‘Have been more than fair’: Anthony Albanese responds to tenant’s eviction plea

Anthony Albanese has revealed why he served a long-time tenant an eviction notice, after the man made a public plea for the PM not to kick him out.

Anthony Albanese has broken his silence on his decision to serve an eviction notice to a longstanding tenant, revealing the reason for kicking the man out is all about his “changing circumstances” and his wedding to partner Jodi Haydon.

But he’s accused tenant Jim Flanagan, 45, of failing to engage with the real estate agent about resolving the matter after he went public with his plea for mercy.

The Prime Minister, who was grilled on the dispute during a breakfast radio interview, also claimed he was giving him a cut price deal that was “half” the going rate for the property.

“Does he have to leave?” ABC Radio National host Patricia Karvelas asked.

“Well, Patricia, from time to time … people’s personal circumstances change and my personal circumstances and the changes have been pretty public.” Mr Albanese replied.

Karvelas then asked if he was referring to “getting married”.

“Yes. And I’m changing arrangements,” Mr Albanese said.

“The person who’s in the property, in his own words, I have been a more than fair owner of that property.

“He’s lived there for four years. There were other people there at the time and his personal circumstances have changed.

“He’s a small business owner. I have had him in the property with the rent being about half what is the market rent.”

Evicted tenant Jim Flanagan. Picture: Instagram

Mr Flanagan had been Anthony Albanese’s tenant for four years. Picture: Instagram

Mr Albanese was then asked if he wasn’t prepared to let him stay a little longer.

“Well, he’s refused to have discussions with the real estate agent,’’ Mr Albanese claimed

“That’s a matter for him. I wish him well. He has been well looked after for a long period of time.

“But I am entitled to make decisions in my personal life including selling a property that I own because I wish to move on in my personal life in a different direction. The property was bought when my personal circumstances were different.”

Speaking on Melbourne radio, Mr Flanagan said he had “never refuted or disputed that, that the PM, as his landlord, didn’t have the right to do what he’s doing.”

“He is absolutely entitled to issue a termination notice 100 per cent. I have nothing against Albo personally. Or property owners,” he said.

“But I guess there’s just … when you’re a renter, there is a power disconnect between landlords and renters.

“Ideally, I guess we’re just looking for a little bit more of a considerate approach when it comes to evictions, terminations issues, notices to vacate.

“And I guess I was just a little surprised that I wasn’t afforded that.”

The tenant said that the way the eviction was handled “seems a little bit misaligned” with the messaging Labor has been putting out about the rental and cost of living crisis.

Mr Flanagan said he wasn’t asking for a special deal.

“I certainly wasn’t seeking to ambush the Prime Minister,” he said.

“I did call out before the story ran that I’d been approached by the media so I gave them absolutely every opportunity to respond.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a response to those emails.”

Mr Flanagan a Labor voter and former owner of The Sausage Factory, a brewery and snaggery in the trendy Sydney inner west suburb of Dulwich Hill, learned the grim news from his real estate agent, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

He is the ex-partner of self-described “Sausage Queen” Chrissy Flanagan who rose to prominence after her TikToks went viral where she praised the Prime Minister as a fantastic landlord.

But now Mr Flanagan he has issued a public plea to the PM not to kick him out warning it will “kill me”.

Mr Flanagan, who has lived at the three-bedroom townhouse in Dulwich Hill, 9km from Sydney’s CBD, for the past four years, said he accepted the PM was within his rights as landlord but it was a crushing blow.

“This will kill me, it’s a crippling blow right now,” Mr Flanagan told the publication.

“I have mixed emotions in calling this out. I voted for Albo at the last election and am broadly a supporter of his policies.”

While he understands Mr Albanese has a right to evict him, he said it just “doesn’t sit well” given there are so many Aussies, like him, who are finding the cost-of-living crisis difficult to navigate.

Jim and Chrissy Flanagan used to run The Sausage Factory in inner Sydney Dulwich Hill.

Below market rent

Mr Albanese famously dropped Mr Flanagan’s rent to $680 during Covid, and had not raised it since.

It appears to be going for well below market rates, given that a three-bedroom townhouse currently available for rent in Dulwich Hill is going for $800 a week.

Mr Flanagan said the PM had been “very generous” in managing the rent.

Mr Albanese has confirmed he plans to sell the property ahead of his wedding to Jodi Haydon.

“I’ve had changes in my personal life so I’ve decided to sell the property,” Mr Albanese said.

In correspondence obtained by The Daily Telegraph, the real estate agent gave the tenant three months to vacate.

“Please be advised that the landlord requires vacant possession of the property … 90 days after the service of this letter,” it states.

In a text, the agent confirmed that the decision was “aligned with the landlord” and he may be selling the home at some point.

Mr Albanese purchased the investment rental property for $1.175 million in 2015. It’s now estimated to be worth between $1.9 and $2.2 million, according to CoreLogic.

He rents out his former home, with a backyard pool, in nearby Marrickville for $1350 a week.

Anthony Albanese and Chrissy Flanagan at the Sausage Factory. Picture: Kate Christian.

It’s fair to say The Sausage Factory’s owners were fans of Albo.

‘Albo is my landlord’

In a video shared to TikTok, former tenant Chrissy Flanagan previously revealed she was surprised when she signed her lease about two-and-a-half years ago and saw her new home was owned by the Labor leader.

“So, Albo, by total coincidence, is my landlord,” said Ms Flanagan, who also ran The Sausage Factory.

“I didn’t know that until I went to sign the lease.”

However, before she signed the lease she posed for photographs with him on a sausage collaboration and repeatedly referred to him as “Hot Albo” in online posts.

In one photo on her social media account she brandishes a pink knitted sausage while posing in front of “a shrine” to the Labor leader.

“I have plans for you, #hotalbo. Knitted sausage plans. I’m in at The Sausage Factory all night if you care to collaborate on this living @AlboMP shrine,” she wrote.

The Sausage Factory, which has now closed, was in Mr Albanese’s inner Sydney electorate of Grayndler.

In another post she retweeted then Prime Minister Scott Morrison is described as a “sausage biscuit” and an “idiot”.

The day before the 2019 election she wrote that Mr Albanese was “a beast”.

She revealed that because her business was struggling from the first lockdown Mr Albanese reduced her rent by 25 per cent – and has left it at that price ever since.

“And admittedly things still are patchy in the hospitality sector, but I don’t think other people are still getting that sort of support from their landlords.”

Ms Flanagan said she wanted to share what type of person Mr Albanese was on a small scale.

The Sausage Factory in Dulwich Hill, Sydney, which has now closed.

“No one knows about this. Of course I felt compelled to tell you about it now. But he never asked me to,” she says in the video.

“I don’t know if he remembers that this house or I exist, he’s got a lot on at the moment.

“How cool is it that someone who is a politician will do whatever they can do on a small scale, the things they want to do on a big scale.”

She finishes her video saying “he’s just a good dude, he’s a really good dude” before telling people to vote for him.

“I have a sausage business and Albo has always been very cool to me, from when I started doing breweries several years ago,” she said.

“He would pop in and have a sausage.

“Over the years I’ve gotten to know him, and the last election we collaborated on a sausage and launched a democracy sausage.”

Originally published as ‘Have been more than fair’: Anthony Albanese responds to tenant’s eviction plea