A word from our CEO

Our homes are our safe havens amid restrictions imposed by pandemic public health orders. Many renters, who are overrepresented in vulnerable economic sectors, have lost jobs or hours. 

So, on behalf of our state’s two million renters, Tenants Victoria was pleased to see the State Government confirm an extension of COVID-19 rental protections until the end of the year. Victoria has a good framework for tenants and landlords to come to fair and reasonable agreements for rent reductions. However, it’s also clear more people facing hardship need to take advantage of the process to seek reductions through mediation, if the landlord does not come swiftly to negotiation. 

Our advice for tenants is if you don’t hear back a week after making an approach to your landlord or real estate agent, take it up a notch and contact Consumer Affairs Victoria to pursue your rent reduction. It’s your right to do so – and ensure your home is, indeed, your haven at this challenging time. 

– Jennifer Beveridge

Extensions to rental protections

Our COVID-19 guide for renters provides comprehensive information to navigate our extraordinary times. The recent announcement of rental extensions resulted in the following legal updates to the guide: 

• Eviction ban until 31 December 2020, unless under certain circumstances 
• Rent increase ban until 31 December 2020 
• Rent relief grant increases from $2000 to $3000 

For more information, visit our COVID-19 Guide for renters.

Portraits of a pandemic

"It's the worst rental nightmare I've had to endure in 40 years of renting."

Tell us your lockdown story

Do you have a rental story about living in stage 4 and stage 3 of the pandemic? We’re collecting renters' experiences via our website. 

Share your story

Sharing your experience will help us understand more about what renters are going through in the second wave of the pandemic, contributing to our advocacy to policymakers.

Facebook Q&A this Friday

How will the rental protections extensions affect you and your tenancy? 

We're holding another Q&A session this Friday, where tenants can ask us general tenancy questions including topics such as COVID-19, the metropolitan and regional lockdowns, and the recent extensions. The popular sessions are moderated by our Director of Community Engagement Farah Farouque and tenancy lawyer Georga Wootton.

Send through your questions by commenting in our Facebook event (limit to 1-4 sentences please) before Wednesday 26 August at 1pm. We'll be posting the video answering questions this Friday 28 August at 1pm.