Emily Hutchinson, Rent Specialist and Property Journalist
First published 25 Jan 2023, 4:15pm
Last week, the head tenant of a Sydney sharehouse admitted to subletting rooms for more than necessary in order to cover the cost of their own rent, serving as a cautionary tale.
The anonymous post within a Facebook group gained a lot of attention and sparked heated debate when the person explained that their other housemates wanted to sign onto the lease officially.
Such a move would expose the fact that they had been covering the head tenant’s rent.
While plenty of jaws virtually dropped, the situation isn’t actually illegal, unless it explicably states in the lease that subletting is not permitted, which means it’s to the head tenant’s discretion how much they charge for each room.