Single photo of a ‘landlord’ sleeping in their tenant’s living room reveals brutal reality of Australia’s rental crisis

A Aussie couple has asked for advice after their landlord moved back in and started sleeping on the living room floor of their Melbourne apartment. 

They shared a photo of a person they claimed was their landlord sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor of their living room to Reddit this week.

‘Got a problem with our landlord,’ they wrote alongside the since-deleted post. 

The couple explained they moved into the apartment in early February with their landlord staying in the other room of the two-bedroom place.

They claimed the landlord then moved out of her room and rented it out to another couple. She moved to her friend’s place ‘but then started complaining about it’. 

‘She has since slept on the living space floor for at least seven nights and also uses the flat a lot by using the TV and sofa,’ the couple wrote. 

‘We don’t know what to do and how to tell her to not do this weird behaviour.

 ‘We have a flatmates contract so there is something on paper that we can rely on.’

Aussies were quick to share their thoughts on the bizarre living arrangements. 

‘They are not landlords. What they do is they rent the apartment and once they get accepted they sublet the apartment illegally on Gumtree so that it covers the rent and makes them extra money,’ one person wrote.

‘I used to live in apartments like these once I was a student and we would have to leave for the day if the real estate agent did an inspection.

‘Basically, its richer international students taking advantage of poorer international students and working holiday visa holders.’

‘As long as your lease is current, she has no legal right to be sleeping there. There’s a legal process for evicting tenants if she’d like her flat back,’ another wrote.

‘In the meantime, I’d be calling Vicpol (Victoria Police) to have her removed from the premises. Sure, it’ll mean that your lease will probably be terminated early because she wants her property back, but at least you all won’t have to live with her.’

Under the Residential Tenancies Act (1997), tenants have the right to ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their premises, meaning they are entitled to reasonable peace, comfort, and privacy, free from unreasonable interference by the landlord or other tenants.

Tenants are entitled to quiet enjoyment of the premises without interruption by the landlord or anyone claiming through them.

Landlords and their agents must not interfere with, or cause or permit interference with, the tenant’s reasonable peace, comfort, or privacy.

If the terms are breached, it could result in a maximum penalty of 10 units.

In Victoria, 10 penalty units currently equates to a fine of $1,975.90 for the 2024-25 financial year.

Australia is facing a severe rental crisis with low vacancy rates, rising rents, and increasing rental stress, particularly for low-income households.

The rental vacancy data showed the national vacancy rate fell in January to just one per cent, with the number of homes available for rent across Australia dropping from 47,336 to 31,822. 

Factors contributing to the crisis were the increased population in major cities, a lack of affordable housing and rising construction costs.