Renter gobsmacked by real estate agent’s ‘inappropriate’ email to her partner

A Brisbane renter has been left fuming after her boyfriend received an “inappropriate” email from their real estate agent.

A Queensland renter has been left fuming after her boyfriend received a bizarre email from their real estate agency about their relationship status.

The Brisbane tenant shared an email her partner had received from the managing director of the agency they were renting through.

The 31-year-old told the Reddit Australia group the email was only sent to her partner, 29, despite both of them being on the lease.

In the email, the real estate agent claimed they had “heard” he was “no longer together” with his girlfriend, adding that she was sorry if she was incorrect in her assumption.

The agent explained that, as their current nine month lease was due to expire, they didn’t want to send through a lease renewal “if your situation has changed”.

The email noted that if he wanted to take another lease then the owner would want a small rent increase within a few month’s time.

The agent also offered for the boyfriend to extend the lease for three months.

“We’re both pretty baffled why they would be commenting on our relationship, pretty inappropriate and unprofessional!” the poster said.

The real estate agent sent this email to the poster’s boyfriend. Picture: Automobile-Gangsta/Reddit

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The girlfriend also explained in the comment section of the post that she and her partner were “very much still together” and she has no idea where the real estate agent would have heard otherwise.

To make the situation even more bizarre, she revealed that she was the one in their relation who would correspond with the agency the most.

“Maybe they liked him more because I was the one doing the maintenance requests,” she added.

The post immediately attracted attention from other social media users, with people gobsmacked by the email.

“Not only is it super weird and unprofessional to comment on your personal relationship but it also feels sketchy to go behind the back of one of your tenants to ask the other one what they want to do with the lease that has both names on it,” one person said.

“You should both be informed of what’s happening and allowed to have a say. The implication from the REA that your bf should get to make the sole decision on your shared housing situation and you should be left in the dark is wild.”

“What if they had separated and the OP wanted to renew on her own? So dodgy to offer the choices to the boyfriend only,” another said.

The tenant lives in the rental with her partner in Brisbane. Picture: iStock

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Others questioned whether the real estate agent had gotten the tenants mixed up with someone else, with many claiming they could not think of another reason why they would send such an email.

In an update, the poster revealed she and her partner decided to move out of the home and received their bond back so no longer “have anything to do with this REA”.

“They were pretty terrible to deal with unfortunately and this prying comment was a further red flag,” she said.

Speaking to news.com.au, Sydney real estate agent, Amir Jahan, said it is not an agent’s business to know what is going on in their tenant’s personal life.

“As an agent it has nothing to do with me if my tenant is doing through a divorce, if my tenant is going through something [like that],” he said.

Mr Jahan, who founded A-Class Estate Agents, said the only way he would need to be involved is if it was a “serious matter”.

Real estate agent, Amir Jahan, said it is not an agent’s business to know what is going on in their tenant’s personal life. Picture: @amirmyagent/Instagram

“If I get a call from the police, or I get a call from the neighbours, or there is a noise complaint or something like that going on, then I can take action,” he said.

So long as tenants are paying rent on time, he hasn’t received any noise complaints and the property is in good condition when he does the routine inspection, then Mr Jahan said he “doesn’t care”.

The real estate agent revealed he had experienced a similar situation in the past where a lease was set to expire on a property he managed and he reached out to the tenant to ask them if they would like to renew.

When he spoke with the renter, she told him that she and her partner, who was also living at the property, were going through a divorce.

“All I said was, ‘OK, I know you are a good tenant, you pay your rent on time. I know this lease is under your and your partner’s name, so what do you want to do? Do you want to put the lease under your name or are you still happy to renew under both of you?’” Mr Jahan said.

The tenant said she wanted to renew just under her name so that is what they did.

He doesn’t understand the thinking of agents and property managers that want to “be nosy and act like an investigator” to find out personal things about their tenants.

“It doesn’t work like that,” he said.