The number of Victorian renters receiving eviction notices because they have not paid the rent is five times higher than in 2021, a report has found, underscoring tenants’ increasing struggles to keep up with the cost of living.
The report from the state’s commissioner for residential tenancies, released on Tuesday, also found that 58% of rental households had received a rent increase in the 12 months to September 2023, up from 29.8% in the previous 12 months.
The findings led Tenants Victoria to call for a “rental fairness formula” to curtail excessive rises in rents, and for more support for renters facing “brutal rental market conditions”.
Commissioner Heather Holst’s report used data from the census, government and welfare agencies, and community legal services including Tenants Victoria, to identify continuing and worsening trends in the state’s rental market.
Significantly more renters were receiving notices to vacate than in 2021, with an average of nearly 2,000 notices to vacate issued every week in the 2023-2024 financial year. Nonpayment of rent made up 95% of at-fault notices – with a fivefold increase in notices issued for this reason – while the landlord selling was the primary reason for more than half of the no-fault notices.
Affordability is at its lowest point in more than decade, having consistently declined in metropolitan and regional areas over the past two years, the report found. Almost all rentals remained unaffordable for jobseekers and others on government support payments.
The market had also tightened over the past couple of years, with a 2% vacancy rate in greater Melbourne – a rate comparable to five years ago – after spiking at more than 6% in the metropolitan areas during the pandemic, the report showed.
While the Victorian government passed laws in 2020 prohibiting landlords from refusing renters’ requests to keep a pet, the Lost Dog’s Home reported the second most common reason for pets being surrendered was due to landlord restrictions, and that this had increased 47% since 2021. While there was no data on renter pet ownership available, the commissioner’s report said, many renters felt having a pet reduced their chances of securing a rental property.
Historically low vacancy rates and rapidly escalating rents were a continuing issue for renters in the private market, and consequently there were “consistent reports” of substandard properties for rent. Holst said she was “heartened”, however, by the Victorian government’s recent establishment of a rental taskforce to investigate substandard dwellings.
Jennifer Beveridge, chief executive of Tenants Victoria, said demand for advocacy and advice from services such as theirs had increased but funding constraints meant they could only answer one in five calls for help.
“Renters are really feeling the financial strain. They tell us about the dreadful choices that they have to make: going without food, without heating, kids’ supplies, haircuts, and shoes. The constant need to make these choices makes it tough,” Beveridge said.
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The Victorian government had “done a lot to improve renting in Victoria” but “much more attention is needed to address the worst housing crisis in living memory”, Beveridge said.
“It’s clear that we need a rental fairness formula to guide the setting of reasonable rent increases. We don’t want to ever again see the runaway rent increases of the past few years.”
The Victorian minister for consumer affairs, Nick Staikos, said the government had introduced more than 130 rental reforms to strengthen renters’ rights but there was still “more to do”.
“Australia is in a housing crisis and young people don’t have the same opportunities their parents had – that’s why we’re working to make the property market fairer for renters,” he said.
“Our reforms are limiting rent increases, stopping landlords making dubious bond claims without evidence, extending the ban on extra fees for rental applications and paying rent, capping the cost of breaking a lease and making sure when you need an extra key or fob for your apartment you get one.”
The changes were announced in October last year, but Staikos said they required new laws, which will be introduced to parliament in stages over the the next 12 months.
– with Benita Kolovos
