As surely as the Earth will always rotate around the Sun, real estate agents and landlords will always find a way to charge the most heinous price imaginable for anything with more than three walls. And this listing from a regional Victorian agent discovered by Purple Pingers sets the rental standard for 2024 at a horrific low.
Messiah of the renting population Jordan van den Berg, known online as Purple Pingers, closed off his 2023 with a final post to his socials flagging a property he had discovered was up for rent in regional Victoria, charging $2500 a month.
Which given the area — Mangalore, a town two hours north of Melbourne — sounds like it isn’t too expensive… until you see the photos of the “home”.
I swear, no matter how ready you think you are, you aren’t.
A landlord who happens to also be a real estate agent is offering this property for rent at $2500 a month in regional Victoria.
— Purplepingers (@purplepingers) December 31, 2023
Story coming soon. #shitrentals pic.twitter.com/p2UevZjOUB
The home was furnished with caved in ceilings, decrepit and breaking down walls, piles and piles of rubble and exposed insulation. Not to mention the mess of random possessions, clothes, and bedsheets left festering in piles for God knows how long.
From just viewing the house in these photos alone, it’s blatantly obvious that the property does not meet the minimum renting standards, as Pingers later states.
Attached to Purple Pingers’ New Year’s Eve posts were emails the applying tenant received from the agent trying to sell the hellish property — who also happened to be its landlord.
“The property is full of rubbish and in very bad condition. You’re welcome to go and have a look, but it’s not for the feint hearted,” warned the agent.
Look, ya can’t say they weren’t honest about the condition. That said, “very bad” feels like a HUGE understatement.
Today Purple Pingers provided the full story on the property, which he was made aware of via the ‘Don’t Rent Me’ Facebook page he oversees.
@purplepingers The video is on YouTube if you want to watch it there! 12 Cambrey Lane, Mangalore VIC #shitrentals ♬ original sound – Jordie van den Berg
The Robin Hood of renters explained the situation of the potential tenant, saying that she was someone with a neurodivergent son who owns a horse to help calm him. Therefore they need to live on a property with enough space for the horse to live, and were looking for properties in the regional Victorian town of Mangalore.
Purple Pingers hinted that the renter’s current property allegedly doesn’t meet minimum living standards either, but she was willing to live there to affordably meet her needs.
The owner of this property then raised its rent by “an absolutely absurd amount” that Pingers states is “ridiculous for a house that’s not legally able to be rented out.”
The renter then discovered the cursed Mangalore property, and provided a video walking through the dishevelled house.
The tour showcased all the problems with the home, from it’s completely unkept state, to the health issues it posed to anyone brave/foolish/desperate enough to live there.
Throughout the video tour, the person holding the camera can be heard to STRUGGLE TO BREATHE after less than five minutes in the nasty nest.
The full version of yesterday’s post is now on YouTube as the agent has had a chance to respond to my queries – it’s long af I’m so sorry. Link here: 12 Cambrey Lane, Mangalore Victoriahttps://t.co/gGlf5nKO33 pic.twitter.com/372d0KFgDK
— Purplepingers (@purplepingers) January 1, 2024
This video has me gagging, and I don’t mean metaphorically.
If you’re a renter whose reading this, chances are you’ve lived in some pretty bad places before. Hell, maybe you’re like me and living in one right now — shoutout to my landlord for raising the rent anyway!
But I think pretty much 99.9% of us would agree that we’ve never lived anywhere THIS bad. Big #CheckMyPrivilege moment TBH.
Other vile listings have been made by agents and landlords that we’ve reported on before, like a literal Sydney garage for $250 a week, but this house takes the cake for being in an absolutely unliveable condition, while still genuinely offered by an agent.
Despite the atrocious state of the place, Purple Pingers then shared that the renter pursued conversation with the agent/owner to try and get the price down, given the “very bad condition”.
While wearing an iconic shirt printed with “Peg The Rich“, Pingers then explains how he did some digging around, and found out that the real estate agency that the renter was speaking to, are also the property’s owners.
Pingers then reached out to the owners of the company/property to ask them about if the home had any asbestos on the premises, or had been used for illegal purposes. The agent replied “not to my knowledge.”
The agent then confirmed that the house had been offered to rent for the price of $2500 a month, but disclosed that that offer was “no longer on the table.”
Despite the agent showing a quality that is almost unheard in their trade: honesty about the property being poor condition, that does not redeem the unethical act offering an UNLIVEABLE property up for rent.
Housing is a basic human need, and the idea of a home being liveable should not be something renters have to ask. It’s not even bare minimum, it’s more like the objective definition. FFS.
To all real estate agents still reading: Show a shred of humanity. Sell houses. Not holes. Bloody hell.
Jordan van den Berg is also the creator and operator of the non-profit site ShitRentals.org where renters can review and roast agents, landlords, and properties. All hail Purple Pingers.
