DESPERATE HUNT FOR OWN PLACE
AFTER my separation from my husband early last year, I went on the hunt for a new rental.
I couldn’t afford the house at Nerang for $385 a week by myself on my wage, which amounted to more than 50 per cent of my weekly earnings.
And being way above the recommended rental threshold of 30 per cent, I quickly depleted my savings, despite cutting back on everything. But finding a nice place for under the $230 mark (about 30 per cent) proved very difficult – and then impossible when it came to finding a pet-friendly place for two large dogs.
In fact, when I refined the rental property search engine to “petfriendly’’ and under $300 (what I reasonably assumed I could afford), CHRIS Newton was made redundant after a work injury, so moved to the Gold Coast.
But he quickly found that affording a “cheap’’ rental property was not going to be easy, even on a pension.
“I had a payout but I still could not afford a rental place even if I paid 12 months in advance,” he said, adding property managers insisted tenants have a secure job.
“I had a look at a fair few places – hotels, caravan parks, private rentals.
“I could afford it then but they were worried I couldn’t afford rent after that time. I had to pay up to $200 a night to stay in hotels and it ate my money up in five months.”
Mr Newton said because of ongoing medical problems he was unable to work for long periods, which made finding a permanent job very difficult.
He ended up living on the streets for months, until the St John’s Drop-In crisis centre managed to place him in temporary accommodation.
Then, by a stroke of “very” good luck, he managed to secure a property through the National Rental Affordability Scheme – a one-bedroom unit at Labrador where he has lived for the past three years.
Now on a pension, Mr Newton said it meant 25 per cent of his income was automatically deducted as rent. He said if he did not have the NRAS property, he would not be able to afford to rent on the Gold Coast. there were fewer than five options.
That was for the entire Gold Coast.
After about nine months of searching for an appropriate rental, it made more sense to buy a townhouse in a cheaper area of the Coast. While it’s no mansion, I can have my two dogs there because I own it – and my mortgage is cheaper than paying rent.