Fair Trading Officers To Go Undercover In Attempt To Stop Rental Bidding

Officers from Fair Trading will go undercover as potential renters at house inspections in an attempt to crackdown on secret rental bidding. 

The rental bidding follows a state-wide ban on the practice enforced by Premier Dominic Perrottet in 2022. 

The ban, which was introduced in December of 2022, prohibits real estate agents from pushing tenants for offers above the advertised price. 

So far, at least 1,000 rental advertisements are suspected of breaching the ban.

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In a push to ease the pressure on the rental market, Mr Perrottet is set to apply new measures which could potentially help future renters.

If the Coalition is re-elected, they will introduce three-to-five-year lease agreements to increase the amount of long-term leases.

While Fair Trading have plans to weed out dodgy real estate dealings, they are still yet to issue a single fine. 

According to data from Fair Trading, several complaints and warnings have been issued but no fines have been issued.

Real estate agents who do breach the ban could face a fine of up to $5,500 with corporations copping am $11,000 fine. 

An on the spot fine of $550 can be issued to individual agents while corporations could see a fine of $1,000.

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