Honestly, why do landlords even exist in modern times? Didn’t we leave medieval times behind us a while back? This is a rant on how my landlords illegally increased my rent.

Above are the three types of potential leases in NSW at the time of writing. I’d been on a one-year fixed-term agreement until it expired, leaving me on a periodic agreement. My landlords, who reign from above, decided to bump the rent up 10%.

Ten percent. For someone with no income, that is huge. Frankly, I think a 10% rent increase SHOULD be illegal. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what made this particular increase unlawful under NSW law at the time.

They sent through a revised lease with the new weekly rent value and I thought, that isn’t right. Sure enough, the notice period was wrong. I had not been given the 60 days’ written notice required before the increased rent became payable. As in against-the-law-illegal.

So I queried them: where is my 60-day notice period? They sent back the screenshot above, pointing out that the laws had changed in 2020. Right. Two issues with that.

Mistake 1

They assumed I’m still on a “fixed term of less than 2 years that set out a rent increase”. I’m not - they let it lapse. And even if I was, the expired lease did not set out this rent increase. They’ve read the situation wrong. I hate legislation but I also hate landlords who can’t do their “job” properly.

The relevant law in August 2023 was Section 41 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010. One thing I got wrong in my original notes was quoting an older version. The 2020 reforms had added an exception for fixed terms under two years where the agreement itself specified the date and amount of the increase. That was what their screenshot referred to, but it still didn’t fit my situation: my fixed term had expired and I was on a periodic agreement, which required at least 60 days’ written notice before the increase became payable. Section 42 also required an increase during a fixed term of not more than two years to be set out in the agreement as an amount or a method of calculation.

Mistake 2

If they had bothered to look into the article they sent me, they would have noticed that their expired lease does not have a section that “sets out the increased amount or how the increase will be calculated.”

Regardless, my lease had expired, so I was on a continuing (periodic) agreement until they worked out how to paste the correct dates into a new lease for me to sign. Why did they let it lapse? Not malice, most likely sheer incompetence.

Realistically do I even really have an option here? Can I risk being kicked out over an extra $8 a week over the next 12 months on top of the 10% increase? No, I can’t. I’m going to pay the extra even though they are the ones doing the illegal rent increase. Why? Because without any income I am simply not in a position to move. Why do I have no income?

Thanks to our failings in social security, i.e. Centrelink, I am just forever waiting for them to review my claim. No worries, take your time. I don’t have it as bad as some others thanks to rainy day funds. But how the hell do they expect someone without savings to get by with no income? You’re a joke, Australia. More on this in a future post. 🤬

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