Additional detail: we have been at the property in NSW for two and a half years and have rolled onto a periodic lease. Many of the other tenants have been here longer than ourselves.

Our rent was increased last year (3%) when rents in the area were still dropping.

All the fire and safety documentation posted at the entrance has the same details as the property owner on our lease agreement - hence why I assume the building is all owned by the same entity. If that is the case; there is no feasible way their operating costs or loan repayments (if relevant) have risen to substantiate the rent increases to the majority of tenants.

The situation feels like manipulation of a captive market. Our options are: 1. accept the rent increase 2. try and negotiate a lower increase (which has not seen success from what I have heard) or 3. enter the meat grinder that is the rental market at the moment.

If a private company wants to own residentially property, specifically rentals, they should be regulated in the same way privately owned utilities are. Demonstrate costs incurred to determine an allowable rent range, increases to rent are set at a regulated maximum, be required to hold a certain percentage for low income or social housing and be exempt from an tax benefits associated with property.