Tenants sell landlords' pool in rent-to-buy swindle

Tenants sell landlords' pool in rent-to-buy swindle
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 8, 2020

A Perth family has warned about rent-to-buy property schemes after a tenant removed their pool and sold it illegally while they were overseas.

The family had been unable to sell their Quinns Rocks home at their desired $429,999 asking price until they responded to a roadside "we buy homes fast" sign as a last solution.

Under the ensuing deal, the tenant was to pay rent with the intention to buy the home after a year at around the revised $389,000 asking price.

Two weeks later the Clintons, who’d travelled to Ireland for family reasons, got a text message from frantic neighbours saying the pool was gone.

It transpired that the tenant, who had no authority to modify the house, sold the pool and pool fence for $3,000.

The rent-to-buy contract was terminated earlier this year, and the Clintons have since returned to the home.

The Western Australian Consumer Protection Commissioner Anne Driscoll has warned against rent-to-buy schemes, which are promoted as a way to get into the property market or sell in the current slow market.

Driscoll says the rent-to-buy schemes were not linked to the recent sale of two Perth properties in elaborate Nigerian scams.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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