Australia’s worst rentals of 2024 revealed: tenants blast landlords for lack of repairs   

Dec 27 2024
News.com.au

Homes with rats, mould, sinking ceilings and mushrooms growing out the damp floors have been flagged as some of the nightmare rentals tenants have had to endure during this year’s rental crisis.

The problematic homes were among some of the few affordable homes listed for rent amid a climate of low vacancies and record levels of competition among tenants in many areas.

Experts said these conditions sometimes emboldened landlords to avoid repairs, leaving tenants in an uphill battle to get issues resolved.

Some of the most frustrated tenants have taken to social media and the internet to reveal the squalid living conditions they had to put up with.

This included a Queensland tenant living in Caboolture, who posted on shitrentals.org website details of a rental with an alleged mice infestation.



“Property had a major rodent problem which escalated to a venomous snake issue chasing the mice,” the user commented on the website. “Owner would not adhere to pest control measures requested to break lease … refused to hold the owner accountable to liveable standards.”

The user uploaded images of mice that were allegedly around the property.




In Carlton, in Sydney’s south, a granny flat was listed in March for $600 a week, with what appears to have peeling paint on hard concrete floors.

The listing claimed there was “a well equipped kitchen for all your culinary needs”, but images showed only a trestle table, plug-in stovetop and small sink. The exhaust fan appears to be a makeshift pipe that leads out the window.




One tenant in Preston in Melbourne took to the internet and listed their rental after reportedly having so much rising damp and mould that a mushroom grew out of the carpet of their bedroom.

“Lived here for two years and had major issues with mould and rising damp. The carpet under my bed ended up completely wet and grew a whole mushroom in my room,” the tenant reported on shitrentals.org.

“The real estate were not bothered at all – she said it was from drying washing in the room, which is not something that was ever done.

“Also the property came with a dehumidifier which in hindsight is a bit of a red flag there’s issues with damp!,” they said.

A renter in Blacktown in Sydney took to the internet to report a “horrific mould issue that they continue to just paint over and hide”.

This was on top of allegedly the heat setting being turned off the ducted air system, leaving the house at a freezing temperature, a fireplace with a hole in the roof, rising damp and power points that weren’t strong enough to handle space heaters, according to the comment on shitrentals.org. Their advice for future tenants about the property was “run”.


Blacktown property with mould issues.

Another renter asked their property manager for almost a whole year to fix dangerous defects in their apartment – they allege they were instead slapped with a rental increase and given 30 days to move out.

Sydney couple Faizan and Emma told The Daily Telegraph a tradesperson came in and attended to the issue by putting sticky tape on the floorboards. That was reportedly in January 2023. They claim they were then kicked out in March 2024 after making further requests for repairs.


Sydney tenants that had to put up with sopping, mouldy and warping floorboards until early this year.



“Water was seeping up through the bottom of the floorboard, it was unsightly,” Faizan said. “I slipped and cut myself and I was bleeding everywhere.”   

He said they were constantly having to mop up water seep from the floorboards that started swelling, warping and caused mould to growing in their living room floor.

“We feel like we are being bullied by the property manager just because we asked for repairs,” Faizan said.   

Jordan Van den Lamb, creator of shitrentals.org and also known on social media as Purple Pingers, recently took to TikTok to call out a Doncaster rental property that had inaccurate images on the listing.

The property was listed for $620 per week and Mr Van den Lamb claimed the images used in the listing did not match the condition of the property upon inspection.   

Victimhood Lefties blaming landlords like they blame Trump for being too damn good at being President

It's ok to rip em off Bobby. The only tenants are Indians, Chinese and Arabs.

Leroy wrote on Dec 27^th, 2024 at 5:16pm:



I'm glad I have my own place -
I never met a good landlord ever.
They would rather their place be destroyed than ever spending a penny on maintenance.

Bobby. wrote on Dec 27^th, 2024 at 5:25pm:


Yeah that sounds a bit weird, if they do that then they end up broke pretty quick. I know tonnes of landlords and all are excellent with maintenance of their properties and have good long term tenants. I've known one or two who did not look after their properties very well but they are no longer landlords. Maintenance is a tax deduction and it protects your investment. Maybe the landlords you know are just people that thought it was a good way to make money and not understanding what they are doing.

Now you only have to put up with Strata now Bobby. They can be a pain too.

You live in a unit in the city full of monoxide, noise pollution, crime, tolls, dirty gutters, crowded people and GayFL