Cin's Story

All landlords have their standards and these are very competitive. When I saw houses, I didn’t have time to think. I had to immediately submit applications to see who would accept me.

Cin has been renting for the past ten years. She lives with her husband and two children on the Upper North Shore and has lived in this area since she came to Australia.

Last year, Cin’s landlord renewed their contract for six months and raised the rent from $630 per week to $850 per week.

A few months after I renewed the contract he said he wanted to sell the house and started having agents contact me. The biggest impact for me was privacy because they started having open inspections about twice a week. They even wanted me to move out some of my stuff because they wanted the house to look like a display home. I rejected this because I don’t think it’s reasonable. 

I preferred not to open the house and the agent said they have to open it so every weekend strangers came into the house. It’s really annoying. It’s not fair to me. The tenancy agreement says I rent the house, I deserve to live peacefully but in the end it doesn’t really protect the tenants. 

When the landlord wanted to sell the house, I paid normal rent and didn’t ask for a reduction. He also didn’t offer to reduce the rent. I didn’t have any privacy twice a week and on the weekends my kids were upset. They said I can’t stay in the house but I had to stay there. All my property was there. It’s nonsense not staying in the house. So my kids just stayed under the blankets. They didn’t want to see any strangers. We had to accept all the strangers coming into the house. Some of them even opened my cupboards. Where’s the privacy for the tenants? It’s really unfair.

Cin’s previous rental contract finished in May. She had to move house with her family and says finding a new home wasn’t easy.

It’s not easy to find a new house. All landlords have their standards and these are very competitive. When I saw houses, I didn’t have time to think. I had to immediately submit applications to see who would accept me. Finally I found a house, so I moved a few suburbs away from our old neighbourhood.

All landlords still only give us one year contracts so I have to worry about if we’re going to move or if the rent is going to rise again. My kids keep complaining about it. They keep asking why we have to move and I tell them that I have no choice because the landlords keep raising the prices. We have to keep moving farther away because it’s cheaper. 

For their new rental, Cin and her husband pay $900 per week for a four bedroom house.

I don’t think it’s reasonable rent but I have to pay it. I already looked at other prices. The agents have put all of them up. In comparison, salaries haven’t risen much. Next year, we might have to move further away because of the rise in rents.

I really think the act should be changed so that landlords cannot raise rents too much. There should be a percentage set. There should also be better laws on privacy.