A major real estate agency has been forced to apologise for warning renters they will be kicked out if they don’t pay their rent on time during the Christmas period.
Professionals Taylors Lakes sent out an ominous email on Monday afternoon to tenants in which it stated Christmas is often known as ‘eviction season’.
One tenant branded the company’s actions as ‘awful’ after the agency told renters to keep up with their payments or be forced out of their properties.
The email began by saying ‘Christmas is a fantastic time of year and also a very busy time!’
But the tone of the message changed when it included a stern warning for tenants who fall behind on their ‘biggest financial obligation’.
Property agency Professionals Taylors Lakes (pictured) issued an ominous email to tenants telling renters Christmas is often known as ‘eviction season’
‘Christmas time is also known in property management circles as ‘eviction season’ as so many people choose to use their rental payments for Christmas spending instead of ensuring their family accommodation remain top priority over this period.
‘We see so many residents fall behind in their rent and then get into the position where they are not able to catch up…
‘We then have the…unfortunate job of having to remove and evict these tenants from their homes.’
The agency goes on to say that ‘this action is very unpleasant’ and warns renters to ‘pay careful attention’ to their upcoming payments.
Hundreds of users took to social media to slam the agency’s brutal email.
‘That’s insensitive,’ one user wrote on Twitter.
‘That is one of the most horrible utterly unprofessional things I’ve ever seen…’ another said.
‘OMG this is horrendous.’
Others were unimpressed at the company’s actions at a time when then the property market is unaffordable for thousands of Aussies.
‘Our rental market is completely broken when this type of conduct and disregard for human decency is acceptable,’ one user said.
‘The fact they call it ‘Eviction Season’ should be enough to have the whole industry in trouble,’ another said.
The brutal email (pictured) told renters that agency would have the ‘unfortunate job’ of removing tenants for not paying rent on time and told tenants to ensure they meet their ‘biggest financial obligation’ instead of splurging their cash on Christmas shopping
The company’s CEO Katherine Gonzalez Cork apologized to renters who received the email and said she was only made aware of the email from the Taylors Lakes agency on Tuesday morning.
‘The email was distributed to tenants directly from the Taylors Lakes office and the content was not endorsed by me or the Board of Professionals and does not represent our company’s expectations of communication with our property renters,’ Ms Gonzalez-Cork told The Guardian.
The agency sent out a separate email on Tuesday apologising for any distress their earlier email had caused.
‘We can understand how the choice of words in the email may have offended you in anyway and for this we are sorry,’ Professional Taylors Lakes said in a statement.
‘We assure you that the intention of the email was to provide a timely reminder about normal tenancy obligations.’
Daily Mail Australia contacted Professionals Taylors Lakes for comment.
The agency’s website states the business is an ‘established Real Estate company that offers benchmark customer service…’ with the company’s name ‘synonymous within the Australian and International Real Estate scene’.
States and territories in Australia make the laws that govern when tenants can be evicted and whether landlords have the right to remove renters from their properties, however these rules vary in each state.
Users on social media slammed the company’s action and said the email was ‘insensitive’ to Aussies struggling to pay their rent (stock image of apartments)
State and territories in Australia make the laws that govern how eviction notices are enforced on tenants (stock image)
Generally eviction notices must be provided by a landlord in writing and must tell renters when they must leave the property.
Tenants can challenge eviction notices in some cases where they have been treated unfairly during the eviction process.
Failing to pay rent and damaging property are some of the reasons a landlord can issue an eviction notice.