We've just launched a Facebook group for people who rent in Melbourne. You can join it at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/melbournerenters/

My older sister owns a house. Whenever I visit, I’m struck by how nice it is to own a home. She and her husband have made upgrades. They’ve started a garden. When they recently had a son, they could readily make modifications to make the house safer and more comfortable for their baby.

I have this yearning too – to be able to make a place my own. To have a home, to make it an expression of who I am, to put down roots in a community.

It’s not uncommon for people like me, who rent, to harbour such desires. In our current system, you’d be mad to want to be a renter forever. But is it ownership that renters are after? Or just decent homes?

Rental properties are ‘energy deficient’: the lack of energy efficiency places a burden on renters in the form of increased energy expenditure or harmful indoor temperatures. This report estimates the monetary value of this burden by calculating the worth of the thermal energy that energy deficient rental properties lack. Drawing upon six years of real estate data, we calculate the annual burden of energy deficiency in the ACT to be $39 million. The burden is particularly heavy for vulnerable renters, such as those on a low-income or living with disability. This analysis strengthens the arguments for minimum energy efficiency standards for rental properties.

New players in the private rental sector claim to make things better for renters. In reality, they benefit certain renters at the expense of others. What we really need are structural solutions.

Renters rights organisation Better Renting has come out in support of the ACT Government’s move to delay commercial guarantees, just days after regulations came into effect to allow their operation.

Joel Dignam, Director of Better Renting, welcomed the decision. “We’ve been hearing from renters concerned about facing additional costs just to secure a roof over their head. We applaud the Government’s responsiveness to community concern on this issue.”

From 7 May 2018, landlords in the ACT now have the option to ask for a ‘bond guarantee’ instead of a bond. This change might take you by surprise, and it’s not exactly clear what it will mean for peolpe who rent. We want to provide an update on what’s coming and hear your views or concerns.

More than four in ten Canberra rental properties have the lowest-possible energy efficiency rating of zero, according to a new report released today.

The report by new renter organisation Better Renting compared advertised Energy Efficiency Ratings for properties for sale and for rent through January and February. It found that 43% of rated rental properties had a rating of 0, compared with just 4% of properties for sale.

A new renters advocacy organisation in the ACT is calling for minimum rental standards as new laws come into effect in the UK requiring rental properties to meet minimum energy efficiency standards.

Planning decisions in the ACT will affect housing affordability and quality of life for renters and other citizens. Better Renting made a submission to the recent 'Housing Choices' inquiry to contribute to the planning conversation in the ACT. Our submission can be downloaded here.

In just this last week, we've heard stories from renters that give a grim picture of what renting is like for renters in Australia today, covering issues of bond-theft, energy-inefficiency, homelessness, and negligence.