Last month, our friends at Better Renting launched the Cruel Summers report for 2023-2024. This project utilises renter temperature tracker data and qualitative surveys to understand the experience of tenants in private, public, and community housing across Australia.

Data from NSW renters is quite shocking: Our state had the worst humidity with renters spending half their time above 65% relative humidity and the highest maximum indoor humidity reading was in NSW at 95 percent! Four ‘renter archetypes’ are also conceptualised in the Report to make it clear what the challenges are to renters of varying incomes and housing quality.
The Report obviously highlights the need for minimum energy efficiency and thermal performance standards for rental homes. And with pressure mounting on Labor to make good on their promise to end no-grounds evictions for periodic and fixed leases, we are pleased to see this recommendation in the Report:

“The experiences of our Renter Researchers highlight a gap between the ‘technical rights’ that renters are legally entitled to and the ‘practical rights’ that renters can actually enjoy… Ending no grounds terminations – which put renters in constant fear of retaliation – and expanding third-party enforcement would contribute to making rental laws more effective in practice.”