A lawyer has found a loophole to Australia’s housing crisis: exposing empty houses online

In Australia they have the same problem as in much of the planet: housing. Buying a house has become almost a utopia for the vast majority, and the crisis then jumped into the rental market. However, a lawyer seems to have found a small loophole through which to pull the thread. There are no squatting laws as such there, so the question was asked: what if we discovered the empty houses?

A network of empty houses. What the lawyer has built since he began a series of actions three years ago is an entire network where the unoccupied houses in the country are exposed. He does not promote squatting, but rather “something else,” as he himself indicates. In any case, he plays in swampy terrain with many interests, in fact, he has already received all kinds of threats, even death.

First it was TikTok. The story of lawyer Jordan van den Berg dates back to 2021. Under the pseudonym Purple Pingers He had been uploading videos to the social network for some time. Essentially, he was dedicated to uploading pieces where he made fun of the real estate sector and its agents. In essence, a stark criticism of a problem that affects millions of people, especially young people.

@purplepingers

If the government won’t do anything about the rich hoarding empty homes, make them. Submit empty homes near you through my linktree (it’s the second link) 🙂

♬ original sound – Jordie van den Berg – Jordie van den Berg

In the videos, Jordan is sometimes expressionless, in others there are songs in between, but always with the same purpose: point out a broken system and the few (and filthy) homes available nationwide. The pieces began to gain traction and followers, and in a short time he was overwhelmed by the feedback they received and the personal stories he received about the real estate crisis.

Shitty rentals. The name is not trivial. The lawyer could not respond to the number of requests, so he set up Shit Rentals websitein essence, a database where Jordan compiles thousands of reviews from anonymous people and their true horror stories, all accompanied by photographs that verify the “ruins” in which many people have lived or live.

In addition, other, perhaps harsher, stories began to emerge. Stories highlighting the mistreatment of landlords and real estate agents who, according to Jordan himself, have used their position of power to take advantage of the vulnerability of many tenants.

The system is corrupted. Jordan explained a few weeks ago to the BBC “Landlords and agents have access to a lot of information about tenants, but tenants weren’t getting the same level of transparency in return.” That’s why Shit Rentals has been a success. “Exposing unresponsive real estate agents, checking misleading rental listings, and sharing the poor condition of some properties has been a way to feel like we’re taking some power back,” commented to The Feed.

Identify vacant houses. Thus, last April, the fight took a turn. It is estimated that Australia has a million empty housesmany in areas where the crisis has led people to live in tents. What she did? He asked his followers to send addresses of empty properties they had spotted that he could pass along to someone in need. “If the government doesn’t do anything to stop the rich from hoarding empty houses, we will,” he said in a TikTok video in front of an apparently unoccupied house.

@theprojecttv

The man behind Shit Rentals, Jordan van den Berg, AKA Purple Pingers, joined us to run us through how he is listing vacant properties to help people with no home get a roof over their heads, legally. #purplepingers #shitternals #shitrentalsoofmelbourne #renting #home #fyp #foryou @Jordie van den Berg

♬ original sound – TheProjectTV

In just 48 hours of that statement of intent, it received more than 400 property submissions, most of them Australian, but there are also US or UK addresses in the mix. Most located around population centers, generally in capital cities, and around 60% in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest capital.

Australian law. Jordan is a lawyer and knew there was a small loophole, a grey area if you will. “Australia doesn’t have squatting laws; they just have adverse possession laws and trespass laws,” tells Adelaide Now. “A fundamental principle of our title system is that if you don’t use that land productively and someone else does, it becomes your property, as part of the adverse possession laws (if you occupy it for 12 years).”

Of course, there is a flip side, because there are laws prohibiting trespassing and remaining on private property when ordered to leave. In this regard, Paul Edwards, a South Australian Real Estate expert, told the same outlet that while there were no laws regarding “squatting,” anyone found on someone else’s property would be considered an intruder.

The Gertos case. It was very famous in Australia because it explained how the law works. In 1998, Sydney property developer Bill Gertos He entered a three-room house and took it as his own. after learning that the elderly owner had died.

He renovated, changed the locks, and put tenants in the place for 20 years, so he essentially had them occupying it for him. What happened? He took title to the house in 2018 and sold it in 2020, earning 1.4 million dollars.

The origin of a diffuse law. As explained by John Bui, senior lawyer at JB Solicitors in Sydney, Australia’s squatting laws They exist to promote the conscious and efficient use of land, and that the owners have their own obligations to maintain the property. “If they don’t maintain that land and have abandoned ownership, then it would be a waste to not allow someone else to use it,” he says.

Network. The way Jordan’s database works is this: People submit an address to a Google form and usually provide an explanation of how long the place has been vacant or how to get into it. The lawyer then Check if there is a planning application or development for the residence in question and tracks the state of the house on Google Maps, “I point out places that have been abandoned by the owner for at least two years,” he details.

The selection and condition of the homes are varied, “although many of the properties are worth more than $1 million,” according to domain sales Jordan found online. Some are even worth 4 or 5 million dollars. Additionally, since he started the database, he has started matching people to nearby empty houses on several occasions. Jordan connects his followers to homes in the database privately, although he occasionally posts the addresses of unoccupied homes. on his Instagram account.

Solution or crime? The man admits that “whether that’s the right thing to do or not is a matter of debate”, but the law graduate reminds his audience that squatting may not be illegal in Australia. “It’s clearly not the ideal solution to our housing crisis in Australia, but it obviously angers the rich and when the rich are angry, something is often done,” he says.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Nick Champion has already commented on the flood of messages that the government would not tolerate squatting“is dangerous and has significant detrimental impacts on the housing market. There are often valid reasons why properties may appear empty, such as people temporarily interstate or abroad, properties undergoing renovation or secondary homes acting as second homes. vacation”.

In the United States, the first houses that appeared at the Jordan base have already had a rapid response. There are no half measures there, in their online mentions, people have threatened to monitor the houses listed and directly shoot people who see themwhile others have tagged the FBI.

What van den Berg is looking for. Meanwhile, the lawyer has no illusions about his approach. “But we have had decades of mismanagement that have led to this situation, and while we focus on political solutions, what do people do in the meantime?” responds to the BBC.

At its core, he is seeking a backlash, saying he wants stronger protections for tenants, reforms to lucrative tax incentives for property investors, and a big tax on landlords who keep homes vacant for long periods of time.

Image | Jordan van den Berg, Purple WyrmShit Rentals, Ed Yourdon

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