Website allows renters to dob in dodgy real estate agents
Putting up with careless, lazy, greedy and unethical property managers may soon be a thing of the past.
The power imbalance between renters and rental agencies became slightly smaller this week with the launch of a tool allowing Australians to dob in dodgy behaviour.
Through the website S**t Rentals, which launched on Tuesday, tenants or prospective tenants were now able to anonymously review rental properties and agencies.
It was a creation of Jordan van den Berg who told news.com.au renters deserved more transparency from the often unethical rental industry.
“When you’re applying as a tenant, agents have access to so much information on you but you know nothing about the situation you’re going into,” Mr Van den Berg said.
“You don’t know what the landlord’s like or what the property’s going to be like, so the site is trying to give renters a bit more transparency and power in terms of making an informed decision.”
It had “really upset” Mr Van den Berg – who has been admitted as a lawyer – hearing stories of the incredible mistreatment endured by vulnerable Australians, particularly in the current rental crisis.
“They [agents] dictate your access to what is essentially a human right, and to see that be almost unregulated, is astounding,” the 27-year-old said.
He said his privilege — as someone who grew up in Sydney and went to a private school — had delivered him a sense of responsibility to help people less fortunate.
“I think people like me have an obligation to people who weren’t as lucky or weren’t born in the right postcode,” Mr Van den Berg, who is employed as a public servant, said.
“I don’t think it’s fair that people like me get to flourish through no effort versus someone who has to struggle for their whole life just by the luck of the draw.”
He classified a rental he exposed in Melbourne’s inner city suburb of Maribyrnong earlier this year as one of the dodgiest properties he had encountered.
The shower was not connected to plumbing, causing water to leak throughout the home’s carpet so bad that planks of wood were laid to create semi-dry pathways.
“The place was a death trap. The gas inspector came by and said it was lucky the place had so many holes otherwise you’d probably be dead,” he said.
“There was asbestos everywhere and the shower just drained straight into the floor because it wasn’t connected to the plumbing, the carpets were wet throughout. They put duckboards down because otherwise you would just be squelching throughout the house.
“Instead of addressing the issues, the landlord hiked their rent up.”
The instance was sadly far from isolated. In just a few days since launching his site, Mr Van den Berg has received hundreds of submissions from people with similar stories.
He was independently checking every review before adding it to his site, which he said was “a lot of work” but was necessary in delivering industry change that was desperately needed.
The concept had been attempted before, but according to Mr Van den Berg it had never been successful because businesses were attempting to profit from vulnerable people being taken advantage of.
He speculated his videos, and now his site, was likely the first time property managers had been forced to answer for themselves.
“I’d love it to be something renters can rely on and trust when they’re looking for a rental,” he said.
An interactive map similar to those that appear on realestate.com.au was what he hoped the site would eventually entail.
“This shouldn’t be necessary, it’s the government’s job to address the power imbalance and to regulate this human right. It shouldn’t be up to a renter to be their own rental cop,” he said.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves said the onus was on tenants to make sure a property was compliant with standards before agreeing to live there.
“REIA strongly encourages all tenants to inspect the property they intend to occupy prior to signing any lease agreement and to work with the property manager representing the owner to ensure the property is compliant with reasonable housing standards,” Mr Groves told news.com.au.
Mr Van den Berg said renters could support the site by submitting reviews, and if they could afford it, buying some merch.
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