An award winning tenant advocate says Albury rental vacancies have decreased to about 0.4 per cent and rent prices have increased by up to $100, increasing the demand on her service.
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Verto tenancy consultant Rebecca Bryant, who works out of Albury's Yes Unlimited Hub on Macauley Street, was recently recognised with a People's Choice Award as voted by her fellow NSW advocates for her work with clients and a Smooth Operator Award for her work in land lease communities.
Ms Bryant said demand for tenant support had increased over the last two years as rental vacancies dropped due to the pandemic.
"Pre-COVID it (rental vacancy) was sitting around 1.7 per cent here in Albury, it's still sitting around 0.4 or 0.5 per cent," she said.
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"I'm seeing a lot of rent increases, so you're talking $50, $75, $100 a week rent increases for clients.
"That's a huge hit to anyone's budget, even if you are working full time."
Ms Bryant said legislation meant rent couldn't exceed market value, but the market price had increased dramatically during the pandemic.
"Average weekly rent here in Albury was $319 pre-pandemic, it's now sitting at $417, so it has gone up $100 a week since the pandemic commenced," she said.
"At the moment we've got so many tenants homeless and looking for properties they would literally pay whatever they could pay to get into a property.
"So market rent at the moment is really unstable and it's really high, which means rent increases are very difficult to challenge, you can't."
Ms Bryant said since the start of the pandemic she'd seen a 30 per cent increase in client contact in the Albury area and a 10 per cent increase in risk of homelessness for clients.
She said a no grounds notice, a law allowing landlords to end a lease with 90 days notice for no reason, needed to be abolished for tenants to feel secure in their housing.
Ms Bryant said since the pandemic start she had been assisting with 7 per cent more no grounds notice claims to clients.
"It has to go," she said.
"While that's still in play, tenants will always be nervous executing their rights because they'll always be concerned that they will get that no grounds notice.
"Say the tenant's living with poor repairs, if they challenge those repairs they're always living in fear that they could be served that no grounds notice and be made homeless at any time, it's 90 days and then they're out."
Ms Bryant said tenants could vacate for any reason with 21 days notice, but she had not been seeing that.
"Any movement that we're seeing in tenancy is usually the landlords that are doing it," she said.
"A lot of properties have sold up here, so finding suitable places for those tenants can be challenging."
Ms Bryant said anyone that needed assistance with their tenancy rights, from getting answer to questions to tribunal support could get in touch by calling 1300 483 786 or by dropping into the Hub in person.
Victorian residents can get in touch with Beyond Housing on (02) 6055 9000 for support.
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