Neighbours react to PM’s tenant’s call for mercy

The Prime Minister’s tenant has asked for mercy but his story hasn’t attracted much sympathy among neighbours.

A renter’s plea for the Prime Minister not to evict him due to a pending sale hasn’t appeared to have attracted much sympathy among neighbours in his Sydney suburb.

This week, Jim Flanagan revealed that Anthony Albanese had given him 90 days’ notice to leave the Dulwich Hill home, in teh city’s inner west, he’d rented from the politician for four years.

In a story published a day after the federal budget, small business owner Mr Flanagan described the PM as a “great landlord” but said the eviction was a “crippling blow”.

“He has every right to sell his assets … but it just doesn’t sit well when, one on hand he’s trying to be sympathetic with the majority of Australians who are, like me, finding the current climate extremely challenging.”

Jim Flanagan is set to be evicted. Picture: Instagram

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is his landlord. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

It was also revealed he had been paying $680 per week for the three-bed, two-bathroom home since Mr Albanese dropped the rent during the pandemic.

According to realestate.com.au, the “low range” for the property worth $2m on the rental market was estimated at $990 per week.

After an intense day of wall-to-wall media interviews yesterday, Mr Flanagan did not respond when news.com.au visited his Lewisham St townhouse on Friday.

Movement could be heard inside, and a note left under the front door by this reporter had been retrieved.

The townhouse (left) is worth an estimated $2m. Picture: LJ Hooker

Other locals were more willing to chat about the story that had turned a spotlight on the inner west suburb this week.

Jane O’Keefe said it had been a hot topic of conversation over coffee on the main drag on Friday morning. She thinks Mr Albanese had acted by the book.

“He’s not saying he’s a bad tenant,” she said.

“When you’re a renter you are beholden to the landlord.

“It’s life. That’s the reality of it, unfortunately. It’s stressful for him (Mr Flanagan).”

Her friend Ann Divers, however, questioned whether the Prime Minister needed the cash right now – particularly in the middle of a housing crisis.

“As the landlord, he’s the one calling the shots,” she said.

“And he knows the direction about housing and immigrants coming in.

“He doesn’t need the money. It’s a difficult environment.”

Jim Flanagan ran local business The Sausage Factory with his ex-partner Chrissy.

Daniel, who was visiting from Gunnedah, was more succinct in his judgment: “Get ‘em out,” he said.

“You gotta go mate.”

A resident of Lewisham St said he had some sympathy for Mr Flanagan but believed Mr Albanese was in the right.

“Being the PM it’s a bit different but it’s his property,” he said.

“It is a tough one, but if someone wants to sell their property you can’t say, ‘Poor me’.”

One woman in the street said she thought Mr Albanese’s circumstances had changed.

“It think Albo’s got the right (to sell),” she said.

“He’s getting married. His life has changed.”

‘Sick joke’

Mr Albanese has said the decision was triggered in part by his upcoming wedding to fiance Jodie Haydon.

The Prime Minister said he had been “more than fair” with the arrangement Mr Flanagan has enjoyed while renting the home.

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

Greens housing spokesman Max Mason-Chandler seized on the developing story on Thursday to slam Mr Albanese’s comments that Flanagan was “well looked after” as a “sick joke”.

“The prime minister has landlord brain if he thinks it is ‘more than fair’ to evict a renter who pays $680 a week rent and wants to stay in their home,” he said.

Max Chandler-Mather has been a strong advocate for rental reform. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Social media real estate scrutineer Jordan van den Berg – better known as Purple Pingers – wrote on X that kicking out a renter to sell a home should be outlawed.

“Does the prime minister of the landlord party know that you can sell a property whilst it’s tenanted? He probably does,” he said.

“Evicting a tenant because you want to sell a property is illegal in quite a few countries, and I reckon we should consider this in Australia.”

A typically hot take from Jordan van den Berg. Picture: X

Mr Albanese did find support from other voices that don’t often sing his praises in the guise of Sky News host Andrew Bolt and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce.

“The Prime Minister is being attacked by his own tenant for wanting now to evict him from the home that he’s rented out to this bloke for four years,” Mr Bolt said.

“Albanese says he’s actually been charging this bloke half the usual rent since the pandemic and is thinking to sell the property – which I think is absolutely his right.”

Andrew Bolt and Barnaby Joyce sided with the Prime Minister. Picture: Sky News

Mr Joyce agreed: “If someone moves into a rental house, it is a rental house”.

“The person who owns it may, at a time of their choosing, decide to cease the rent. That’s just how commerce works, and it works for Mr Albanese just like everybody else.

“I have empathy but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for a person who says ‘I want to live in the middle of Sydney, and I want to live in a rental house, and I want to make sure that the person who owns the house can never kick me out.’”

More political figures, such as former Victorian state minister Martin Pakula, have also backed the PM.

Mr Pakula pointed out the double standards of some critics who also derided politicians for owning investment properties.

“So @AlboMP shouldn’t be allowed to sell a house that he no longer wants to own because it will inconvenience his tenant (that he’s clearly looked after well),” he wrote on X.

“Talk about ‘can’t win’. Albo is bad if he’s a landlord and bad if he wants to sell and no longer be a landlord.”