By Violet Li
Renters say the “misleading advertising” of a Cranbourne house is preying on vulnerable people amid a housing crisis.
Cranbourne local Cathie, who preferred not to use her last name, was “extremely disgusted and angry” when she inspected the rental property at 33 Dearing Avenue with her mother, who wished to live closer to her daughter and spent 40 dollars on an Uber to come to the inspection.
She says that the real estate advertisement photos don’t accurately protray the current state of the property.
“The advertising of this house was a total fabrication,” she said.
“There wasn’t even a fence at the front. But in the photo, there is one.
“The bathroom was full of mould. The shower was pretty disgusting. There was leakage under the kitchen sink. Some wires were hanging out of one of those spare rooms. It looked pretty grubby. It didn’t look nice at all. And the skirting boards were filthy.
“The garden was not manicured, the pergola was an eyesore, fences falling down, holes and missing fence palings, weeds, broken sheds and windows, broken garage door, no front fence, and the list went on.”
At a recent property inspection, about 10 to 15 renters showed up. Some of them chatted about how the advertising photos failed to match the current condition of the property. Several of them showed visible discontent.
“Everyone was pretty p***ed off,” Cathie said.
She confronted the real estate agent, but he allegedly refused to answer any questions.
He allegedly told her just not to apply for the property if she didn’t like it.
“I do keep asking why he put the wrong photos on, and he wouldn’t answer that,” she said.
“I was asking if he thought we were all stupid. It’s humiliating. It’s wasting time.
“They are preying on vulnerable people who are desperate to find an affordable rental property to live in.”
The property is managed by Oakleigh South-based real estate agency Professionals First & Co. Its rental department was contacted for comments.
According to the Cranbourne property’s advertisement, the unfurnished house is priced at about $445 a week, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and one parking space. It was sold in 2018 for $472,000.
There is no other public information available for the renters.
The photos attached to the advertisement show the decent condition of a fully furnished house.
At the time of the writing, the property is still on the market.
Expert lawyer of Tenants Victoria Ben Cording said overseas students might sign rental contracts on the basis of the advertisement and without inspecting the premises.
“One of the challenges in this space is the buyers go and have a look, aware of what’s going on, and don’t sign up. But overseas students could look at the advertisement and go sign the contract.”
Mr Cording said real estate agents should have professional conduct and obligations to make sure they’re acting honestly.
“Certainly, this would seem to fall outside of the scope of honesty where you’ve got a gross disparity between the advertised photos and actually what the person’s getting,” he said.
He encouraged people to look at the condition report before they sign the contract.
“The condition report needs to be completed by the rental provider shortly before you move in,” he said.
“You can’t do a condition report from ten years ago.”
He also encouraged people to take a copy of the advertisement so that they may be able to try VCAT and look for compensation or clean-up and repair service orders.
“There are ways of responding. But, again, we shouldn’t have to deal with those issues,” he said.
“At the moment with the low rental vacancy, people will consider what’s available to them, but we don’t want to see people being exploited in that.
“There are emotional well-being and financial costs associated when people end up in this situation.”
A spokesperson for peak body Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) said all real estate agents are obliged under legislation to accurately represent the properties they are advertising.
“The advertising must not mislead or deceive a potential buyer or renter,” they said.
“We’re pleased to see the vast majority of real estate and property management agencies doing the right thing when it comes to advertising rental properties. Instances of alleged wrongdoing are relatively small in number and do not represent the practices of the entire profession.
“While we are not a regulator, the REIV is playing a role as an educator on this issue, ensuring our members understand the relevant legislation and their obligations under the Act when advertising rental properties.”
A Consumer Affairs Victoria spokesperson said real estate agents must ensure that rental property advertising accurately depicts the state of the property, which includes the use of photos and descriptions that accurately depict the property available for rent.
“Our renting taskforce is cracking down on rental law offences such as misleading advertisements, and we encourage Victorians to report any issues with an advertised rental property to the taskforce via our dedicated webform,” they said.
If you have concerns after visiting an inspection or seeing a property advertised online, you can report issues to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) using an anonymous online form that only takes five minutes to complete: forms.consumer.vic.gov.au/riarp
