A local Sydney man has shared his rental horror story that almost cost $2.8k

The rental crisis is getting even more extreme after a potential tenant ended up in a tense exchange with a landlord for a bizarre reason.

A tense text message exchange has taken place between potential tenants and a landlord over the agreed weekly rent amount.

When Sydney carpenter Juan Martinez, 28, put down a deposit on a four-bedroom home in Marrickville with three friends, he was overjoyed to have found a new home.

He and his mates had applied for over 20 properties together and had felt disheartened by the rental market’s quality, even viewing properties with broken windows.

The elation didn’t last long.

Things turned ugly when the landlord asked for an extra $50 dollars a week in rent.

The situation is slightly unique to begin with because the landlord was using a service called RentBetter that aims to cut out the real estate agent and allow for owners to secure tenants without professionals intervening.

So, while Juan assumed he was dealing with a typical real estate agent, he was dealing with the property’s owner.

Juan was disappointed when finding a rental. Source: supplied

Pablo was also planning to move into the apartment. Source: supplied

Juan told news.com.au: “We got an email saying we were approved. (The landlord) asked for a $2800 deposit.”

In hindsight, Juan feels he was naive.

“We didn’t know much about real estate laws or anything. We did the deposit and the week later she sent us a rental agreement where, to our surprise, it said we’d be paying $1400 a week,” he said.

The email from the landlord did state the depoist of $2800 was for two weeks rent but Juan still believed he would be paying $1350 a week ongoing as that was the advertised rent and what he put on the rental application.

Unfortunately, the price hike meant the property was no longer within the group’s budget. “It might not sound like a lot, but we don’t have very deep pockets, and we’d already maxed out our budget,” Juan explained.

The landlord kept changing how much they'd return. Source: Suppplied

When the landlord refused to give Juan and his friends a full refund, she started negotiating with them.

“She went from saying ‘I’m keeping the whole $2800’ to ‘I’m giving you back $1400 to I’ll give you back $2100 and keep the rest’,” Juan explained.

The landlord’s final offer was a $700 refund.

A spokesman from the Tenants Union explained that a landlord can’t change the price after receiving a deposit.

“In this case, the level of rent payable is potentially the misrepresentation,” they explained.

The conversation became heated. Source: Supplied

Juan and his friends filled out their application and stated they'd pay $1350 a week.

During their back and forth, Juan began to read up on his rights as a renter and noticed some serious red flags in their previous exchanges.

“There was a lot we didn’t know; for example, she shouldn’t have asked for more than one weeks’ worth of holding fee.

“She never provided a receipt for the $2800, the rental agreement was sent one week later after she asked for money and not before, as it should have been legally, and the cherry on top (is that she) changed the rental price (from $1350) to $1400.”

News.com.au reached out to the landlord for comment but she declined to give one.

However, Juan was contacted soon after and sent a partial refund of $2150. He called it a “goodwill refund”.

Juan said he will still be taking the case to Fair Trading until the group received their original deposit back.

The property is currently listed for $1400 online.