Hundreds of NSW real estate agents have been issued warnings for breaching new rent bidding rules and Fair Trading officials will now start attending open houses to stamp out illegal activity.
Last December the state government outlawed solicited rent bidding, which is when a landlord or agent invites, suggests or asks prospective tenants to increase their rent offer to secure a property.
But the new laws are being ignored by many in the industry.
To date, almost 1,000 rental advertisements have potentially breached the new laws and 306 real estate agents have been sent initial warning notices, according to the department of Fair Trading.
The listings in question used prohibited terms such as "offers from", or rent "by negotiation".
These were most commonly seen in listings for properties in:
- Rhodes and Blacktown in Western Sydney
- Tuross Head on the south coast
- Brooms Head on the north coast
- Waratah West in Newcastle
Fair Trading has also received complaints from prospective tenants about potential illegal listings in the suburbs of Parramatta in Western Sydney, and Haberfield and Concord in the inner west.
The complainants reported listings where agents advertising within a certain price range, or without a price at all.
Online searches show many listings which break the rules by advertising rent as a range or advising applicants to "contact agent" instead of showing a fixed price.
The ABC found examples of this on listings for Leichhardt, Seven Hills, Meadowbank, Wentworth Point and Blacktown.
Fair Trading will now ramp up compliance efforts and inspectors will start attending open homes for rental properties to monitor how real estate agents interact with tenants on price.
Breaches of the laws can result in $550 fines for real estate agents, and $1,100 fines for corporations.
The maximum penalty a court can award for non-compliance is $11,000 for a corporation or $5,500 in any other case.
The rental market in Greater Sydney and many regional areas of NSW is significantly constricted and the Perrottet government said these laws would stop agents pushing prices up even more.
CoreLogic data shows that in the last 12 months, the median weekly rent for a unit in Greater Sydney has increased by 15.9 per cent and vacancies have more than halved.
Regional rents have risen by 5.8 per cent in the 12 months to January 23 (the long-term average is 3 per cent), and vacancies are nearly half the 10-year average, according to CoreLogic.
Providing more support for renters has become a priority of the major parties ahead of the March 25 election, with both the Coalition and Labor promising to outlaw evictions without "reasonable grounds".
The Coalition has also promised to extend the notice period for ending a fixed-term lease from 30 days to 45 days, and introduce three and five-year lease agreements to provide increased security for tenants.
A Labor government would establish a rental commissioner to lead reforms and ban secret rent bidding by mandating any offers above the listed price are made transparent to other applicants.
