Anthony Albanese set for a $1million windfall profit from the sale of his inner city townhouse – as the row over the investment property takes new twist
Anthony Albanese is set to pocket a tidy $1 million profit from the sale of his Sydney investment property after his tenant complained he was being evicted.
On Wednesday, Jim Flanagan publicly begged the Prime Minister not to make him homeless after he was given a 90-day notice to vacate the three-bedroom townhouse in Dulwich Hill in the west of the city.
Mr Albanese wants to sell as he prepares to marry partner Jodie Haydon, but Mr Flanagan claims the eviction took him by surprise and was inconsistent with the government’s messaging on the housing crisis and helping tenants.
It has since emerged that comedian Chrissy Flanagan, the tenant’s ex-partner, is the surprising reason why the house’s rent remained at a bargain $680 per week, while comparable rents in the area were a few hundred dollars higher.
But despite the embarrassing lease dispute, Albanese will have the last laugh because the property is likely to sell for more than $2 million, after buying it just under a decade ago for about $1 million.
“I have been going through changes in my personal life, so I have decided to sell the property,” Mr Albanese said.
The Dulwich Hill mansion in Sydney’s Inner West is expected to reach a value of more than $2 million when sold, giving Anthony Albanese a profit of almost $1 million after purchasing it for $1.17 million in 2015
Mr Albanese said he wanted to sell the investment property due to changes in his personal life, particularly his upcoming wedding to Jodie Haydon (pictured together)
His tenant of four years at reduced rent, Jim Flanagan, publicly complained that his eviction was not in line with government messaging on tenant assistance
Mr Albanese bought the mansion in 2015 for $1.17 million.
It’s now worth between $1.96 million and $2.21 million, according to data from CoreLogic.
In a recent TikTok live video, filmed in March, Ms Flanagan revealed that the reason rent was kept so low on the property is because her name was still on the lease even though she had moved out months ago.
She now lives in a “glam shed” in nearby Marrickville, which is also part of Prime Minister Grayndler’s federal electorate.
“Albo is not still my landlord… but yes, my ex still lives in Albo’s house,” Ms Flanagan explained.
“My name is still on the lease because I don’t want his rent to go up, so I’m just being overly generous because Albo gave us a discount on the rent at the beginning of the pandemic because we were small business people.”
Ms Flanagan (left) said she had a personal relationship with Mr Albanese (right) and said: ‘I’m like semi-friends with him’
Ms Flanagan also revealed that she maintains a personal relationship with Mr Albanese and is still ‘semi-friends’ with him.
“Obviously I haven’t spoken to him since he became Prime Minister because he’s been very busy, but you know, if I saw him on the street, he would know me 100 percent and kiss me,” she said . .
Ms Flanagan on Thursday refused to comment on the saga between her ex and his landlord news.com.au that it was a matter between the two men.
Ms Flanagan previously told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Albanese was a good landlord who reduced rent by 25 per cent during the pandemic.
“Not every politician is the same in private as in public,” she said at the time.
‘I think when you get a glimpse of what someone is really like, when no one is looking, that tells you something.
“It’s just a small reflection of what someone is like in private and what they could be like if they had the opportunity to live their values more broadly.”
Ms Flanagan and her former partner ran a bar and restaurant together called Sausage Factory, which has now closed
Mr Albanese was previously a customer and was previously pictured with Ms Flanagan holding sausages.
Chrissy Flanagan (pictured right), the ex-partner of man Anthony Albanese (pictured left) who is evicting one of his properties, has revealed why the house’s rent remained so low
The Prime Minister grew up in public housing in Sydney but now owns a mortgage-free bungalow in Marrickville and the Dulwich Hill mansion.
He divides his time between The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House in Sydney, rent and mortgage free.
A shocked Mr Flanagan received the eviction notice from his real estate agent on May 8, telling him that Mr Albanese ‘might sell the house at some point’.
On Wednesday, he made his deportation order public, calling it a “crippling blow.”
This is despite the fact that Mr Albanese had reduced the rent for Mr Flanagan and his then partner to $680 a week during the pandemic and has not increased it since.
The market rate for a three-bedroom home in the area is currently around $800 per week.
Mr Flanagan was prompted to stay in the house after reading about the Government’s $1.9 billion package to cut rental costs for vulnerable people, announced in Tuesday’s federal budget.
“It just doesn’t sit right for (Mr Albanese) to sympathize with the majority of Australians who, like me, find the current climate extremely challenging,” he said.
But on Thursday the Prime Minister rejected Mr Flanagan’s plea, claiming he had been a good landlord.
“The person who is in the property says in his own words that I have been a more than fair owner of that property,” Mr Albanese told ABC Radio National host Patricia Karvelas.
The Prime Minister said he was ‘right’ to sell the property before his upcoming wedding to partner Jodie Haydon.
Mr Albanese was asked whether he would consider allowing Mr Flanagan to stay at the property a little longer.
Jim Flanagan (pictured) has begged his landlord Anthony Albanese not to throw him out after receiving an eviction notice
“Well, he has refused to have discussions with the broker,” Mr Albanese claimed.
‘That’s a matter for him. I wish him the best. He has been well cared for for a long time.
“I have the right to make decisions in my personal life, including the sale of a property I own, because I want to move in a different direction in my personal life.
‘The property was purchased when my personal circumstances were different.
‘He lived there for four years. There were other people there at the time and his personal circumstances have changed.”
Flanagan also spoke on radio on Thursday, saying he had “never refuted or disputed” that the prime minister had no right to deport him.
“He absolutely has the right to give notice, 100 percent. Personally, I have nothing against Albo. Or property owners,” he said.
“But I think there’s just… if you’re a renter, there’s a disconnect between landlords and tenants.
‘Ideally, we are looking for a slightly more considerate approach when it comes to evictions, dismissal issues and eviction notices.
“And I guess I was just a little surprised that I didn’t get that.”
Mr Flanagan has been given 90 days to vacate the Dulwich Hill property (pictured)
Anthony Albanese also owns this house in Marrickville (pictured), which is rented out
Flanagan said he “certainly had no intention of ambushing the Prime Minister.”
‘I did say before the story broke that I had been approached by the media, so I definitely gave them every opportunity to respond.
“Unfortunately, I have not received a response to those emails.”
The Prime Minister’s property portfolio was previously estimated to be worth around $5 million, although he has since sold a two-bedroom apartment in Canberra in 2022.
He rents out his former home in Marrickville, which has a swimming pool in the backyard, for $1,350 a week.