‘Being punished': 35-year-old Aussie reveals rental nightmare
A single mum who spends over 60 per cent of her income on rent says her own home has made her physically ill.
Genevieve, 35, lives in a small apartment with her 10-year-old son in Queensland, and almost all her money goes towards keeping a roof over their heads.
Genevieve is just trying to survive, so when she discovered mould in her rental, she had no financial options.
She couldn't afford to rush out and buy a dehumidifier or a bunch of fans, so she contacted her real estate agent. However, nothing was done, and in the meantime, she and her son got sick.
'There have always been ongoing issues with moisture on the carpet,' she said.
'I raised the issue last November that there was quite a lot of mould and black mould, but I haven't heard anything back.
'Then I noticed more mould on our clothes, shoes and bags.'
The young mum's rent is $453 weekly, and she earns around $750 weekly, leaving her with less than $300 to cover everything else.
'I feel like I spend 90 per cent of my income on rent,' she told news.com.au.
'Fortnightly, it is about $1500, and then I'm paying close to $1000 on rent, and the rest goes on bills.'
Genevieve said it isn't uncommon for her to end up in a 'deficit' after spending money on the essentials.
'If I'm not in the deficit, I use the rest on groceries,' she said.
To make the $300 she's left with stretch, she's cancelled subscriptions and her health insurance, bought as much as she could second-hand, and often relied on charities for food and basics.
She said two contractors were sent out to the property and confirmed there was a 'long-serving mould' issue, but nothing further has been done.
Meanwhile, she noticed her and her son's health started to go downhill.
'He started waking up with nose bleeds like twice a week. He has asthma so I am concerned about him,' she said
The mum has also noticed that if she and her son are out for most of the day, their breathing improves and then declines if they spend more time in their rental.
It also wasn't just the mould in general; the rental she was spending most of her money on wasn't comfortable to live in – the damp carpet was a major issue.
'If you walked around in socks, you had to change them after about an hour because they'd get wet,' she explained.
Genevieve's said fixing the mould issues would involve extensive work to address the damp problem, and there's certainly nothing she can do as a tenant. It's not a simple fix of scrubbing away the mould.
'It'd be s**tfight for them and they're going to have to pull up the carpet plus treat the slab underneath for mould,' she said.
Genevieve felt helpless because she could not fix the mould issue and create a better living situation for her son.
'I feel like I am being punished because I'm not earning enough, and so, therefore, I don't deserve a healthy standard,' she said.
'I just don't have the income and stability to do much. I'm already getting food vouchers and stuff like that from our local food services.'
The 35-year-old said if she 'had the money', she'd have paid to pull up the carpet herself, but she's not in a financial position to do that.
Ms Genevieve's financial situation is so dire that she launched a GoFundMe to raise funds to move into a new rental.
She's thrilled and excited to move somewhere that doesn't have a damp carpet, but she's also saddened she spent months suffering and couldn't afford to make a change sooner.
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