Australians outraged by estate agent’s bizarre Christmas request to tenant

A real estate agent who asked a tenant to pay their rent in advance over the Christmas holidays has sparked outrage among Australians.

An anonymous tenant shared a screenshot of the agent’s email asking them to “plan ahead for Christmas downtime” on social media on Saturday.

The email said the estate agency would be closed from December 20 until the New Year and suggested it would be a “good idea” to pay the rent for the period in advance to “avoid arrears” .

“If you can, consider making an additional payment to ensure your account stays current during the holidays,” it reads.

“If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us before our offices close.

“Thank you for your attention and we wish you a wonderful holiday season! »

The tenant said the prospect of being behind on rent for not paying a larger sum earlier during an expensive time of year had made him “panic” and took to Facebook to ask advice.

“Is this even allowed?” » they asked.

The email shocked many Australians.

Some told the tenant they shouldn’t have to pay that far in advance if they didn’t want their office open.

“Yes, because we are all paid in advance. What a joke,” one wrote.

Another suggested the tenant “just pay as usual, he can balance the books and receipts when he returns.”

A third wrote: “If they are that worried they should keep the office open to handle payments.

A fourth suggested: “Pay your rent when due, as always, don’t make extra payments to account for their office being closed.” It’s not your problem.

Another tenant said they never paid enough in advance to cover the entire Christmas period and did not receive a default notice as a result.

“If you had arrears in their system because there was no human available to process them, it would just be more work for them to rape all their tenants for arrears when they returned,” they wrote.

“This doesn’t even make sense,” another user wrote, adding, “just because they didn’t get a receipt doesn’t mean you’re late on your payment.”

But some dissident users saw the email as a “courtesy” rather than a threat to pay early.

“I’m sure they’ll probably get dozens of late rent payments over Christmas for various reasons and I think it’s more so they don’t get into arrears while they’re out of the office and not can’t sue you,” he said. wrote.

Another said it would “not be fair to the landlord or even to them as a business” if a tenant was behind on rent for a week before closing for the two weeks over the holidays.

“Imagine being behind on your payments when they close and they can’t follow up for over a week,” they wrote.

“Then you’re two weeks or more late before they even contact you.”