Under laws passed in November 2025, rent bidding is illegal in Victoria. Landlords and agents cannot solicit or accept offers above the advertised fixed price and all rental properties must be listed at a single price, not a range. Labor has repeatedly promoted these reforms as a key protection for renters.
During a Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing today. Homes Victoria chief executive Simon Newport conceded the agency has been offering above market rents in 19 suburbs to secure larger family homes.
Emails tabled at the hearing showed the Government's housing agency has been actively going to market offering 5 per cent above the market rate for properties in suburbs including Sunshine, Albion, Ardeer, Braybrook, Maidstone, Maribyrnong, Brunswick, Brunswick West, North Melbourne, West Melbourne and Mambourin.
This revelation confirms that while Victorian families are struggling to find secure and affordable rentals, the Allan Labor Government is using taxpayer funds to outbid everyday mums and dads. It is a clear sign of mismanagement in a worsening housing crisis with the Government driving up competition in an already stretched rental market.
Shadow Minister for Planning, Richard Riordan, said: "The Allan Government has created and fuelled the housing crisis with increased taxes and charges and now it is pricing average mums and dads out of the rental market with its giant debt laden cheque book.
"The irresponsible Big Housing Build has been mismanaged, with homes being sold and demolished quicker than they can replaced.
"Labor's mismanagement is hurting the 68,000 families on the growing waiting list, and now we know it is hurting hard working families trying to compete in the overheated rental market."
