Renters more likely than owner-occupiers to face health risks from house quality, expert says
It took Shay almost a month to find a rental. Now it might be making her sick
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.
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.
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.
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."
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".
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