How Aussie real estate agents are illegally encouraging rental bidding wars – making it even harder to get a rental
Renters desperate to find a home claim they have been repeatedly pushed out of the market by invited “bids” despite them being outlawed.
Last year the NSW government banned estate agents from inviting potential tenants to bid on rental properties in response to the state’s housing crisis.
The move was followed in June this year by a further crackdown preventing third parties and landlords from encouraging people to submit higher weekly rent offers to beat out other potential tenants.
New rules will require agents and landlords to advertise fixed rents for all properties.
But the NSW Tenants Union says agents still put “considerable pressure” on tenants to offer rents higher than advertised.
The NSW Tenants Union claims estate agents across the state are illegally pushing potential tenants into rent wars.
“This pressure is being applied in a number of ways, including, unfortunately, the ongoing behavior of some agents and landlords who are ‘encouraging’ rule-breaking,” said the union’s policy and advocacy manager Jemima Mowbray. Nine news.
“Tenants report feeling conflicted: they can’t always afford higher rents and feel like they’ve wasted their time when it’s clear they’ve missed out on someone who offered more.”
NSW Fair Trading has confirmed it has issued $26,950 in fines to agents for breaching advertising restrictions following a “rent compliance campaign”.
Three agents are currently under investigation for allegedly encouraging prospective tenants to offer higher weekly rents than advertised.
It is understood NSW Fair Trading began enforcing the new rules in March, issuing 51 penalty notices amounting to $54,450 for relevant breaches.
The watchdog also monitors private advertising platforms such as Gumtree to ensure landlords comply with advertising requirements.
NSW Rents Commissioner Trina Jones said she had joined a team monitoring landlords and agents across the state.
NSW Fair Trading has fined agents a total of $26,950 for encouraging tenants to pay more than their advertised weekly rent.
“This includes a dedicated compliance campaign involving more than 250 inspections resulting in 76 notices of violation,” she said.
“I would strongly encourage anyone who witnesses agents soliciting offers to contact Fair Trading so we can continue our work to ensure fair rentals in NSW.”
The maximum penalty for violating the new laws is a fine of $5,500 for an individual and $11,000 in all other cases.