A real estate company in Brisbane has sent out a letter encouraging renters to buy their landlords a Christmas present in the same year that the average rental price for the city increased by nearly 16 percent.
In a screenshot of an email sent by the agency via Reddit, a spokesperson for the company said “this year has been particularly challenging for both our tenants and property owners alike and we understand some tenants would like to thank their property owner for everything in 2021”.
The agency then lists a number of Christmas hampers priced from $50 to $115 based on a series of themes. They include a “white wine grazing box”, a “festive sweets basket”, a “foodies hamper”, something called an “all things golden” and a “self-care hamper”.
The decision has been called out for being rather tactless when renters are struggling to survive in the Sunshine State.
According to The West Australian, one-third of Australians who rely on the National Rental Affordability Scheme reside in Queensland. TL;DR: the scheme offers a reduced 20 percent off the market price of a rental property for low and middle-income households. More than half of the electorates that live off it are from Queensland and under the Morrison government, it’s expected to expire in the next few years.
According to a report by CoreLogic via the social housing advocate group Everyone’s Home, the national rent for all properties increased by 15.1% between June 2020 – June 2021. The national rent for apartments increased by 8.1 percent in that same period. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also reported via Everyone’s Home at the time that social housing across the country had dropped from 4.6 percent to 4.2 percent.
In the letter, the agency stressed that the option is “100% optional” and that renters “certainly [are] under no obligation to do so”. But knowing those above statistics, it’s hard to imagine anyone spending nearly half of their weekly rent on a gift for the very people who are paid that rent. Does the landlord not get enough by essentially having their mortgage paid for them?
Over on the Reddit post, Aussie renters have slammed the decision as “bootlicking” with others claiming that the agency should be giving out hampers to the landlords themselves.
“I feel this is done in poor taste,” said one user.
Another commented: “My gift to the landlord is the $30,000 in rent I paid them this year. Pretty fucking generous, no?”
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to the real estate agency behind the letter however they did not reply at the time of publishing.
