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A year ago the median Sydney house rental was $650. Today that figure is an all-time high of $720, an increase of 10.8 per cent in 12 months.
The huge price increase is forcing some renters to live in homes that have major issues, such as mould, with one recent survey suggesting one in 10 Aussies would accept a property with that issue to secure a property.
As the crisis escalates, one couple has shared their story with 9news.com.au, claiming they were forced to rent a rat-infested home in Sydney's Inner West while thousands struggle to find adequate accommodation in the state's housing crisis.
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Brad Power and his partner struggled to find somewhere to live as they have two dogs but eventually found a place for $1200 per week in Glebe in February.
Power, who works as an electrician, said they brushed off concerns about the house having a range of issues, including mould, as it was a 100-year-old home and they needed somewhere to live.
What Power didn't expect was for the house to become infested by rats.
"We are paying rent for something we can't live in," Power said.
"We are homeless basically."
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He said they discovered the rats had eaten through the house under the stairs where they had stored their things, from behind some gyprock.
"From there they could get underneath the house and into the kitchen, which is not acceptable.
"They (the rats) ate through everything that was downstairs, the lounges, the furniture, the clothing, anything at all they just ate.
"Everything in storage under there we lost, they just ate through plastic… Outside you can see they have eaten through the garbage bins."
A pest exterminator who inspected the property told the couple he had "never seen an infestation so bad".
Power and his partner moved out on September 30 after the pest exterminator poisoned the rats and they died under the house, leaving a smell of "rotting bodies".
He said they still had to pay six weeks' rent even though they could no longer live in the property.
City to Surf Property director Mark Gavagna said the tenant's health and well-being had always come first and their offers to sanitise and break the lease fee had been rejected by the tenants.
"We have offered to provide sanitary cleaning of the downstairs area, place subfloor fans under the floorboards, deodorise the premises, have had our handyman visit the property to secure rat entry/exit points where necessary and also booked another pest inspection for 9am Wednesday morning," Gavagna said.
"These were all rejected by the tenants."
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Gavagna said they had done everything they could to fix the issue but it was coming from the property next door.
He said they had contacted council to make them aware of the problem that was affecting everyone in the area.
"The owner has offered to terminate the lease by mutual agreement in accordance with the tenants wishes and in doing so has offered to waive the lease break fee that would be payable under the terms of the lease," Gavagna said.
"That offer was rejected by the tenants."
Power said they rejected the offer as it meant they would still have to pay six weeks' rent after the conditions became unlivable.
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Family stress
The rental situation is compounded by Power and his partner's efforts to have a baby.
After meeting just over a year ago they have stopped taking their hormones to pause their transition processes so they could have a baby before their transitions were complete.
Since moving into the Glebe home the couple have had two miscarriages and are unable to continue IVF as they have had to undergo testing for Leptospirosis, which is a type of poisoning from rat urine.
"The stress is so high, we are meant to be getting married on the ninth of October but we don't even know if we can do the wedding… it's so stressful.
"We are trying to have a baby, we are trying to get married and now we have no idea."
