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‘Like a pizza oven’: NSW renters trapped in dangerously hot homes

Many renters in New South Wales were left to swelter in dangerously hot homes this past summer, with new data showing indoor temperatures in some rental properties reached extreme temperatures of up to 40°C.

Rental advocacy group Better Renting tracked 50 rental homes across the state between December 2025 and March 2026. 

While the World Health Organisation considers indoor temperatures above 25°C to pose an overheating risk, many NSW study participants spent an average of 12 hours per day between 25°C and 30°C. 

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The indoor temperature at Bel Langford's rental property reached a peak of 35.7 degrees during a heatwave on January 10.

Renters reported extreme levels of fatigue, headaches, nausea, anxiety, and worsening of existing health conditions due to the suffocating temperatures.

The health impacts became so severe that the extreme heat even drove two renters participating in the study to visit the hospital emergency departments.

'It's pretty gross: A renter's nightmare

Bel Langford, 19, was one of the participants in the study.

Langford, a part-time student and worker, lives with a flatmate in a Dulwich Hill apartment, in Sydney's inner west.

The older-style brick unit has large, west-facing windows and no trees for shade.

"For most of summer, from about 11am until sunset, we have direct sun streaming into our windows," she said.

"It's a bit like a pizza oven … it just heats and heats and heats and then it can't cool down overnight either. It's pretty gross"

Bel Langford says minimum temperature or insulation standards are needed in NSW to protect renters like her.

During the summer, the peak temperature recorded in her apartment was 35.7 degrees.

Langford, who is neurodivergent and takes medication that increases sweating, told nine.com.au the heat became a sensory nightmare which left her physically and mentally exhausted.

Desperate for a bit of relief, Langford said she slept with ice packs and set up three fans in her room.

"Unfortunately for us, most nights, especially in January, were above 25 degrees. During two of the heat waves, it didn't drop below 27.7 overnight for three nights," she said.

Langford resorted to sleeping with ice packs and running three separate fans in her bedroom just to stay regulated. 

But the physical toll was still visible; with Langford developing an uncomfortable heat rash all over her body.

Bel Langford resorted to placing three fans around her bedroom in an effort to cool down.

Call for mandatory standards

The report argues that these conditions are a direct consequence of policy failure. New South Wales currently has no mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes, meaning landlords are not legally required to provide basic features like insulation or effective ventilation.

Meanwhile, the ACT implemented mandatory standards for insulation, draught-proofing, and efficient heating/cooling in 2023 and Victoria is set to follow suit in 2027, leaving NSW is under pressure to follow suit.

NSW Rental Commissioner, Trina Jones, has been tasked with investigating how to improve energy efficiency in rental properties.

Bernadette Barrett, Deputy CEO of Better Renting, said it was time for the government to step in.

"After reading survey responses from renters who can't sleep, can't function properly in their homes, and in some cases are ending up in hospital because their homes are too hot, you have to ask — how are we allowing this to continue?" she said.

Barrett said the NSW Government has a clear opportunity to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards so that renters can sleep, work, and live safely. 

Currently, the only way for a tenant to claim a property is uninhabitable due to temperature is to take the matter to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal, a process that is often too slow and intimidating for young or vulnerable renters.

Langford said it would come as a huge relief if her landlord decided to install an air conditioning unit in their rental property, but they did not want to ask for it in case it led to an increase in their rent.

"We're very nervous that if we ask for aircon to be installed, that will risk a rent increase, and we just don't want to be priced out of our unit," she said.

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