In good news for Sydney renters, rental bidding wars have finally been banned in NSW — a practice that’s already illegal in Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.
If you’ve tried to rent in Sydney in the last two years, chances are most of the properties you’ve come across haven’t advertised a fixed rental price — meaning prospective tenants can offer to pay more money than listed for the rental in order to secure it.
So if a house is going for $600 a week in rent, someone can offer the real estate $650 or $700 to make sure they’re the one who bags it, leaving those without extra cash priced out of the market.
It’s fkn rough out here, but that’s about to change.
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced rental bidding will finally be banned from Saturday December 17 onwards.
“We know right across the country the property market is tight and the rental market is difficult,” Perrottet said on Monday, per 9 News.
“Real estate agents will no longer be able to enter bidding wars with prospective tenants.
“The set price will always be the price. We want to make sure tenants across NSW have that certainty and know when they’re looking for a home, the real price that is advertised is the rental price they will have to pay.”
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the laws will be in effect from the coming weekend, when Fair Trading will check advertised properties to make sure they advertise a fixed price.
Any real estate agent caught listing properties with a price range, having offers open to negotiation or encouraging renters to bid over the advertised price of a rental will face some pretty steep fines: up to $5500 for an individual agent or landlord and $11,000 for a corporation or agency.
FYI, you can also report any dodgy listings or agents to Fair Trading if you are being encouraged to engage in rental bidding wars.
Guardian Australia found in an investigation in October this year that major real estate websites were listing disparities of $100 to $150 in rent for some in-demand properties.
If you’re thinking “no way people are paying $100 above the listed price, isn’t this a fkn bribe?”, think again. If four people share a house, it could easily be justified as only an extra $25 a week each. Which is better than not being housed at all.
The sentiment has been echoed by people online, after Sydney TikToker Sophia Kim (@sophiainsydney) called the rental market “brutal” and accused real estate agents of trying to drive competition for housing by creating bidding wars.
@sophiainsydney Replying to @Jack OHara502 trying to have his cake and eat it too 🍰🏡📈 I’m over this; good news is I found something today 🏆 #sydney #sydneyrentals #rentinginsydney #apartment #sydneyapartment #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #sydneyrent #sydneyhome
“I applied before inspection and offered $50-$75 over and three months of rent and it still took me a month to find somewhere,” one commenter wrote on the TikTok.
I myself had to deal with Sydney’s cooked real estate market in 2021. I spent nine months looking for four bedroom homes and increased my household’s rental budget from $700 to $850 a week with zero luck because we kept getting outbid. I gave up and moved out by myself into a small apartment.
But with these changes, it looks like the rental market is about to change. Let’s fkn hope so!
