Aussie tenant slapped with ridiculous rent fee during cost of living crisis

A tenant has criticized her new agent for “outrageous” surcharges added on top of new payment options as Australia’s cost-of-living crisis worsens.

Jessica, 34, who has lived in her Sydney home for three and a half years and pays $800 a fortnight, was told by her estate agency last month that they would be merging with another.

She received an email from her prospective property managers about the new payment options, which Jessica says will make it more difficult to pay rent without being charged a fee.

Of the five options, only one offered no surcharge, but there was a catch.

Every time Jessica has to pay rent, she has to check her bill for a new BSB and account number, which she has to enter manually to transfer her rent.

If she wants to avoid that hassle and save time, she can also pay by direct debit, which has a $1.95 fee, a card with a 1.95 percent fee and 30 cents, an EFT wallet with a fee of $2.50, or she can pay in person at Australia Post, which has the highest fee of $5.

The surcharges would add hundreds of extra costs each year, with the direct debit amounting to almost $1,000 in additional costs each year, which Jessica said she will not pay.

She sent an email to her new agents demanding an easier way to pay for free and threatened to complain to Fair Trading if they couldn’t come up with an alternative solution.

Jessica explained in one TikTok video that real estate agents are legally obliged to offer tenants at least one free payment option and that she has never seen this done so badly.

“My real estate just did the boldest thing in a cost-of-living crisis. “I’m starting to shake at how angry I get the more I think about this situation,” she said.

‘It’s not like you can set and forget the account information or just have it saved to your bank.

‘No, every single payment you have to make into that stupid app they make you download, log in, go to the rental section, find your BSB and account number, put it in your bank and then transfer the money. ‘

NSW law states that landlords and agents must offer at least one ‘reasonably available’ method of paying rent.

“It is not fair that tenants have to pay extra costs just to pay their rent, especially given the current cost of living pressures,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said in September.

Jessica has already filed a complaint with Fair Trading, but was told by the department that it would be more beneficial if she tried to solve the problem herself first.

She emailed the agency with her “substantial complaints” and told them their terms were unacceptable.

“I think in a cost-of-living crisis it’s pretty disgusting to offer payment options that all come with a hefty fee,” Jessica wrote.

‘Can you take the stress away for us by providing one set of account details that we can use every two weeks? “I don’t think this is an unreasonable request and I think the options you have offered are very unreasonable.”

Jessica claimed that her current agent had no idea about the new payment options and that her agent was “stunned” when she found out.

“I don’t even think they had any idea that this was the way this new place did business,” she said.

“Normally this stuff doesn’t affect me that much, but we’re basically in a cost-of-living crisis. Where I live, rents are going up exorbitantly.’

Viewers were quick to comment on the brutal system and praised Jessica for standing up to her new agents.

‘I am Prime Minister and a property owner and this makes no sense. Legally, you cannot have multiple trust accounts? And BSB and account details do not change from week to week. This seems very exciting and so bizarre,” one woman wrote.

Another added: ‘As a property trust accountant I would ask why they simply can’t provide you with the BPAY details. Otherwise I would send them a check every month so they have to physically bank it and wait for approval,” said another.

A third wrote: ‘For God’s sake? Why do they charge direct debit fees? There are no costs involved.’