The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is offering a helping hand to non-English speaking people trying to find a rental property.
The institute has joined forces with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to make it easier for real estate agents and tenants to communicate.
REIA has translated its Renting A Property factsheet into ten of the new and emerging foreign languages used in Australian communities.
These include: Arabic, Hazaragi (Dari), Farsi (Persian), Mandarin (Chinese), Karen (Myanmar), Hakha-Chin (Bangladesh, Myanmar, India), Tamil (Sri Lank, India), Kurdish, Nepali and Dinka (Southern Sudan).
REIA president Pamela Bennett said that "low vacancy rates have resulted in an increasingly competitive private rental market, which poses particular challenges for new Australians with little or no English".
The scheme will also provide a translating telephone service which has provided much needed assistance.
"There has been a strong uptake of the service, particularly in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, where we've seen high settlement rates," Ms Bennett added.
This initiative acknowledges how diverse Australia's local communities are becoming and looks to address the changing needs of renters.
