Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (10:08): Jacqui lives in Fitzroy with two housemates, a broken dishwasher and black mould. In her last two rentals Jacqui raised maintenance issues and both times it followed with rent increases that she could not afford. Now she is in her third rental in as many years. She does not want to move again, so she keeps quiet. Like Jacqui, 80 per cent of Victorian renters avoid asking for basic repairs and maintenance for fear of retaliation, and 52 per cent of renters state that their homes fail to meet minimum standards. Now, it is all very well to have legislated minimum standards: we need them. But if enforcement continues to rely on renters taking property investors to court in an inherently unfair power dynamic, nothing will change. We need rent controls and we need independent enforcement of minimum standards to take the burden off renters and make renting fair. We need rent-worthy checks for a property before it is listed so we know that it meets minimum standards before the renter moves in, we need a landlord licensing scheme and we need a register with penalties and revocation for serious and multiple breaches. Until then renters will continue to live in unfair, insecure and unaffordable housing.