‘A woman snuck into my home and began using my stuff - it was the landlord’

“When you would leave, she would use our bathroom, the kitchen and she’d use our laundry without our knowledge … and the real estate agent was letting this happen,” Tahlia says in the video.

Tahlia's landlord was secretly living on the property. Source: TikTok/tahlz89

When Tahlia moved from Brisbane to Sydney, she hoped to find the perfect rental property. 

She and her husband had never been to Sydney before, so she was admittedly “naive” about the state’s rental crisis. 

Despite this, they picked a place they thought was perfect, as it was “fully furnished”, close to the city and affordable. 

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“Was somebody living here an hour ago?”

But, according to Tahlia, they got more than they bargained for when they signed their contract, she told TikTok. 

“We thought we were doing the right thing because we went through a legitimate, well-known real estate,” she explained. “And I would never recommend that one.” 

She did not name the real estate in question. 

When Tahlia picked up the keys to her rental property, she explained the experience was “very strange.” 

Upon arrival, they noticed the screen door was locked, but the front door was open. 

“It smelled like it had just been cleaned, like 10 minutes before,” she said. “The fan was on, the lights were on, and the back door was unlocked.” 

She also found bananas and canned foods around the kitchen, and a cat was trying desperately to get into the property.

She explained that the real estate agent had done an entry report in the morning, so Tahlia knew something was awry. 

“Was somebody living in here, like an hour ago?” she asked the agent. Ignoring the red flags, she and her husband lived on the property “for a long time.” 

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Then they noticed a woman sitting in their front yard and frequently checked the mailbox and bins.

Tahlia explained that they “knew all the tenants” that lived in the area, and this woman “wasn’t one of them.” 

Turns out, the landlord was living in a van out the front of the unit.

“When you would leave, she would use our bathroom, the kitchen, and she’d use our laundry without our knowledge,” Tahlia revealed. “And the real estate was, somehow, allowing this to happen.” 

“She would come in with her dog and go through our mail and go through our bins,” she said. 

One day when Tahlia was working from home, she spotted the landlord sitting in the front yard “with a mate having a cup of tea.” 

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Tahlia's landlord was secretly living on the property. Source: TikTok/tahlz89

“I’m so glad you’re out of there!”

According to NSW Fair Trading, a landlord may only enter a rented property “without the tenant’s consent if they provide notice to the tenant.”

There are a minimum of two days’ notice required when inspecting the property unless the landlord believes the property has been abandoned, if urgent repairs are required or if there is an emergency.

Fellow Australians were outraged at the video, calling the landlord’s actions despicable. 

“This is insanity, are you kidding me?” a baffled person wrote. “I’m so glad you’re out of there!”

“Holy f***!” said another.

Originally published as ‘A woman snuck into my home and began using my stuff - it was the landlord’