Estelle Landy says Australian renters have legal rights amid cost of living crisis rental hikes

A landlord who claims one of her tenants hasn’t paid rent in 18 months ‘because of Covid’ says tenants must fight back against huge weekly rent increases.

Estelle Landy reminded renters that they “have so many rights” after hearing too many horror stories of families being evicted because of “unrealistic” price hikes.

The two-time Big Brother contestant shared her thoughts on the saga involving Chantelle Schmidt, who is taking her landlord to court after they increased her rent by 37 percent, or a massive $350 a week.

Estelle denounced Chantelle’s Sydney estate agent’s excuse, which justified the rent increase after prices took a hit during Covid, as ‘bulls***’.

The ex-mortgage broker praised Chantelle’s efforts to stand up to the price hike and reminded tenants they have “so many” rights.

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“I own three properties that I rent out, two of which I’ve had really bad tenants who haven’t paid rent that I’ve had to take to court and I can report that I’ve yet to move out of one of them,” Estelle explained in a TikTok clamp.

“Tenants actually have so many rights through a tribunal no matter what state you’re in since Covid, that means almost everyone if they stop paying rent it would take months and months to get them out.”

Estelle said one of her tenants hasn’t paid “a penny” in his rent in 18 months and she’s been in and out of court trying to evict him.

“I am also a mortgage broker by trade and I practiced before, during and after Covid and I can tell you that Covid is not the reason for these increases,” she said.

Estelle explained that Aussie homeowners have “borrowed too much” and “over-mortgaged” for the past three to four years, when interest rates were low.

“Most people have borrowed more than 95 percent or even 97 percent of the total amount, so no down payment, which means they have a mortgage on their goddamn eyeballs,” she said.

“And now that interest rates have risen, people are struggling to pay their mortgages.”

She said that instead of landlords and real estate agents letting their tenants “pay the bill,” there should be reasonable negotiation between the two parties.

“Things really need to be negotiated here instead of them trying to raise it by $350 a week, which is absolutely ridiculous and you’d only get away with it in somewhere like Sydney,” Estelle said.

Estelle stands up in support of Chantelle, who made headlines for speaking out against her landlord after they refused to negotiate the rent increase.

In February, Chantelle received an email from her landlord advising her to increase her fortnightly rent from $1,900 to $2,600.

Estelle said one of her tenants hasn’t paid “a penny” in his rent in 18 months and she’s been in and out of court trying to evict him

Chantelle has a monthly contract, which means that the landlord can increase her rent without limit at any time.

She tried to negotiate the “aggressive” increase of nearly 37 percent with her landlord and estate agent, but was told “we won’t budge” so she took the matter to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal is an independent body that hears and decides disputes between tenants and landlords.

The tribunal may adjudicate on disputes, including security deposit payments, rent increases, unpaid rent, termination of lease, damages, repairs, and other breaches of tenancy agreements for homes.

Chantelle said she was hesitant to take the matter to court, but she is confident it will be resolved, as is Estelle.

“People don’t realize how much right they actually have through a tribunal and the broker, as you can see, is erratically trying to push his way out of the tribunal corridor,” Estelle said.

‘They don’t want to because they know there will probably be a favorable outcome. There’s so much wrong with the situation and I’m amazed they’re standing up.’