Landlords housing crisis: Craig thought his five-home property empire would be the nest egg to fund his retirement – but instead it became a money pit. Now he’s taking drastic action: ‘I own five debts’

Some landlords in one Australian state say they are fed up with being ‘demonetised’ and are selling their rental properties, saying it is too expensive to keep them.

Kitchen supplies salesman Craig Doyle, 61, and his wife hoped that investing their retirement in property a decade ago would give them a nice nest egg.

But it didn’t work out that way, and the couple, who live in Melbourne’s western suburbs, claim to have lost almost $100,000 and are selling all four of their investment units.

They are paying more in state taxes, municipal rates, corporate fees and compliance costs – and are being pushed to the brink by rising costs.

‘People say ‘you have five houses’, but that’s not true, I have five debts. They’re killing me, and they’re taking back my ability to retire,” Doyle told the newspaper Australian Financial Statement.

Mr Doyle said he is selling it to get his money back and will put it into retirement because it is “too expensive” to own investment properties in Victoria.

Each of the Doyles units has been subject to a huge land tax increase that Victoria introduced to help pay for its massive national debt following successive Covid-19 lockdowns.

Landowners have been hit with an average of $1,300 in extra land tax per property, with family homes exempt.

“We are the ones being demonized. It is unfair that the (Victorian) government is burdening my generation,” Doyle said.

‘They go after the people they think have money. But why do we have to pay these taxes to make up for the poor management of the state government?”

Property consultant Nick Menz is also selling his rental property in the Melbourne suburb of Point Cook due to higher land taxes.

“Anyone who owns an extra property in Victoria is going to be in trouble,” he said, adding that investors could make much better returns on their investments in Queensland and Western Australia.

Since January 1, new fixed charges have applied to second homes and investment properties in Victoria.

A flat-rate annual tax of $500 is imposed on properties with a land value between $50,000 and $100,000.

The payment rises to $975 for homes valued between $100,000 and $300,000, with an additional 0.1 percent of the land value applied to properties valued at more than $300,000.

When the state budget was announced, the Victorian Labor government predicted 860,000 Victorians would be affected, with 380,000 paying the tax for the first time.

The average land tax increase from the levy – which is expected to last ten years – will be $1,300 on a land value of $650,000, which is a holiday or investment property worth around $1.3 million.

Potential tenants are pictured standing in a long line to watch an open inspection of the property

A real estate agent in Melbourne’s south-west said more than 100 clients have sold their investment properties through his office alone in the past 15 months because they knew higher land taxes were coming, and indeed they got in the door.

The backlash in Victoria came after former Sunrise presenter David Koch called on Australians to “love their landlords” amid the rent crisis and told frustrated tenants to “focus their anger on all three levels of government”.

In an op-ed for The Nightly, Koch said landlords have been vilified for raising rents on properties across Australia, while not enough blame has been placed on the government.

He said the real reason rents are rising is “a combination of rising interest rates, a lack of new development due to a shortage of land, delays in approvals, banks reducing lending capacity and developers going bankrupt.”

Former Sunrise presenter David Koch (pictured left) has written a ‘love letter’ to landlords. On the right of the photo are young tenants

“Under Labor, life is becoming increasingly difficult for Victorians across the state,” Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto said.

“Renters, homebuyers and Victorians with the most modest land holdings used as savings for their retirement should not be the ones paying for the Labor government’s financial mismanagement.

“With major projects costing billions of dollars and record debt continuing to grow, it is inevitable that Victorians will continue to pay new and higher taxes under Labor.”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas for comment.