A real estate agency in Queensland has come under fire after it emailed tenants offering them the chance to buy a Christmas gift for their landlords.
Kanik & Co, located near Brisbane, sent out an email to tenants offering to facilitate the purchasing of select gifts, along with any “handwritten notes”, that would be delivered to the owner of the property.
Some of the offered gifts include a $50 “white wine grazing box”, a $55 “festive sweets basket”, a $70 “self care hamper”, a $99 “foodies hamper” and a $115 gift called “all things golden”.
“This year has been particularly challenging for both our tenants and property owners alike, and we understand some tenants would like to thank their property owner for everything in 2021,” the agency wrote in the email.
“The choice to be involved is 100% optional and you are certainly under no obligation to do so.”
The offer was criticised by some online, with Twitter user Sinéad Canning sharing a screenshot of the email saying “the time has come to lick their boots harder”.
“This agency is in Logan, where the average weekly rent has increased by 30 per cent in the last 5 years and the vacancy rate is 1 per cent,” she wrote.
Landlords have seen their passive incomes increase at your expense this year. The time has come to lick their boots harder. pic.twitter.com/mhZuB1QJUj
— Sinéad Canning (@Sinead_Canning) December 12, 2021
The City of Logan released a report into housing in 2020, and found that Logan had a higher proportion of households in both mortgage and rental stress compared with the rest of south-east Queensland.
“Housing affordability is a growing concern for Logan households and many families experience housing stress,” the report found.
A separate report from Deloitte and the state government found that rental prices in Logan had increased by 4.1% from March 2020 – March 2021. It also found 7.3% increases in Brisbane, 9.8% increases in the Gold Coast and 16% increases in the Sunshine Coast.
Director at Kanik & Co, Michael Kanik, told Guardian Australia his agency apologised for any offence caused, saying a similar email was also sent to landlords wanting to send gifts to their tenants.
He said it was not meant with any ill will, and that it was “just something nice”.
“Each tenant and landlord is unique, and some of them wanted to thank their landlords, and wanted us to help us facilitate it.”
“We can see where some of the criticism has come from, rent is obviously increasing across the board, but not all landlords are the same, some don’t want to increase prices.”
“We had tenants or landlords reach out, wanting to trade Christmas gifts and cards, and wanted us to facilitate it. We just wanted to do a nice thing, that’s all.”
