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A Sydney property stuck in a tenancy arrangement of $5 a week for decades has sold under the hammer for an obscene amount.
The run-down property located in Waverly in Sydney’s eastern suburbs recently sold at auction for $896,000 – 96,000 over the set reserve.
The rotting, single-storey terrace (pictures below) is surrounded by properties that reel in rent close to the $1,000 mark.
Anthony Romano from LJ Hooker Randwick said the property's rental arrangement placed the landlords in an interesting situation, keeping it off the market for more than a century.
"The protected tenancy arrangement stated that the laws were inherited so this place has been rented by several generations in the one family for the same price," Mr Romano told The Daily Telegraph.
"Rent was set over 50 years ago at 2.15 pounds a week which translates to $4.95," he said.
As rental prices in Waverley have increased over the years, the privately owned home has been subsequently trapped in a rental freeze since World War II.
The rental arrangement was set in place to provide security and rent control for tenants, as part of the 1948 Landlord and Tenant Act which has not applied since 1986.
Mr Romano, the selling agent for the property, said the "rare situation" left the owner unable to renovate the run-down home.
"The owner wasn’t going to do anything to update the home given what rent he was receiving and neither was the tenant," Mr Romano said.
A few weeks ago, Waverley Council registered the property as 'unliveable', breaking the aged tenancy agreement and allowing the owners to place it on the market.
On Friday a crowd of around 30 people lined up to inspect the crumbling 117-square-metre property,
"I can only let a few people through at a time because of the state of it," Mr Romano said.
The property received 33 bids from parties interested on the day, but went to a young couple from Randwick in Sydney's east.
"I guess it really is a dump, but I think everyone likes to refer to it as a 'blank canvas', don’t they?" said buyer David Shannon.
The couple plan on renovating the property and renting it out.
"But we will definitely charge the tenants more than $5 a week," Ms Carse, Mr Shannon’s partner, said.
Source: LJ Hooker Randwick
Source: LJ Hooker Randwick
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