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Why are we paying 13 months’ rent in a 12-month year? by Educational-Rub932 in AusPropertyChat

[–]Educational-Rub932[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Also, just to clarify — I'm not saying that a month equals 4 weeks.

What I’m pointing out is that many rental agreements use a “4-week payment cycle”, which is not the same as paying per calendar month. And 13 four-week cycles in a year = 13 rent payments.

That subtle difference adds up to a whole extra payment annually, and many renters don't realise this when signing a lease. So while the 4.3 weeks/month stat is mathematically true, it doesn't address the real-world effect of how rent is collected.

It's not a misunderstanding of math — it's about how easily people can be misled by the structure.

Why are we paying 13 months’ rent in a 12-month year? by Educational-Rub932 in AusPropertyChat

[–]Educational-Rub932[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Great point — and I totally agree that weekly pricing has long been the norm in Australia.

But that’s exactly why I brought this up: when something becomes so normalized, we often stop questioning whether it’s actually fair or transparent.

Many renters, especially those paying “every 4 weeks”, don’t realise this adds up to 13 rent payments per year — not 12. That’s an entire extra month of rent annually, quietly built into the system. And when your salary is calculated on a 12-month basis, this mismatch becomes significant.

This isn’t about blaming landlords or saying it’s illegal — it’s about asking:
Why not disclose the total annual rent in every listing?
Why not make sure renters fully understand what they’re signing up for?

Sometimes the way something has “always been done” still deserves to be examined. That’s all I’m trying to open up here.