” said Jason.

Under changes to rental law in March 2021, issues related to mold and damp when caused by a building’s structure are now treated as an urgent repair. This classification means rental providers must address these issues as soon as possible.

If the issue is not responded to urgently, tenants can go through VCAT, where the application must be heard within two business days.

Speaking to news.com.au, practicing lawyer and the rental support services manager for Tenants Victoria, Georga Wootton said the renter advocacy group sees complaints about mold triple in winter. Ms Wootten estimates one-in-10 inquiries are currently about issues related to mold and damp.

Although tenants can apply for a rent reduction in issues related to mould, Ms Wootten said that rental providers often “aren’t willingly going to do that”.

“We advise all of our renters that because there’s been a breach of the residential tenancy act – which is to keep the premises in good repair – effectively the property is not in good repair if there’s mold there,” she said.

“So it does mean the renter could be entitled to compensation.”

However she admits this is not an immediate fix.

“There is a bit of a timeline until you might get that compensation,” she said.

“That can be disappointing for some renters because they are in that distressing situation of having to live in a moldy home.”

Still, Ms Wootten advises tenants to continue to pay the rent, so they don’t risk getting a notice to vacate.

“This can happen if you’re more than 14 days in rent arrears,” said Ms Wootten.

“We don’t want to see people to lose their homes.”

‘It’s painful’

After more than a month of back and fourth, the family were informed on Tuesday that the agent had re-leased the property. Since they vacated the property, Jason estimates the family have paid around $1200 in rent while the window caulking was being fixed, plus an additional $220 for the listing to be advertised.

Attempts at brokering an amicable resolution have also failed to the wayside, Jason said.

“I had a conversation with her two days ago. I said, ‘Can we come to something friendly here? Can we stop paying rent?’”

Jason said the drawn out issue has also been taxing on the family’s mental health and financial position.

“It’s really hard because with interest rates going up, it’s difficult continuing to pay rent for something we can’t even release off our books. It’s painful,” he said.

Read related topics:melbourne

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Business

Queensland mum Alexi Bennett, partner and kids forced to live in motel room amid rental crisis

A young family has been forced to live in a Gold Coast motel amid an ongoing housing and rental crisis crippling Queensland.

But even with a virtually spotless rental history, stable income and no prior issues with their previous properties, Alexi Bennett and her partner Tinei Tiumalu say they still can’t find a place to live two months after their troubles began.

The couple, who has three young children, had to leave their previous rental home in May after their lease was not renewed.

“We were effectively made homeless,” Ms Bennett told NCA NewsWire.

Ms Bennett first spoke to the Gold Coast Bulletin about her plight and how it left them with no place to go.

She said they were now living in a small motel room which cost $850 a week while she continued applying for new properties from the Tweed region up to Logan.

“We’ve been going through real estates, private rentals, Gumtree, even the apps that aren’t really well known and there’s still nothing,” Ms Bennett said.

“It’s just rejection after rejection, or we’ve been told it’s already just been leased.”

“It’s a daily thing now.”

Ms Bennett’s plight is just one of many stories amid a shocking housing emergency leaving thousands of Queenslanders struggling to find a home.

Last month, the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) revealed more than 50,000 Queenslanders were waiting for a home on the social housing register.

The QCOSS blamed unaffordable house prices, rising costs of living and a slew of natural disasters plaguing the state.

Ms Bennett, a qualified aged care nurse, with her removalist partner Mr Tuimalu, are financially able to afford a rental property but have been constantly rejected from applications.

“It hits you; it really brings you down,” she said.

“My anxiety is through the roof. I sit up at night looking at homes, it leaves you speechless.”

Ms Bennett said she was remaining as positive as possible in the face of the constant rejections.

But she admitted she doesn’t know what the future holds.

“I don’t want my kids to know this life or the amount of guilt around simple things,” Ms Bennett said.

“We can’t even have fish and chips on the beach or go to the Ekka because of the money we have to pay in rent.”

According to research group SQM Research, renting a house on the Gold Coast costs about $970 as of August 4.

The average cost of a unit is around $653 a week.

Earlier this month, housing campaign group Everybody’s Home released data showing the “red zones” where rent prices had surged ahead of wage increases.

Northern parts of the Gold Coast had an average increase of 15.1 per cent to $835.50 for a rental.

The Brisbane CBD had a 3.6 per cent rise to $556.60.

Read related topics:Brisbane

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Business

Rental crisis: employer’s shock at real estate agent’s questions

Support has piled on for an employer who called out real estate agents who asked “invasive” questions about one of his employees, prompting other Aussies to share their own horror stories and distrust for the industry.

Taking to Twitter, Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari shared his dismay at being asked questions about his employee that he said had no relevance to applying for a rental property.

“I was a reference for an employee & the agent asked q’s like: Total salary, do they come to work on time, are they hard working,” he shared.

“These q’s are none of the agents business & no boss should have the power to spike where u live.”

Now, others on Twitter are sharing their own experiences, and backing up Mr Hilakari’s stance.

“Have you had many girlfriends? Would you trust him with your kids? Does he like to go out late?” answer one. “True questions recently asked to my reference when applying for a rental. Get in the bin.”

“I’ve done one of these too, but even worse,” replied another employer. “It’s stupid. Even if the employee is seconds away from being fired, there is no incentive and a lot of risk for a manager to write anything remotely meaningful. I cannot discuss an employee’s performance with a real estate agent.”

Another was quick to speculate it was likely the real estate agent had taken it upon themselves to ask the questions, and questioned if landlords even knew this was happening: “This is total power tripping and I bet the landlord has no idea it’s even happening and isn’t given that info.”

“That’s 100% correct. Real estate agents think that they are a law unto themselves. They are the root of the housing crisis, as well as developers riding roughshod over homebuyers and governments,” agreed another.

Although most were firmly against the apparently not uncommon line of questioning, not everyone supported renters, with one Twitter user replying that these were fair questions to ask.

“Of course they’re relevant questions. If they don’t make enough money then they may not be able to afford the rent. If they don’t come to work on time then they might not pay their rent on time. If they are not hard working then they may not look after the rental property,” they said.

“Sorry to burst the bubble but these kind of things add up to someone who is probably responsible and would probably reliably pay their rent on time,” said another.

While some argued that seeking to find out what type of person an agent might be allowing to rent a property is fair, others pointed out that those looking to buy weren’t held to the same standard.

“I recently got a mortgage and they didn’t call my employer,” a Twitter user commented. “Pay slips/bank statements were enough. Renters are being scrutinized to a greater degree for a much shorter term/less beneficial to them financial commitment.”

We all know that the process of applying for an overpriced rental is competitive, invasive and absolutely stacked in the landlord’s favor — just look at the reaction one potential tenant got when he asked for something as simple as a reference for the landlord.

Now, Mr Hilakari says changes to the Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act are needed to regulate the types of questions real estates can ask.

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Hilakari further explained that he was concerned with invasive questions like this were not only getting worse, but unfairly gave an employer too much power of their employees’ life.

“We’ve received reference checks for rentals before for and the questions being asked are getting much more invasive,” he said.

“As the rental market has tightened, it seems real estate agents think they have the unfettered right to ask whatever they want.

“Employers are put in the terrible situation of either having to give personal information or risk their employee missing out on a house to live in.

“I’ve had both employers and renters reach out and say they have universally had a gut full. Renters feel completely put over a barrel and feel they have no choice but to share their personal data.

“The system has to change.”

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Categories
Australia

Rental crisis: employer’s shock at real estate agent’s questions

Support has piled on for an employer who called out real estate agents who asked “invasive” questions about one of his employees, prompting other Aussies to share their own horror stories and distrust for the industry.

Taking to Twitter, Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari shared his dismay at being asked questions about his employee that he said had no relevance to applying for a rental property.

“I was a reference for an employee & the agent asked q’s like: Total salary, do they come to work on time, are they hard working,” he shared.

“These q’s are none of the agents business & no boss should have the power to spike where u live.”

Now, others on Twitter are sharing their own experiences, and backing up Mr Hilakari’s stance.

“Have you had many girlfriends? Would you trust him with your kids? Does he like to go out late?” answer one. “True questions recently asked to my reference when applying for a rental. Get in the bin.”

“I’ve done one of these too, but even worse,” replied another employer. “It’s stupid. Even if the employee is seconds away from being fired, there is no incentive and a lot of risk for a manager to write anything remotely meaningful. I cannot discuss an employee’s performance with a real estate agent.”

Another was quick to speculate it was likely the real estate agent had taken it upon themselves to ask the questions, and questioned if landlords even knew this was happening: “This is total power tripping and I bet the landlord has no idea it’s even happening and isn’t given that info.”

“That’s 100% correct. Real estate agents think that they are a law unto themselves. They are the root of the housing crisis, as well as developers riding roughshod over homebuyers and governments,” agreed another.

Although most were firmly against the apparently not uncommon line of questioning, not everyone supported renters, with one Twitter user replying that these were fair questions to ask.

“Of course they’re relevant questions. If they don’t make enough money then they may not be able to afford the rent. If they don’t come to work on time then they might not pay their rent on time. If they are not hard working then they may not look after the rental property,” they said.

“Sorry to burst the bubble but these kind of things add up to someone who is probably responsible and would probably reliably pay their rent on time,” said another.

While some argued that seeking to find out what type of person an agent might be allowing to rent a property is fair, others pointed out that those looking to buy weren’t held to the same standard.

“I recently got a mortgage and they didn’t call my employer,” a Twitter user commented. “Pay slips/bank statements were enough. Renters are being scrutinized to a greater degree for a much shorter term/less beneficial to them financial commitment.”

We all know that the process of applying for an overpriced rental is competitive, invasive and absolutely stacked in the landlord’s favor — just look at the reaction one potential tenant got when he asked for something as simple as a reference for the landlord.

Now, Mr Hilakari says changes to the Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act are needed to regulate the types of questions real estates can ask.

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Hilakari further explained that he was concerned with invasive questions like this were not only getting worse, but unfairly gave an employer too much power of their employees’ life.

“We’ve received reference checks for rentals before for and the questions being asked are getting much more invasive,” he said.

“As the rental market has tightened, it seems real estate agents think they have the unfettered right to ask whatever they want.

“Employers are put in the terrible situation of either having to give personal information or risk their employee missing out on a house to live in.

“I’ve had both employers and renters reach out and say they have universally had a gut full. Renters feel completely put over a barrel and feel they have no choice but to share their personal data.

“The system has to change.”

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Categories
Business

Rental properties Australia: How much rent has increased in your suburb

Renters are suffering from “ridiculous” rent hikes due to a chronic housing shortage, as city-dwellers flood regional markets and landlords flip rental properties to short-term housing to accommodate an influx of tourists.

Suburb-level analysis collected by PropTrack exclusively for The Oz revealed Killcare Heights on the central coast of NSW experienced the greatest rent increase over the past 12 months at 72.6 per cent, followed by Rainbow Beach on Queensland’s south coast (72.5 per cent) and Stahan in western Tasmania (68.4 per cent).

Killcare Ray White agent Sue Rallis said some local properties have risen from $700 to $1500 a week since the pandemic began, due to Sydneysiders making the most of a Covid-induced at-home lifestyle and moving into regional areas.

“People are happy to come out of the cities and move regionally, which has pushed up the rent over the last year or two,” she said.

“It’s been hard for the locals. They have been living in an area that a lot of people didn’t want to live in, and have been paying quite low rents there over the years. Now it’s very difficult for the locals to afford some of the rents.”

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Median weekly rental prices in June were up 7 per cent on the same month last year, marking the strongest annual rental growth recorded since before 2015. Rising prices have been felt the most regionally, where they increased 11.4 per cent year-on-year to June, compared to 4.4 per cent in the capital cities.

This came as the total supply of rentals dropped 27.7 per cent below its decade average.

PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said a devastating lack of supply has driven prices upwards, as fewer owners put their second properties up for rent.

“A lot of people who have bought quote unquote ‘investment properties’ aren’t necessarily buying them to make them available for rent, they’re buying them as second homes,” he said. “You’ve also got the added pressure now that domestic and international travel is back that the supply of rental stock is spinning out because people are putting their properties into short term rental accommodation, rather than long term.”

Mr Kusher said rental growth in inner-city areas has been “pretty weak” over the past two years as tenants stayed put, but has suddenly increased over the past six months after long term lockdowns ended.

“We have seen again in Sydney and Melbourne in those inner and middle ring markets in the apartment markets in particular, it has been very hard to rent out a property over the last few years,” he said.

“So, a lot of people sold out of their investment properties, and we haven’t seen a lot of developers building new one and two bedroom apartments. Therefore, we haven’t had that increase in supply we needed to keep up with demand.”

When renewing her lease last month, Leane Van Essen’s landlord requested the rent go from $450 to $550 a week for a one-bedroom apartment in North Sydney.

Unable to afford the “ridiculous” 22 per cent increase, the 29-year-old was given 60 days to find a new apartment.

“I had to find a new place super quickly, but then I got Covid and couldn’t go look at apartments, which was incredibly stressful,” she said. “They kept calling me, trying to rush me out, even though I still had my 60 days.”

Eventually, Ms Van Essen was forced to find a stranger online to move in with, settling in a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Mascot for $750 a week.

Similarly, Ellen Mezger, 25, was asked to bump up her rent for a two-bedder in Sydney’s Waterloo from $620 to $800 a week when her lease expired this month.

She said “a lot of sacrifices”, including giving up her gym membership, would have to be made if the rent increased that much.

Kusher said it would be a while before rent costs dropped again as landlords feel the increasing burden of skyrocketing interest rates, and pass them onto their tenants.

“Landlords will be trying to pass on as much of those increased costs as they can to their renters, so that’s something that renters are going to be facing,” he said.

“Obviously, for renters, there’s quite a lot of incentives to try and buy your first home. The government’s got a Shared Equity scheme, they’ve got a low deposit scheme in NSW from January next year, you’re going to be given the option to pay land tax as opposed to stamp duty. At some point, people will look at it and go, you know, I can be slugged with higher rates every six months, or maybe it’s time to take up one or two of these schemes and buy.”

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