Prospective tenants in Nelson Bay have been sent into a tizzy after discovering a landlord’s bizarre request on an apartment listing in the NSW coastal town.
The landlord advertised her “fabulous” two-bedroom home for renters on Flatmates.com.au, touting its “amazing third level view of the ocean” and “massive balcony and living area” for a cool $380 per week (*cries in poor*).
Given the current rental (and housing, and cost-of-living) crisis, that all sounds promising enough, right?
Well, there’s a slight catch. The landlord told hopeful renters they could only reside in the home 85 per cent of the time, and would have to leave whenever she fancied a weekend coastal getaway from Sydney.
Has anything ever screamed BLE (big landlord energy) with quite such intensity?
“You will be expected to vacate the property so the owner can use the apartment for her sole use about 15 per cent of the time,” the listing read.
According to the landlord — who’d like to have her cake and stay in it, too, thank you very much — that equates to “about 30 days over six months, mainly Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights”.
Oh, so you mean only the days of the week that we all universally agree are the best? No sweat!
The listing continued: “The owner is a working professional from Sydney who loves this weekender to come to when time permits.” (*Cries in lack of weekender*).
Predictably, prospective tenants shared their frustrations, with one writing (per Daily Mail) that they’d “like to think with such an insane condition that it’s really cheap”.
Another quipped, “I can’t imagine anyone agreeing to that disruption, unless there was a house-swap going on so the renter could stay in the owner’s place in Sydney.”
They’ve certainly got a point. Are the renters expected to camp out, Parasite-style, in the backyard every other weekend while the landlord enjoys her “weekender”?
Speaking with Daily Mail, CEO of the Tenants’ Union of New South Wales Leo Patterson Ross said the landlord’s expectation is “likely to lead to disputes with confusion and frustration around the actual usage” (duh), and urged Flatmates.com.au to ensure the listing is “compliant with relevant laws” (double duh).
The sad truth of the matter is that despite the bonkers request, the rental crisis means this apartment will no-doubt get snapped up… even if only for 85 per cent of the time.
In an ideal world, the renter and the landlord would share a vino on the third level balcony on a sunny Friday afternoon, but these are Parasite times.
Lead image: Flatmates.com.au
