Like I’ve just been to an apartment viewing in the “student price range” and it was just a ridiculous price for an 11sqm room in a shared living situation with 6 other people only being able to slide out of their sardine boxes into the small kitchen and corridor outside. Additionally the picture was not the same room(way worse), the door to the balcony was jammed shut, the light in the kitchen hadn’t been working for a while(house is informed) and the air was really heavy

The room is more expensive than my 1.5 room apartment during my bachelors which had 38 sqm and was overall pretty liveable

I was there with 2 other people who needed an apartment so urgently that they wanted that shithole(one 19yo guy had 2 weeks until classes start and a 30yo woman?)

All the while the landlord is acting like they’re not trying to absolutely fuck us in the ass right now, like it’s the most normal thing happening. I drove 5 hours both sides for this viewing btw and I’m absolutely fuming

I didn't take a screenshot and I think it got deleted. Thos man has three kids and they're looking for someone to do childcare and 'light' housework in return for a room. 0 pay.

Someone said it was modern slavery anf they're right.

Did anyone get a SS?

I want to know if this is illegal. It has to be.

Waiting for an NCAT date. The owner missed their deadline to submit evidence. We received this email from our REA (first screenshot) saying the owner was given an extension. My partner called NCAT as we weren't informed and there are protocols to follow to submit evidence late. NCAT told my partner that there was no extension request. When he called out the bullshit from the LL the REA responded with something completely different (second screenshot). Not at all the information NCAT gave us. Seems they are just making their own rules. I responded saying I'll contact NCAT tomorrow to find out the correct protocol.

Are they just fucking with us? Seriously it always seems to be some bullshit with this new REA. They just seem to be bullying us and being pests for the sake of it at this point.

Dude there's something living in my walls. It's terrifying me. They're not actually in my unit though (I'm certain, there's no excrement, and I have cameras that notify me of any motion and I haven't seen anything while awake and the camera has not seen anything while I'm asleep), my dad says he thinks it counts as common property and would fall under strata but idk.

At first I thought possums on the roof when I heard the footsteps but it was pointed out to me that there's no trees so there's unlikely to be many possums around and tbf I haven't heard any possums and they're not quiet animals.

When I moved in I noticed steel wool stuffed in gaps near the roof in the wardrobe and I thought that was weird because it was an internal wall and I thought it was a rodent deterrent for when they come in from outside.. But I think I'm starting to understand so I feel like the owner must know about this issue but I can't guarantee it.

How exactly do I bring this up to the real estate without being blamed for them being here? (it's unlikely, I have OCD and I have compulsions relating to a pest phobia.. Although it was cockroach based and not rats lol so I don't leave food out and will not even go to bed without making sure the kitchen is properly cleaned because I'll literally panic until I get up and make sure it's spotless). And how do you explain 'I have not seen a rodent, I have not seen any signs of rodents at all.. but something is living in my wall trust me bro'.

I'm a single mum to a toddler and I'm disabled so my physical capacity of finding a solution is quite limited. I'd just really love some ideas on how to approach the real estate with this without sounding either insane or unclean.

It looks like those developers responsible for the mascot towers collapsing also happen to be "mum and dad" landlords, love that.

$250 a week.

*BEDBUG infestation! With no new communication from management to help tenants. THIS PLACE IS HORRIFIC AND HAS SADLY BECOME DANGEROUS, FILTHY AND UNAFFORDABLE UNDER THE CURRENT BUILDING MANAGER. KC Tenants Union said “management here are displacing and evicting poor people” and then raising the rent by hundreds of dollars. They treat tenants with such disrespect and like profit commodities…not the struggling poor people that they take advantage of. They stopped giving new tenants storage on the 3rd fl and evicted most. The building manager Coleman lives in the Penthouse and works here and lies about living here according to many tenants. When I asked him he said “no I don’t live here…that would be a nightmare” JUST ONE YEAR HERE, I’ve had 22 service requests from neglected broken old appliances and everything else. There was a dead body that started smelling so bad on the second floor. The building Manager Coleman charges tenants 60% of their limited income (that’s double the national average of 30%) and makes poor tenants even poorer and then evicts them..IT’S PREDATORY. Management is in the business of making big profits off the poorest Section 8 and people making under 39k. Unless you are Section 8 you’ll pay almost $1,300 + $150 fees for a well documented horribly managed dangerous very dirty Section 8 building. They charge market value rent for what is advertised as affordable. KC apartments for less with better services and living standards are all over downtown. KC Tenants Union said management here were “mistreating” tenants in a written statement.
Regional Manager Heather threatened me for having VERY serious concerns about the crime, filthy living conditions and affordability issues in the building. The assistant manager Fabiola verbally threatened me yelling out loud “I’m suing you!” and called me slurs. I have it recorded and reported it to Tenant Advocates KC. Coleman the “Community Manager” is retaliatory and censors community board communication to avoid any accountability.
Tenants throw their trash out their window.
Management cut security and there was a heinous murder on the front steps in 2022! Overdoses in the common areas often. Drug syringes found and people sitting in the hallway smoking meth. Illegal BED BUG management discarded mattresses in the trash area.
$100-125+ fees for a parking space in a filthy 125° garage with trash spills, feces and disgusting leaking pipes. Additional fee's: $47 for water and $35 pet rent. THEY RAISE YOUR RENT THE MAXIMUM MISSOURI ALLOWS 7% EVERY YEAR. Vandalism and crime in the building everywhere. $200 electric bill from outdated HVAC systems and 125° summer garage heat from a broken heater system. Windows open 6” with no screens or cross ventilation. I’ve had rodents (bats) fly into my apartment. A tenant knocked on my door and exposed themselves. Building is surrounded by abandoned property and Crime. Manager Heather threatened me with eviction over her own clerical errors and never apologized. Alexander Company’s property down the street Professional Building Lofts was on the news from neglect and they evicted the tenants GOOGLE IT. There is dog urine and feces in the building. Homeless people in the hallways. The elevators and garage are filthy and regularly filled with human vomit, human urine and Mold. Stolen packages are a regular thing and management ignores the problem and just blames tenants. PROFIT is all they care about …not the safety, cleanliness or affordability for income challenged tenants. Manager Heather will intimidate and threaten eviction in a retaliatory way. This is all verifiable…AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS. Read the other reviews

In any other renting relationship the owner is responsible for maintenance. Why the fuck should we have to mow the lawns, wash windows, e.t.c. If I rent a car I am not expected to change the engine oil? Man, I truly just want to throw all landlord scum off a cliff these days...

Going to out myself here - I’m “one of them” (work in industry), fully expecting the slurry of comments & downvotes - but I’m not here to argue for, defend or sell anyone / anything or the industry.

In just genuinely curious - I have been renter & been in numerous properties over the last almost 2 decades.

I’m curious why so much hate - particularly around routine inspections?

I’m not oblivious .. I know the average caliber of agent & property manager needs to be improved.

I’m not talking about sub-par living conditions, illegal / bullish tactics, pathetic communication & posturing by agents, I mean the actual routine inspections themselves are so widely & viscerally resisted (I see it every day at work, and see if every day here), but I don’t understand why?

I’ve had dozens & dozens of routine inspections done at the properties I’ve been living in.

Yes it’s a little annoying having to coordinate access, but it’s just part of terms that we agreed to when signing a lease?

My opinion may be biased, but I’ve always seen it as what it is, a routine inspection of the property - not a “let me poke around your private life and exploit you for any reason”

(Again, I’m not talking about no-show agents mucking around your time, no or not enough notice, illegal entry etc.) - just regular, routine inspections. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to get clarity on what is a “reasonable” administrative fee for adding a tenant to the house I rent with another guy. So our 2 household will become 3.

I’m renting via ray white (red flag) and they have asked for half a weeks rent plus GST, just to add a new tenant.

We pay $755 per week. So they want over $400 to do some paperwork and make a phone call to the owner.

As we changed from a different RE to Ray White, we don’t have their lease agreement with any terms and conditions/ fee terms.

RTA have just said what’s “reasonable” is open to interpretation.

What are everyone’s admin fees on a new tenant?

Got a call from a REA in Mount Isa with a company I never applied with saying he had a missed call from me. He sent me the screenshot and it's my number who called him, but I definitely did not do so. I applied for one other place in that town 20 days ago and quickly withdrew it after researching the suburb a bit more. They however have all my details from my application, I get the feeling someone is trying to get a place in my name for a drug lab or similar? What can I do about that? :/

I’m been living in London for the last 3 years and now moving back to Melbourne, my 80 year old landlord here doesn’t read or answer emails, and doesn’t know how to fill out virtual reference checks so we’ve lost out on a few apartments we have applied for because he’s just not responding to the requests (you pay a man’s entire mortgage 1.5x over 3 years and he can’t even fucking give you a reference check) - is my best bet to just not give a reference for this time living in London, or to give a friends contact details instead? How would you go about this?

Seeking advice. Also, should I contact my insurance?

I’ve been trying to get in contact with my old real estate for my bond return and they haven’t gotten back except to tell me that someone had broken in and caused water damage during the last few days the lease was in my name but I had already handed back the keys to them anyway so it’s not my responsibility. They never sent me exit condition report or replied to any of my emails to follow up where my bond is or what is going on and so I filed a bond return claim with the RTBA. The rental agency disputed it on the very last day and still haven’t replied to any emails as to tell me why they’re disputing it. What is the next steps and chances I’ll get my bond back?

I want to move, and have been out looking at rentals. The photos the agents are using to advertise properties do not match what they actually look like. Not even the obvious photoshop or AI ones - just using old photos from ages ago. A couple of times, the photos have been 10-15 years old. Is there some rule about them doing this? It is wasting my time to go to inspections for places that are clearly more broken and dirty than the photos indicate.

I don't need to rant about what the boomers did to Gen Y & Z, they know what they did.

But the question is, how would Gen Y and Z treat the alphas and betas if we become landlords?

Chances are, Australian boomers will end up selling out to some Blackrock style company. But lets say they didn't and Gen Y and Z became landlords, how would we treat the next generation?

Honest answers please.

Someone at uni accomodation burnt their dinner... no fire just smoke. Since no one confessed to burning their food and there is no button to stop the fire alarm everyone has to pay $125.

Renting in inner Melbourne, and I've been in the same place since the end of 2022. Our agency has charged a per-person tenancy transfer fee for as long as we've lived there, and when I moved in it sat at $110 for the tenant transferring in and $110 for the tenant transferring out ($220 total). This fee had held true even with our most recent renter moving in March of 2026. Only when we triggered a new tenancy transfer fee in June of 2026 did we discover our agency had decided to change that fee to $250 per person ($500 total), with zero notice. It cost us an applicant who wasn't willing to pay 1 week's rent without even moving in.

I reached out to our property manager to seek insight and justification for the new fee and an itemised breakdown of the process involved in completing it. Both times I got a list of office administration tasks for verifying the new tenant with no figures attached. They also provided a line saying the fee "can't be adjusted property by property." I managed to get them to agree to honour the old $110 rate for the transfer in progress, but in signing the new agreement when they moved in, we found the fee had been changed to $250 each going forward.

Before raising this with VCAT, I spoke to all the relevant authorities to ensure I had a valid case and submitted at the end of July. I brought four years of transfer history at the old rate, the correspondence where I asked for a breakdown and got none, Tenants Victoria's published guidance (their site quotes "usually around $120"), and Jupp v Chambers [2010] VCAT 36, where a near-identical per-portfolio flat fee was cut to $88 for 1–2 hours of admin work. The agency filed nothing, couldn't produce a cost breakdown when pressed, and argued their own rising business costs justified the higher number, and, when pressured by the member to outline the time involved, stated it took 3–5 hours of work with no figures to back it up.

I managed to win my case, with the Tribunal agreeing the per-person structure was excessive and setting a new figure of $350 total. Better than $500, but still close to triple what Tenants Victoria calls typical, and I think it rewards the agency's inefficiency and creates a harder barrier for us to overcome in honouring our agreement by advertising, interviewing and securing a new tenant willing to accept the fee.

What I'm after:

1. Has anyone successfully negotiated a fee like this down after a VCAT order, rather than trying to reopen the case? How did you approach it?
2. What's a realistic, defensible "reasonable" figure for a single lease transfer in Victoria right now? Where are the best published sources for it that I can provide as supporting evidence?
3. What's a normal turnaround time for a lease transfer once all paperwork is in? Ours took about 10 days start to finish, including a few days of chasing for an update. Want to understand if this is normal processing time or something worth raising in debating the verdict.

I'm not trying to avoid paying a fair cost. I just don't think a flat number that goes up because the agency is "busy" is the same thing as a cost actually incurred from a transfer, and that rising costs are the reason businesses can raise rent periodically if it's fair to the market price, but it shouldn't be their administration costs for doing their job and allowing tenants to transfer in/out of the property.