Sneaky tactic ‘foreign landlords’ are used to kick tenants out of their homes – and why it could happen to you
- Tenant shared eviction email from estate agent
- 90 days to move, overseas owners returning
- Property is then relisted for increased rent
A renter has revealed the ‘unethical’ tactic of greedy landlords are using to force their tenants out and jack-up prices in the midst of Australia’s deepening rental crisis.
Locals were left fuming after one tenant in Sydney’s Zetland shared an unexpected email from their agent demanding them to vacate the property on short notice.
‘I was given 90 days’ notice to move [as] the owners are supposedly moving back in – also overseas owners,’ the renters shared in a Facebook community group.
‘I wasn’t given any rent increase, just a ‘you have to move’.’
The tenants from Sydney’s south shared the eviction notice they had received from their real estate agent claiming to be the overseas landlords who were moving back in (pictured)
The shared tenants that they had encountered numerous other renters in the area who had also suddenly been evicted with a 90-day notice period – all because the overseas landlords wanted to move back in.
‘And now I’ve just seen my old place I’ve just moved out of now on the app to rent – but $300 more,’ they wrote.
The tenant claimed real estate agents were ‘bullying tenants in the area and using whatever law they could kick people out’.
The dodgy practice isn’t going unnoticed, with the renters confirming they had made an official complaint to the NSW Fair Trading and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
‘If we don’t report it, the agents will continue to do so,’ they said.
‘We should be standing up to this’.
‘Of course it’s likely there’s a really small percentage of owners who intend to move back in that then don’t, but that’s a really small chance, it just feels like they are doing whatever dodgy practices they can to increase the rent.’
The renter said they had spoken to numerous other tenants in Zetland who had all been forced out for the same reason (pictured, stock image)
Joe Alder has been forced out of almost half of the 10 different properties he’s lived in since moving from the UK in 2018 because the landlord falsely claimed someone was moving back in (pictured, Mr Alder’s eviction notice)
The dodgy tactic of overseas owners is doing what sees desperate renters forced out of their homes, just for properties to be relied on at a higher price (pictured, renters at an open house)
Another Sydney renter said he has also experienced the same thing, having lived in 10 different properties since moving from the UK in 2018.
Joe Alder told News.com.au he has been forced out of almost half of the rentals he’s lived in because the landlord falsely claimed someone was moving back in.
The most recent was only a few weeks ago, with Mr Adler discovering the Coogee property he had just been evicted from had been relisted for an extra $150 a week.
‘I was proper struggling to find anywhere, it was super stressful,’ he said.
‘I ended up having to pay more (for a new property) and wasted four weekends looking at apartments.’
‘I realized after they probably didn’t offer the rent increase to me because they had already increased the rent four months ago … so they fully lied about it and they even wrote a letter and said that was the reason I was being evicted.’
‘I was very pissed off. There’s so much cost and stress involved (in moving) but it’s completely legal and happens literally all the time.’