Every state in Australia has now outlawed or promised to ban rental bidding where an agent can solicit a 'rental auction' above the original asking price. But the number of prosecutions in South Australia is raising questions about how the laws are enforced and whether they can be effective.
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00:00For this family, being rejected from around 30 rental properties has taken a toll.
00:06Yeah, up all night, sick, yeah, stressed and worried.
00:11With properties so hard to come by, three generations of this South Australian family
00:16are now cramming in under one roof.
00:18She was living on her own and she come and live back with me because of finances, extra
00:24support and yeah.
00:27There is nothing in the complete western suburbs that I could personally go for alone
00:31for me, my son and my dog, like at all, like no, no, I have to move out.
00:35The fight for a rental property in Adelaide shows no signs of slowing down.
00:40Just 0.83% of rental properties in Adelaide were vacant, according to the latest statistics,
00:45and rents have risen 13.5% in the past 12 months.
00:49With the median Adelaide asking price now $590 per week.
00:54With the rental market so competitive, many wannabe renters have taken to offering above
00:58the asking price in a bid to find a property.
01:01But since last year, it has been illegal for South Australian real estate agents to invite
01:06offers above the asking price.
01:09Since September we've already fined for people, for agents who have done the wrong thing in
01:12terms of either not having a fixed price, having ads in there that say contact the agent
01:18or all offers considered.
01:21That's where we've imposed fines already and others we have given some warning.
01:25While it's illegal for agents or owners to solicit bids above the asking price, there's
01:29nothing to stop applications offering extra money from being submitted.
01:34Advocates say rental bidding is still rampant.
01:37It's a little embarrassing to be talking about banning something that hasn't actually been
01:43banned and is just highlighting the ineffectiveness of compliance with that new part of the law.
01:52She says more needs to be done to protect renters.
01:55So we would really love the state government to invest and fund that sort of work that
02:02would enable better compliance and reporting when it does come to renting law.
02:06It's about us knowing about it and being able to take action.
02:10The more we know about it the better, but we also know the real estate industry, real
02:15estate institute, as the EPIC body, is educating their staff, their agents, and making sure
02:21that people know these laws are there.
02:23Anyone who suspects rental bidding laws are being breached is urged to contact consumer
02:28authorities.