Why Australian renters are vlogging through the rental crisis on TikTok

Renting in Australia sucks. A housing affordability crisis combined with low rental stock and relatively weak tenant protections is not a very fun combination. Even those people who secure a place find themselves teetering on precarity at the whims of landlords who know the line of potential replacement tenants would go around the block.

Naturally, content about the sorry state of renting in Australia is incredibly popular on TikTok. Searching “renting” along with the name of the city shows an endless carousel of horror stories of exorbitant rent hikes, near-derelict properties, rude real estate agents and absent landlords just about everywhere in Australia. Oh, and lots of mould. Videos and comment sections are filled with people expressing rage, horror and resignation. The vibes are rancid, you might say.

A GLIMPSE AT SOME OF THE VIDEOS ABOUT RENTING IN AUSTRALIA (IMAGE: TIKTOK)

Beyond this rentalporn, there’s an interesting trend of renters who are vlogging their way through their unfortunate experiences on TikTok. They chronicle every up and down, seek advice from their audiences, and then share what they learned back.

The queen of this genre in Australia is Chantelle Schmidt, a content creator (and, full disclosure, a former colleague) who was confronted with a $350-a-week rent increase by her landlord in February. Since then, she’s fastidiously made videos about her back-and-forths with the real estate agent, the home’s owner, and now, the tribunal process that have been viewed millions of times.

Schmidt told me TikTok was the perfect place for this kind of content: “I think that the other social media platforms were appropriate. Instagram’s more for my personal life. LinkedIn is work. Facebook is dead. I knew that TikTok could go further and wider, that’s why I put up the initial video, I wanted advice, I wanted to know what to do,” she said.

What makes this type of video so interesting, I think, is how they become a tool for inverting the power imbalance felt by tenants. Instead of the typical David v Goliath of a (often younger, less wealthy) renter against a professional real estate agent and a landlord, suddenly a renter has the knowledge and moral support of the TikTok audience on their side. Exposing and shaming substandard rentals feels like a way of taking back control — and building an online audience is a side benefit, too.

After initially posting as a way of getting help, Schmidt said she’s been motivated by hearing how other people have been going through similar experiences. But she warns that it’s not always easy. Negative attention, fears of how the videos might impact her current or future rental situations and the strain of making content have taken a toll on her while she’s been balancing the process of dealing with her housing situation.

But, Schmidt said, she’s felt compelled to keep going.

“​​Renters are breaking point. This has been going on as long as renters have been renters. People are too scared to go to tribunal. People are too scared to fight for themselves. Now, it’s at this point, and we’re trying to do something about it.”

This extract is part of an article first published by Crikey.