A real estate agent has apologised and admitted a mistake was made after an illegal rental listing sparked backlash.
The listing for a three-bedroom home in Bellbowrie west of Brisbane invited prospective tenants to bid for the opportunity to secure the lease.
‘Offers over $750 would be considered,’ the Harcourts Success ad states.
Screenshots of the listing went viral online, where Aussies were quick to point out its blatant illegality.
Queensland banned rental bidding in 2024 and now requires rentals to be listed with fixed prices.
Under the new laws, it is an offence for a property to be advertised with a rent range and agents are not allowed to accept offers higher than the advertised price.
The listing has since been updated to $800 per week.
‘We sincerely apologise for the mistake that happened. We didn’t intend to advertise this property without a price or wanted to invite rental bidding,’ Harcourts Success director Praveen Ha told news.com.au.
A real estate agency in Brisbane has been slammed for listing a property which encouraged prospective tenants to bid for the lease
The rental listing has since been updated to $800 per week
Hundreds of Aussies on Reddit banded together to slam the original ad over the audacity.
‘This really boils my blood,’ one user in the r/Brisbane group said.
A real estate agent added: ‘As a property manager myself this is disgusting. This is why our industry has such a low trust relationship with the public.
Others described it as ‘dodgy’, ‘cooked’ and ‘unbelievable’.
Mr Sha said the error was caused by a ‘computer glitch and a bit of human negligence’.
He explained the homeowner has expected rent to be over $750 and the listing inadvertently went up requesting offers over that amount.
He blamed the blunder on miscommunication.
AI used by the real estate meant that the listing was posted online a day earlier than it should have, which meant the error wasn’t picked up beforehand.
‘This shouldn’t have happened if we had not relied on AI for write up, and be more vigilant on what’s typed,’ Mr Sha told the publication.
The listing for the three-bedroom Bellbowrie property west of Brisbane has since been re-posted with a firm $800 per week rental price
The original listing was only on RealEstate.com.au for an hour before the listing was removed and amended.
Regardless, it still breached the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act, according to the Queensland Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA).
The agency’s compliance and enforcement team will contact the property manager to address the incident.
Mr Sha has since been in contact with the state’s RTA and vowed to accept whatever outcome it makes.
Harcourts Success director Praveen Ha has since apologised for the mistake blamed on miscommunication, AI and human error
‘Bottom line, we are responsible for what has happened and we sincerely apologise for the mistake,’ Mr Sha said.
Possible sanctions include a ‘notice of non-compliance’ and be let off with a warning.
The maximum penalty is 50 penalty units, with a single penalty unit in Queensland equivalent to a $161.30 fine.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Praveen Sha and the Queensland Residential Tenancies Authority for comment.
