At this point shit’s crazy out there yo is an understatement.

Sally and Erica put it to listeners: what questions do you need answered right now? Overwhelmingly people got in touch who were renting and scared they won’t be able to make their rent.

Enter: Leo Patterson Ross, the Senior Policy Officer at the Tenants’ Union of NSW.

Generally speaking, though, if you or your housemates have had a decrease in income because of what’s happening are you entitled to email your landlord and ask for a decrease in rent?

For sure. All tenancy contracts are, at the end of the day, supposed to be about two parties coming together and deciding to essentially go into business together. And that means there has to be a bit of flexibility at times. However, there is no obligation on the landlord to [offer a reduction], other than probably a moral one. There is no legal obligation to offer leniency.

So we are seeing people sending out letters like [this one] and seeing a range of responses. Some landlords have responded very positively and are offering reductions or even complete holidays from the rent. And others are writing back and saying ‘no, pay your rent or get out’, which is really disappointing to hear.

But I think the thing for people to know, even if that’s the letter that you get back, you haven’t lost anything because that landlord was probably going to be hard on you either way. And if it gets to a point where the rent for the house is not being made, they’re probably going to start pushing you through the formal processes quickly anyway. So, it’s worth a shot (but have realistic expectations).

What about postponing rental payments?

Yeah, you can ultimately do anything that both parties agree to but legally, no. Legally there is no protection, and that’s why it’s been such a huge campaign — so many people have become aware of just how unfair our residential tenancy sector is throughout this process. The crisis has shone a spotlight.

How to negotiate a rent decrease It happened to me and my housemates and I still can't believe it.

What about when you’re in a situation where one person is able to pay and one person isn’t – who’s obligation is it to cover that missing rent portion?

So, if you’re co-tenants where you have signed the tenancy agreement together then it’s actually – in legal terms – it’s called joint and several liability – and that means that the landlord can chase one of you or both of you together for the money. Note everyone is a co-tenant, there are head tenants and sub-tenancies, where the head-tenant is responsible to the landlord and the sub-tenants are responsible to the head-tenant.

But in general a lot of people are on co-tenancies and they actually are personally liable for their co-tenants rent, which is why people need to looking at the total rent going to the landlord. Quite often in share houses we all pay into a joint account and the rent gets taken out the other end and it can be take a while before you notice the rent may have stopped from your housemates.

Rent may be a negotiation between two parties, but sometimes one of those parties has more or less power based on what the broader rental market is like. What’s the landscape looking like at the moment? Are landlords going to be struggling to fill their leases in the next few months? Or are tenants going to be struggling to find houses?

You’re absolutely right about the power imbalance [usually being in the landlord’s favour], and that’s mostly created by a lack of any affordable alternative for you to go to, as well as it being very easy for the landlord to replace you.

We have a letter on our website, a template to ask for rent relief. And what we’re saying in that letter is it’s actually going to be a lot more difficult for the landlord to find somebody else to move in and especially to find somebody else at the same rent as what we are paying now because everyone – well, not everyone – but a huge number of people are going to be out of work and that’s going to impact the amount of rent that people can possibly pay. Plus, people are bunkering down. They’re not out there looking if they can avoid it and that effect is going to last for months if not years.”

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If banks pass on a mortgage holiday would landlords not have to pass on a rental decrease from then on?

They should. There is no legal obligation for them to. We need government to act to make sure that that kind of mortgage relief is passed on to tenants.

Is there something people can be doing now to get the government to act on extending a similar situation to renters?

There are a range of petitions on this that aren't affiliated with us like this one asking to ‘Suspend all mortgage, rent, bills & issue salary substitute in Australia’.

We may see some of this happening but it is unclear. What we don't want to see is a mortgage holiday without relief to renters, that would be totally unfair.

If young people aren’t in dire straits themselves but are feeling passionate about helping out right now, what are some ways they can get involved and support tenant rights?

Obviously supporting the tenant advice groups in each state - we are mostly deeply underfunded. But really I think looking at becoming active in community is powerful. Mutual Aid groups are popping up all over the place, there's a national database here. They are working out ways to support people in local communities and responding to needs in a way it can be difficult for government or formal organisations to do. [Note: you can usually find your local groups by searching ‘mutual aid’ in Facebook].

Do you see this as potentially a positive in moving on the rights of renters in the longer term? (Obviously once the immediate COVID19 crisis has passed).

Absolutely. What this crisis has shone a spotlight on is how inadequate our rental legal frameworks are. Their fundamental purpose should be about providing homes for people, and they are not fit for that purpose. So I expect changes will happen in a range of ways.

Coming out of this we also need a massive building program of public housing - to provide both jobs and homes at exactly the time we will need both.