Yahoo News reports on the unfortunate struggles of students who have to put up with rent increases in Australia.
A South Australian student, May Higgins, claimed that she lived in a rundown rental and her landlord would not even take care of the most basic maintenance requests.
Then, the landlord decided to increase the rent. Higgins was told to pay an increased rent of $800 after the landlord raised the rent by $300.
Higgins couldn't afford the rent increase and decided to plead her case. She did not communicate much with the landlord so requested her agency to look into the rental increase and help her.
She told the agency that she would have to move out if the rent was increased.
The agency's response was shocking. It was a simple seven-word response that was representative of how little they truly cared about their renters.
"just move back in with your parents".
According to Higgins, it was a very blunt response and there was no room for negotiation when it came to the rent.
Higgins hints that rental laws in South Australia seem to favor the landlord over the renter. There is no limit to rent increases and evictions can be due to "no cause."
In Higgins's case, she does not believe that her rental is worth $800 due to its condition. However, there is unprecedented demand for rentals in the area and no one wants to really argue as they could be kicked out and the property just relisted again.
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