highlights an overlooked feature of Australia's rental crisis: its physical and psychological impacts on tenants.
I mean this is something literally every tenant has been saying over and over and over again but i guess it's not a concept until the Lords and Masters deign to notice it.
When landlords have no stake in the property beyond collecting rent, of course this will happen. They'll do the bare minimum to keep tenants paying while letting their properties fall apart
Just for discussion's sake, if I rented out a garden shed that was on the other end of my property through a real estate, the problems the tenant faced would pale to my own because I'm not there and experiencing it. Just that degree of separation, even though I'm an empathetic person, would lessen it somewhat.
We need to abolish real estates and form a legislative body that accepts all rentals into a pool with set standards (within reason), rent values etc. The Body takes a percentage just like a real estate does but then puts the money back into investigating and enforcing the standards of build and doesn't buy BMWs for the Agents to get around in. If the owner can't meet the standards, they are dropped out of the rental pool until fixed or they have to sell (if they can't fix it or don't want to - their choice) and an owner-occupier takes on the issues. The Body could also handle temp stays like airbnb and manage the amount allowed in an area by taking a higher percentage by allowing it in the pool.
Oh no, socialism. I give up.
We had a body like that down in Tas called "Housing Tasmania". Then the stupid government decided to sell off most of its housing stock and now we're left with a years long waiting list for those who need housing while they scramble to build more stock.
Did they own the houses or manage them?
Depending on your answer, did it seem to work?
We can look at private energy generation versus public for another example too I guess.
They used to own and manage houses. It was focused towards providing housing for the most needy and I think it worked quite well for its stated purpose. I mean there was always a bunch of news stories about people trashing those houses but those people would've trashed any house they rented. At least Housing Tas had a team of maintenance personnel that could fix it back up.
It's the same as "Housing Commission" homes here in QLD then - https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/public-community-housing
They used to have neighborhoods of them but others were just dotted about the place to avoid the slum effect (no offence intended). You can ID them in parts of Brisbane by the housing style, they were built different than every other house in postwar neighbourhoods.
So, yeah, that would be good but an expansion that every landbastard has to join up to and every renter joins the scheme, not just the disadvantaged. Real estates contract to just selling.
It would actually work better for most investors to have something that worked like this, but which pooled resources to buy multiple homes instead of one owner for a whole house. A single house is not great as your only/main investment - it can't be sold quickly and you can only sell the whole lot, so if you need to sell at a bad time you lose, and you can't easily free up a part of your capital. Either a housing investment fund you can buy shares in, or buying shares of a single house (like people do with racehorses) would be a better investment choice for most people.
I hear you and agree.
I like the idea and pooling of resources. I don't like the idea that housing is an investment (it shouldn't be) and I don't want to see groups (however well-intentioned unless strict regulations apply) take over swathes of property. There needs to be a limit to house ownership I feel.
That you could get horse racing to relate to home ownership and make it make sense is really troubling!
There are already tons of ETFs that specifically invest in real estate both commercial and residential. I personally recommend anyone who wants to get into real estate investment to buy into those ETFs instead. That way they make all the trials and tribulations of landlording Someone Else's Problem. I have yet to have anyone follow my advice because "I can make a better return without a middleman."
Our previous landlord has 10+ properties and owns a building company; far as I can tell he targets dilapidated old houses on oversized plots of land, knocks 'em down and barfs up cardboard duplex new builds in their place. They look great - aircon, high ceilings, stone countertops, fancy appliances, etc. - but everything behind that is as shoddy as he can get away with and then some. Rain flooding THROUGH the walls, black mould, unsealed window frames, creaking floors, unlockable doors, dead outlets... Getting anything fixed was like pulling teeth, and literally all he cared about was maximum immediate profit with as little effort as possible.
The biggest favour that parasite ever did for us was jacking up the rent enough to force us out, because we only discovered the rampant black mould problem while we were packing up. Bullet narrowly dodged, and I learned a bunch of super valuable red flags to look out for (and under, and behind) next time.
By contrast, our current landlord is an absolute legend and the best I've ever encountered. He has a day-job in Defense so not a hardcore investor, and this was his family home before we became the first tenants to live here. The place is solid brick and built to owner-occupier standards, his parents are our neighbours, we chat over the fence whenever he's over there for a bbq, RE is super chill, and repairs generally take a few days at most. We know how lucky we are, but I really wish this was the norm, not the exception.
Your current place sounds awesome. The best place I ever rented was a conversion where the owners lived in the other bit.
I don't think I've ever rented a property that didn't have a problem with mould or shitty insulation.
My current one has poor insulation but I'll take that any day over the mould. Last place I lived in had mould in the bedroom during winter, and when we raised it with the property manager their "solution" was to drill an extra hole in the sliding door so it could be locked open. Every winter we slept with this door partially open so the room would remain the same temperature as outside and prevent the moisture and condensation from forming on the glass, walls and in the corners of the carpet. We were literally sleeping in close to zero degree temperatures some nights, it was crazy.
Yep fuck mould. I used to live in a property that had water in the roof and mould would grow on every wall and ceiling. Landlords 'solution' to this was buying us a bottle of mould off. When we asked for a rental reduction they rejected it because "every home in Brisbane has mould".
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