Sydney tenant’s negotiations fall flat trying to reduce a $350 a week rent increase in Redfern

A woman who tried to negotiate with her real estate agent when her rent was hiked by $350 a week instead received a cold response telling her the property could easily be re-let.

Chantelle Schmidt, a writer based in the inner southern Sydney suburb of Redfern, took to TikTok on Monday to reveal her landlord had raised her rent by $700-a-fortnight with no warning.

The Sydneysider shared an update on the negotiations on Thursday and told her followers her attempts to reduce the price were unsuccessful.

Instead, the real estate agent warned her the property could easily be re-let because the market is so strong at the moment.

In the original video, Ms Schmidt explained her landlord was demanding a rent increase from $1,900 to $2,600 a fortnight.

As she was on a monthly contract, the landlord was able to increase rent at any point without warning.

The updated video starts with Ms Schmidt showing her initial email response to the sudden news, telling her viewers ‘Yes, I have tried to negotiate.’ 

‘I said (in the email), ‘just confirming you wanted to increase the rent by a total of $700 per fortnight?’

‘That’s a considerable and confronting amount for a three bedroom house, shaking out to be an extra $230+ per room,’ Ms Schmidt’s email reads.

‘We’d love to come to a solution that reflects both the current market and the current financial pressure that inflation is having on us tenants,’ she wrote.

‘We are hoping this is negotiable and that you are able to revise the offer?’

The writer then shared the real estate agent’s cold response to her attempt at negotiation.  

The real estate agent’s brutal response to Ms Schmidt’s (pictured) negotiations was a warning that the property could be easily re-let

‘The real estate agent wrote back, she said: I can try and negotiate with the landlord but what are you proposing as a counter offer?’

‘And then she said: please note that the market is strong at the moment and we would be able to achieve the increased amount should the property be re-advertised at the moment,’ Ms Schmidt read out.

‘Kinda feels like a warning, no?’ she added.

She went on to explain she had shared a listing for a similar three-bedroom property in the area, which was nicer and had an additional bathroom – for $300 less than what her landlord was asking for. 

‘And then I said given those differences, we believe that $2,100 for our property is fair per fortnight.’

The Redfern-based writer’s (pictured) story resonated with a lot of other renters, with some asking whether the real estate agent was just being greedy

‘This is still a considerable increase of $200 a fortnight but let me know if you have any other comparable options on the market,’ her final email to the agent read.

Again, the agent proved little help with another cold response an hour later, noting the landlord was very stern about not negotiating the increase.

‘The rent has been cheap for quite some time and we are confident we could relet the property at the increased amount,’ the agent wrote. 

‘Sorry I couldn’t be a bearer of better news.’

Captioned ‘please, humour me more about the market’, the video gained traction with many viewers wondering if the landlord was involved at all.

‘It’s gone way past getting out of hand.’ one viewer wrote. ‘I’m wondering if real estates pocket some of the extra and use scare tactics to keep us paying.

‘Are you positive the landlord actually knows the rent increase is happening or is it just the real estate being greedy?’ another asked.

‘I work with real estate agency’s every day and I tell you most of them are little snakes! Not all! But a considerable amount are! This is soooo wrong!’ commented a third.

One viewer provided some simple advice: ‘Time to move!’