American travellers Molly and Olivia, with their Irish flatmate Tara, centre. They said they felt powerless to bring up problems with the landlord of their flat in Randwick.American travellers Molly and Olivia, with their Irish flatmate Tara, centre. They said they felt powerless to bring up problems with the landlord of their flat in Randwick.
The wifi didn’t work unless they stood in the stairwell, the shower had to be fixed after it flooded and the hallway smelled like cat urine, the pair said. But without any contract or written agreement, they saw no option but to stay quiet. Short-term rentals have become increasingly common as low-earning workers, new migrants and people without rental history struggle to secure long-term accommodation, according to the Tenants’ Union ofand other platforms. The code leaves hosts and platforms to negotiate agreements with tenants, who face much weaker legal protections than they would under a residential tenancy.
“You’ll find somebody potentially losing their housing very, very quickly, without any recourse to a tribunal or external decision-maker.” “So many of the people in that kind of informal arrangement are … forced into that situation because they couldn’t find something elsewhere,” Mowbray said.