How to protect tenants from ‘unliveable’ indoor heat

Bernie Barrett, deputy director for Better Renting, stated that immediate action is needed to lift the standard of rental homes.

“Government should require landlords to make changes so that rental homes are fit and healthy to live in through summer,” said Barrett. “Simple changes like ceiling insulation, fly screens, or cooling appliances, can help reduce the danger from extreme indoor heat.”

“Victoria and the ACT have already acted here – other jurisdictions need to step up,” said Barrett.

Specifically, Better Renting recommended that all governments introduce minimum energy performance standards for rental homes, making it “mandatory for such properties to have features that make it practical and comfortable to keep a home at a healthy and comfortable temperature”.

Barrett also urged governments to end no-grounds evictions “so that renters have some chance of advocating for themselves” without fear of retaliation.

The researchers tracked temperature and humidity levels in 109 rental homes across four states and territories, and found that indoor temperatures were higher than outdoors over a third of the time.

In Queensland, this percentage was even higher, with rental homes experiencing higher temperatures than outside over 60 per cent per cent of the time.

According to Better Renting, one participant in the project “required ambulance attendance after suffering vertigo, vomiting and panic attacks due to heat and humidity”.

“In a rental market like this one, people just take what they can get unfortunately,” said Sabrina Clarke, Better Renting project officer.

“Renters are worried about asking for more because they fear eviction or homelessness. Even basic things, like getting an air conditioner repaired, can be more than a renter is willing to ask for,” said Clarke.

The summer of December 2023 to February 2024, when the research was undertaken, was among the hottest in the past 100 years. However, Better Renting noted that “with a warming climate, it’s also likely to be one of the coolest summers we’ll see in the next 100 years”.

“For now, this is mostly a matter or renters’ health and wellbeing. Increasingly, it will be a matter of life and death,” the research group concluded.