Catherine Phillips is perhaps the rarest type of landlord.
The Melbourne support worker, who bought an investment property in the Victoria area with her husband a year ago, has spent a lot of time thinking about how she can make things easier for her tenant.
She has never met her tenant, but she knows she is a single mother with three children.
The Phillips rental property, in a small border town on the Murray River, has solar panels, but only piped gas heating.
Catherine Phillips has asked other landlords to do their best to help tenants in distress. (Provided by: Catherine Phillips)
“I know gas prices are going through the roof. So I said to my husband, ‘Maybe we should put a split system in the house, because (the tenant) is a single mother, and that will help with the cost of life, “Phillips said.
With that in mind, Phillips contacted the real estate agent who managed the property to get some local recommendations for the facility.
That’s when the real estate agent gave him some news.
“She said,‘ I talked to the tenant last week and he’s struggling financially and maybe he needs to move, ’” Phillips said.
“I’m a little sad to hear that. It’s not a stable home environment if you have to pack up and move around with your kids all the time.”
After talking to her husband, Phillips said she called the real estate agent and informed him that they would reduce the rent on the property.
Phillips property manager Lisa Attana of Andrew Jenkins Real Estate said the couple’s decision came as a surprise.
“As for landlords who reduce tenants’ rent, it’s not something you really see, ”he said, adding that the only time this had happened in his experience was during the early stages of the tenancy. pandemic, when many people were losing their jobs. .
Attana said rental prices were rising in the area, with some properties costing up to 20 per cent more than they would have previously had.
According to experts, tenants could soon face rent increases as landlords want to pass on the costs of rising interest rates. (Domini: Peter Rae)
“With so few rentals on the market right now we are inundated with daily rental inquiries and requests.”
“People have to move to smaller houses / older houses because of the current rental prices.
“It won’t be long before rental prices are a problem for tenants due to rising costs of daily fuel, groceries and utilities.”
Phillips shared his experience last week in a post on the popular Facebook group “The Kindness Pandemic” that drew more than 11,000 reactions and a thousand comments.
He said he decided to write the post in hopes of inspiring other landlords to do what they can for tenants.
“If you are in a position to help someone, do it, we are not rich, we live from package to package and we have always done so, but I am grateful that we can do something to help,” he wrote.
“There are a lot of landlords who have had rental properties for a long time and would not have a huge mortgage, or it has probably been paid off,” he told 9news.com.au.
“I would tell the owners not to hook people, the cost of living is rising – fuel, food, energy prices, everything. The effect of the flow of this is domestic violence. mental health and the homeless. “
Phillips said she was saddened by many of the comments in her post, where tenants shared their struggles with the cost of living.
Catherine Phillips and her husband have owned the rental property for the past year. (Provided by: Catherine Phillips) A recent report by Anglicare Australia showed how rental properties have become inaccessible amid rising inflation and stagnant wages.
The report looked at just under 46,000 listings and found that only 2% was affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage.
Only 1 percent was affordable for someone with an old pension.
None of the rents were affordable for people with a disability pension, job search or youth allowance.
Meanwhile, rising interest rates are expected to greatly affect landlords, but could also have a significant impact on tenants, experts say.
“Rising Reserve Bank interest rates will have an impact on tenants,” AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver told Domain yesterday.
“As the cost of buying a home increases for an owner or investor, they may try to pass it on to their tenants. It may not be the full amount of the increase, but it could be a big part.
“With so tight market conditions and so low unemployment rates, tenants may not have too many other alternative properties to rent, or if they have been saving for a deposit, it will now be harder for them to buy.” in the longer term, the higher rate could lead to a fall in the real estate market and less construction, which could further tighten the rental market ”.
Contact Journalist Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au