An Australian landlord has refused to dramatically increase her tenants’ rent despite being pestered by estate agents to raise the price by up to $100 a week.
Michelle Schofield owns two properties in Queensland and New South Wales and explained that she had consistently rejected calls to increase her rent, saying she wanted to retain good tenants.
“We’re not trying to grab the money and we want people to stay home,” he said. yahoo.
It’s a rarity among landlords during a crippling rental crisis.
Amid Australia’s devastating rental crisis, Ms Schofield’s (pictured) words will be music to the ears of long-suffering tenants.
Ms. Schofield points the finger at greedy real estate agents who continually want her to increase her rent by $100 a week.
She pointed the finger at the greedy real estate agents who continually want her to raise the rent by $100 a week.
“We are not all greedy tyrants, some of us have compassion,” he said.
Schofield said he has kept the rent on his properties below what real estate agents recommend for the past three years.
She understands the cost of living crisis has hit Australians hard and is only slightly increasing her rent, despite the rental vacancy rate in the capital being at a record low of just one per cent.
But he gave advice to landlords who raised rents to cope with rising mortgage payments.
“I would suggest owners have a little compassion or dig deeper into their real estate and find out if they are offering it at or above the market,” he said.
She believes that if homeowners showed more restraint, this would help keep inflation at a reasonable level.
Inflation is at 3.6 per cent after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates 13 times in less than two years to rein in price pressures.
Schofield said that while he refuses to raise his rent by large amounts, he is not one of the Greens pushing for a rent cap.
In June 2023, the blocked Greens refused to accept Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s affordable housing policy unless he agreed to cap rentals in Australia.
The party relented months later to support Australia’s Future Housing Fund after Labor agreed to an additional $3 billion in spending.
“I have kept my real estate holdings below what (real estate agents) have suggested for the past three years,” Ms. Schofield said.
With record rental prices across the country, Canberra has bucked the trend and is actually cheaper (file image)
Rental prices remain high across Australia, making it increasingly difficult for thousands of residents to keep a roof over their heads.
Sydney’s average weekly rent rose 10.2 per cent in the year to April to $1,053.56, new data from SQM Research revealed.
Housing rents in the capital rose 10.2 per cent in the year to April to $833 a week.
The median home rent in Melbourne rose 11.4 per cent to $740.50.
But in Perth, rents have soared 16.9 per cent to $782, while Adelaide rents have risen 10 per cent to $630.
House rents in Brisbane rose a modest 6.6 per cent to $717.
Rents in Canberra rose only slightly, 0.8 per cent, to $773.
Rents, however, fell in Australia’s smaller capital cities, which are not seeing massive population growth due to interstate or overseas migration.
Rents in Hobart fell 0.3 per cent over the year to $537, while rents in Darwin fell 0.5 per cent to $718.
