When Peter Montgomery received a notice to vacate his home earlier this year, he had to read the letter three times to comprehend what he was reading.

“I was shattered, to be perfectly honest,” Mr Montgomery said.

The 73-year-old and his wife, ill with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, had been renting their Glenroy house for 12 years.

“I must admit I got extremely, extremely angry,” he said. “Simply because there was no explanation, there was no reason.”

“It was a cold, legal letter that was just there.”

The Residential Tenancies Act is under review. Photo: Jim Rice

Mr Montgomery, a tip truck operator, said he was not the perfect tenant but he helped out with maintenance on the house and had built a friendship with the landlord over the years.

The notice came as a huge shock to the elderly couple but in Victoria, it’s not uncommon for landlords to evict tenants without an explanation.

The Residential Tenancies Act allows landlords to give a notice to vacate for no reason.

The state government is reviewing the act, prompting the Tenants Union of Victoria to launch a “Make Renting Fair” campaign.

The campaign, which aims to strengthen protections for tenants and their families, invites Victorians to share their rental horror stories. Some of these have been edited for clarity and brevity.

The single mum fighting black mould

I’m a single mum and thought I had scored a bargain and a long-term place to call home when I moved into my three-bedroom property.

I hate reporting issues because I don’t like to be a bother and usually try to fix it myself but in this this place, it was endless. Around five months into the lease a significant amount of black mould started to grow down the walls. I kept cleaning it and getting quite sick. It wasn’t until I looked it up that I realised how dangerous that mould is for people — and in particular my two-year-old who had been referred to the Royal Children’s Hospital for allergies and infections. I notified the agent and two months later they put an exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Mould can cause health problems, even if it’s not visible. File photo.

A few months later as it grew colder, the mould returned and started to spread through the house. I tried to book a mould inspector but it would have cost $800-$900 and I just didn’t have that kind of spare cash lying around. I thought the best thing was to negotiate amicably. The real estate agent kept promising to do something; they kept dragging it on. I felt completely helpless. My little one became sick and I decided it wasn’t worth my health and left.

We’ve had to move back in with my parents (an hour away). It’s a two-hour commute into childcare and work. If I had money, I could have had this sorted a long time ago but I’m a single parent and, while I am a good tenant, I don’t have any cash to splash on lawyers to stand up for our rights.

Freezing in winter, scorching in summer

My place is actually not too bad in many ways. But it has no ceiling insulation and no heater. In winter it is freezing. In summer it is boiling and there is no relief from the heat. Keeping the doors closed and blinds down makes no difference.

Tenants have complained to landlords that rental properties have no heating.

None of the thermostats on the stove and oven work so I use my little camp stove sometimes. I’m currently trying to get the landlord to fix this.

I am a great tenant, I fix all the little things that can be fixed and have made significant improvements to the gardens. When I arrived, they were just dirt with bottle tops and cigarette butts. Now it is all planted out with appropriately-sized native plants.

I have never missed a rental payment – ever. I believe all rental properties should have, at the least, ceiling insulation and a heater.

A revolving door of house inspections

It was frustrating when open house inspections were scheduled without any consultation about our family’s needs. Being told we had no choice made us feel powerless. The main problem was a Wednesday night inspection from 6pm-6.30pm. It’s right when our children, including a toddler, have their dinner.

The number of renters in Victoria has significantly increased in the last 15 years.

Having no control over who was entering our house was also another issue. We felt we could not trust the agents to do the right thing by us; based on the treatment we received, it was clear we were at the very bottom of their list.

The overall feel of the situation was that our privacy had been invaded, and the rights we thought we had as tenants were infringed. With young children especially, landlords should be aware of the massive impact a four or six week sales campaign can have on tenants, and should endeavour to mitigate this.

Shown the door for complaining

I was renting a cute little home with my partner. We mentioned the back porch was getting old and looked like it could collapse as the roof was leaking very badly. We used to host gatherings with friends and children so this needed to be fixed before any accidents happened.

Melbourne’s tight rental market is putting most pressure on low-income households. Photo: Glenn Hunt

We notified the real estate agent about the need for the porch to be fixed and they said the landlord would come very soon to fix it himself. After a few weeks, he hadn’t shown up, so we contacted the real estate again. Weeks later, the landlord and his wife showed up without notifying us and began working on the porch. They arrived at any time of the day and left piles of wood and building material in the backyard.

I called the real estate to ask if the landlord could provide proper notice before coming to our home again. The landlord stopped coming. Our real estate agent contacted us and said we had a notice to vacate.

I’m a French citizen and now I just keep quiet when things need to be fixed. Stories like this happen constantly to my friends who cannot afford to buy a place.