I’ve been working in the property management industry for nearly 30 years, and around it for even longer.
Which is why it is so frustrating when property managers and private landlords are painted as the “enemy” when it comes to the rental crisis.
I remember as a small child, mum going out at night to let tenants in to properties who had locked themselves out, helping new Australians get established in Moorooka and being on-site with people when mother nature unleashed her powers during storms and flooding events.
I get annoyed when landlords are painted as greedy. We manage over 1000 properties across Brisbane, and when Covid challenged affordability, we received little to no pushback from landlords to lower or stop rents to help tenants.
The private landlord industry is currently getting told to stop putting up prices after a decade of lowering rents while fighting mounting costs in interest rates, maintenance, and taxes. Meanwhile, as the government met a few weeks ago for another housing summit, they also mailed investors across the statae with their updated/increased land tax bills.
The ideas from that summit that have received the most airtime were limits to only one rent increase every 12 months, talk of buying properties for social housing, and even building some more.
Before we start throwing money in every direction, except tot he private landlord, it might be worth looking toward the quickest solution to this problem.