Tactic ‘foreign landlords’ are using to kick tenants out and make more rent
Sneaky tactics ‘foreign landlords’ use to kick tenants out of their homes – and why it could be happening to you
- Tenant shared eviction email from estate agent
- 90 days to move in, foreign owners return
- Property is then relisted for higher rent
A tenant has revealed the ‘unethical’ tactic used by greedy landlords to evict their tenants and drive up prices amid Australia’s deepening rental crisis.
Locals were outraged after a tenant in Sydney’s Zetland shared an unexpected email from their agent asking them to vacate the premises at short notice.
“I was given 90 days notice to move [as] the owners are supposedly moving back in – also foreign owners,” the tenant shared in a Facebook community group.
“I didn’t get a rent increase, just a ‘you have to move’.”
The south Sydney tenant shared the eviction notice they received from their estate agent claiming the overseas landlords were moving back in (pictured)
The tenant shared that they had encountered numerous other tenants in the area who had also been suddenly evicted with 90 days’ notice – all because the foreign landlords wanted to move back in.
“And now I just saw my old house, I just moved in, now on the app to rent – only $300 more,” they wrote.
The tenant claimed that realtors were “bullying tenants in the area and using every possible law to kick people out.”
The unreliable practice has not gone unnoticed, with the hirer confirming that they have made an official complaint to NSW Fair Trading and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
“If we don’t report it, the officers will continue to do so,” they said.
“We should stand against this.”
“Of course there’s probably a very small percentage of owners who intend to move back and then don’t, but that’s a very slim chance, it just feels like they’re doing all sorts of dodgy practices to raise the rent.”
The tenant said they had spoken to numerous other tenants in Zetland who had all been forced out for the same reason (photo, stock image)
Joe Alder has been forced out of nearly 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)
Overseas owners’ dodgy tactics force desperate tenants out of their homes just to put properties up for sale again at a higher price (pictured, tenants at an open house)
Another tenant in Sydney said he has experienced the same thing, having lived in 10 different properties since moving from the UK in 2018.
told Joe Alder News.com.au he’s been forced out of nearly half the rental properties he’s lived in because the landlord falsely claimed someone was moving in again.
The most recent was just a few weeks ago, when Mr. Adler discovered that the Coogee property he had just been evicted from had been relisted for an additional $150 a week.
“I was really struggling to find somewhere, it was super stressful,” he said.
“I ended up paying more (for a new home) and wasting four weekends looking for apartments.”
“I realized after they probably didn’t offer me the rent increase because they already raised the rent four months ago…so they completely lied about it and even wrote a letter saying that’s why I got evicted.”
‘I was very angry. There are so many costs and stress (with moving) but it is perfectly legal and literally happens all the time.’