Terri Clemens and husband Trevor are listing their Aspendale property they’ve had for nine years as it has become to costly to run as a rental.
Terri Clemens and her husband Trevor’s investment property is going under the hammer Saturday after the costs of holding onto the rental became “crazy”.
The 60-year old said it was time to sell the two-bedroom unit at 10/200 Nepean Highway, Aspendale, after interest rate hikes and the doubling of their land tax payments had become too much to handle.
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“All the rising costs, it’s just getting beyond a joke,” Ms Clemens said.
“We just found it wasn’t really worth it, and we’re both looking at retiring within the next 12 months, so we thought we’ll just get rid of that and that can go to our retirement.”
She added that in the nine years they had owned the property, they had the same renters living there.
“We already put our tenants rent up a bit, and they’ve been amazing tenants, and we upped it by about $50 a week just to cover things and then still it just wasn’t worth it,” Ms Clemens said.
“It just seems to be all about the tenant now and not about the landlords.”
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10/200 Nepean Highway, Aspendale is listed for sale with a $700,000-$770,000 price tag.
The two-bedroom villa is going under the hammer on Saturday.
She added that if a rental provider raised their rent, they were seen as bad and were reprimanded for passing on their increased costs.
“But I can’t afford them, so you have to pass them on — not that you want to do that to your tenants either,” Ms Clemens said.
“It was a young family we had in there, and it’s hard for them too.”
Landlord’s were being forced to pay back the bad decisions the Victorian government made during Covid through increased land taxes, she said.
“We’re not rich people buying lots of properties. We’re just standard, middle-income people trying to get ahead in life and set ourself up for the future.”
Suburbtrends data showed that over one in five landlord’s listed their ex-rentals for sale in the past 12 months in Aspendale.
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Terri Clemens, her husband Trevor and their dogs Billie and Pippa in front of the Aspendale property they’re listing for sale due to increased costs.
Ray White Cheltenham listing agent Trevor Bowen said rental providers were selling up all across Melbourne.
“I normally sell one or two rentals a year. So far, I’ve sold 14 (in 2024) and I’ve got another eight on my board,” Mr Bowen said.
“I literally had a call this morning from a landlord selling who’s not investing in Victoria anymore because the government is making it so tough.”
He added that mum and dad investors had been priced out of the market trying to fund updates to their rentals since the minimum standards in the Residential Tenancies Act had changed.
“The sad thing is that there is a rental crisis and the government aren’t going to be able to build the amount of buildings that was promised,” he said.
“If a government can’t supply the rentals; mum and dad investors are perfect.
“Everyone I speak to just can’t believe that they’re making it so hard for landlords in Victoria to invest.”
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sarah.petty@news.com.au