Thread: I'd like to take a moment to unpack how much work it took to secure a rent reduction during the pandemic w/ some templates for people in similar situations (1/10)
We started by asking for a rent pause, emphasising the relief that banks are offering to landlords. If they're getting a break why shouldn't renters? (2/10)
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Our property agent demanded to know how much we spend on food, water & electricity & pressured us to raid our super (3/10)
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domain.com.au/news/agencies-…
Needless to say that I have some thoughts about landlords & property managers exploiting renters during the pandemic (4/10)
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I clapped back by asking for the landlords financial info so we could be sure they weren’t taking advantage of the situation (5/10)
At this point it was clear that our agent & landlord weren't going to be super cooperative, so we reported them to ASIC & emailed our local councillors, our local MP, the state Legislative Assembly (6/10)
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After the agent and landlord ignored our request for a rent pause we switched tracks & asked for a rent reduction of 50% for the next six months (7/10)
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After that we told them that we could pay 75% our normal rent for April and that we wouldn't accept the difference as arrears. We asked them directly what it was they wanted us to do: if they expected us to starve to pay rent they'd have to put it in writing (8/10)
They accepted our payment w/o arrears for April & offered a rent reduction of 15% which we've accepted in order to apply for the state-based rent relief (9/10)
So that’s what it took to secure a rent reduction: weeks of emails, calls, some negative press & a federal watchdog. Our reduction isn’t much but landlords hold all the power, any decrease is a small miracle (10/10)
Rent pauses and decreases aside, we need to totally rethink the way we approach rent & housing, it’s time to demand a national housing guarantee!!
