OPINION

Hey NSW Gov. Too little too late.

As the NSW government this week announced rental reforms and I scrambled to see what the changes were, my heart sank and my first thought was; this cannot be it.

Telling landlords they have to hold off a couple more months before they can hike my rent again, like asking a child wanting their Christmas presents early to wait? That just isn’t going to cut it.

Saying I might be able to own a pet but it’s still up to someone else to find an excuse to deny me from that, is outrageous.

Ending no-grounds evictions on the other hand? About time. The fact that I could have (and almost did) get kicked out of my home for no reason is appalling, and the fact that the NSW government let that slide for so long is disgusting. We are humans that deserve security just as much as someone who can afford to buy a house does.

Eisha Farrukh and Yatha Jain who struggled with continuous rental price increases in Sydney.

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My second thought on the matter? Too little too late.

Where was this so-called ‘empathy’ for renters when rental prices month after month were recorded at historic highs and the supply of available rentals was at record lows?

Sydney renters are paying 43 per cent more than they were pre-pandemic, so this would have been far more helpful one … two … three years ago.

Where were these actions over my two rent hikes that put me in ‘rental stress’, paying more than 30 per cent of my weekly income on rent?

And that’s the best case scenario. Where is the thought for the people who are forced onto the street or back into abusive homes because they can’t afford the unfathomable new reality of rental prices?

The people I speak to weekly about renting are not happy. No renter is happy, content, or satisfied. I am not happy, content, or satisfied.

We are constantly walking around on eggshells in our own homes. Except it’s not our homes and that is consistently made blatantly clear week after week by the government’s lack of action.

Renter Sarah Young’s son, who was forced to stay in a home with mould with her young son.

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It’s hammered into me, when I speak to a mother with her 3 year old boy, forced to stay in a home riddled with mould, as she tells me this was her “best option,” because it would have cost her too much to move and the landlord wouldn’t do anything about it.

Renters are treated as second-class citizens, when in reality they make up around a third of our country. They are mothers who have lost their husbands, navigating a world with a two year old as a single widowed parent. They are young professionals working well into the night to make a name for themselves.

These are real people that I talk to every single day.

Dave Monck, a nurse at the top of his game, and renter who left Sydney due to rental conditions.

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What we need is the security to know that we aren’t going to be slapped with another huge rental increase that’s going to force us out of our beloved homes, or the city altogether.

We need to know that if we do get a rent increase, that it’s not going to make us broke and that it will be fair and reasonable. Personally, I need that so I can be prepared for it, not spend months stressing and draining myself financially to try to make it work.

I need to know that the onus is not going to fall on me to “negotiate with my landlord” if I don’t think the increase is fair.

Sydney renters forced to live in a home with sopping, warping floorboards. Picture: Tim Hunter.

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I need to know that when I choose to move out of my current rental, on my own terms, that there are other rental properties available in my price range.

We need safe, affordable access to housing for all Australians, no matter their background or wealth status.

But for now, at the end of my next 12-month stint, I’ll keep my mouth shut and hope that nothing in my apartment falls apart around me, so I don’t have to remind my property manager that I exist.

Also, to landlords and property managers, stop trying to make rental reforms about you. These reforms, and any other steps helping renters are not going to stop investors buying. Investors will continue investing regardless or whether we, god forbid, can’t be evicted because you decide your perfectly good tenant isn’t good enough anymore.

Now, if the NSW government can take some of this in and start treating me and the other third of a population with a little more dignity, that would be greatly appreciated.

Would it kill you to show a little more empathy? The alternative will sure as hell continue hurting renters.