In Australia, as in most of the planet, the same problem exists: housing. Buying a house has become almost a utopia for the vast majority, and the crisis has then spread to the rental market. But one lawyer seems to have found a small loophole through which to thread a thread. Since there is no slum law there, the question has been asked: what happens if we find empty houses?

A network of empty houses. What the lawyer has built since he began a series of actions three years ago is a whole network of empty houses in the country. He is not promoting squatting, but “something else”, as he himself puts it. In any case, he is playing with many interests in the swampland, in fact he has already received all kinds of threats, even death threats.

First there was TikTok. The story of lawyer Jordan van den Berg dates back to 2021. For some time now, he has been uploading videos to the social network under the pseudonym Purple Pingers. He has mainly dedicated himself to uploading pieces in which he makes fun of the real estate industry and its agents. In essence, a harsh 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 houses, then you should. Submit empty houses near you via my link tree (this is the second link) 🙂

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

In the videos, Jordan is sometimes expressionless, in others, with songs in between, but they always have the same goal: to point out a broken system and the scarcity (and filth) of housing across the country. The work began to gain traction and followers, and he was quickly overwhelmed by the feedback and personal stories he received about the housing crisis.

Shitty rentals. The name is not unimportant. When the lawyer was unable to respond to numerous requests, he created the Shit Rentals website; This website was a database where Jordan compiled thousands of comments from anonymous people and their true horror stories, all accompanied by photos confirming the “ruins”. where many people live or live.

Also, other types of stories began to emerge, perhaps harsher. Stories that highlight mistreatment by property owners and real estate agents who, according to Jordan, use their positions of power to take advantage of the vulnerability of many tenants.

Images of some rental homes from the Shit Rentals website

The system is broken. Jordan explained to the BBC a few weeks ago that “landlords and agents have access to a lot of information about tenants, but tenants don’t have the same level of transparency in return.” This is why Shit Rentals has been successful. “Exposing unresponsive agents, checking misleading rental listings and sharing the poor condition of some properties has been a way of feeling like we’re taking some of the power back,” he told The Feed.

Identify vacant homes. So last April he took a turn in his fight. There are an estimated one million empty homes in Australia, many of them in areas where the crisis has forced people to live in tents. What did he do? He asked his followers to send addresses of vacant properties that could be forwarded to someone in need. “If the government does nothing to stop rich people from hoarding empty houses, we will,” he commented in a TikTok video posted in front of an apparently empty house.

@theprojecttv

The man behind Shit Rentals, Jordan van den Berg, AKA Purple Pingers, joins us to tell us how he lists empty properties to help people without homes legally get a roof over their heads. #purplepingers #shitrentals #shitrentalsoofmelbourne #renting #home #fyp #foryou @Jordie van den Berg

♬ original audio – TheProjectTV

Just 48 hours after this declaration of intent, it received more than 400 property applications, mostly from Australia, but including US or UK addresses. Most are located around population centres, often in capital cities, with around 60% in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest capital.

Australian law. Jordan is a lawyer and knew there was a small gap, a gray area so to speak. “There is no slum law in Australia; They just have negative property laws and invasion laws,” he tells Adelaide Now. “The basic 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 also the flip side, because there are laws that prohibit trespassing and remaining on private property when an order to leave is given. In this regard, South Australian Real Estate expert Paul Edwards told the same media that although there are no laws regarding “unlawful occupation”, anyone on someone else’s property will be considered a trespasser.

Gertos case. It was very famous in Australia because it explained how the law worked. In 1998, Sydney property developer Bill Gertos broke into a three-bedroom house and claimed it as his own after learning that its elderly owner had died.

He renovated it, changed the locks, and put tenants in the place for 20 years, essentially giving them the space to occupy for him. What happened? He got the deed to the house in 2018 and sold it in 2020, making $1.4 million.

Origin of a common law. As John Bui, senior solicitor at JB Solicitors in Sydney, explains, Australia’s squatter laws are there to encourage responsible and productive use of land, and landowners have their own obligations to maintain the property. “If they don’t maintain that land and they abandon it, then it would be a waste not to let someone else use it,” he says.

Network. Jordan’s database works like this: people submit an address to a Google form, usually providing a description of how long the location has been vacant or how to get in. The lawyer then checks if there are any planning or development applications for the property in question and tracks its status via Google Maps, “noting any areas that have been abandoned by their owner for at least two years,” he explains.

The selection and condition of homes vary, “although many properties are valued at more than $1 million,” according to domain sales Jordan found online. Some are even worth $4-5 million. Additionally, since the database launched, it has begun matching people with nearby vacant homes many times. Jordan specifically connects his followers to the houses in his database, but he also shares the addresses of vacant houses from time to time on his Instagram account.

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

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Nick Champion has already commented in response to a barrage of messages that the government will not tolerate squatting: “It is dangerous and has significant detrimental effects on the housing market. “There are often valid reasons why properties appear empty, for example temporarily away interstate or abroad. occupied persons, properties undergoing renovation or secondary homes that function as holiday homes.

The first houses to appear in the United States at the Jordanian base were quickly met with a backlash. No half measures there, as people posted online threatening to monitor listed homes and directly shoot anyone who sees them, while others tagged the FBI.

What is Van den Berg looking for? Meanwhile, the lawyer has no illusions about his approach. He told the BBC: “But we’ve had decades of mismanagement that has led to this situation, and what are people doing in the meantime while we focus on political solutions?”

Essentially, what he’s looking for is a backlash, assuring that he wants to provide more protections for renters, implement reforms to lucrative tax incentives for real estate investors, and impose a massive tax on property owners who keep their homes vacant for long periods of time. time periods.

Image | Jordan van den Berg, Purple Wyrm, Shit Rentals, Ed Yourdon

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