The landlord exposed the exorbitant rent offer of the real estate agent: Doesn't it bother your conscience?

S.K., who previously worked in real estate in Ankara, wanted to rent his house for 15,850 TL through an online listing site. The real estate agent who contacted S.K. sent him an offer of "I can rent your house for 20,000 lira."

Homeowner S.K. reacted by saying, "As a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, doesn't your effort to increase these rents bother your conscience?", "How can you raise the rent from 15,850 lira to 20,000 lira?", "Rents have skyrocketed because of real estate agents like you." He shared his correspondence with the real estate agent on social media and also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Trade and the Ankara Chamber of Real Estate Agents.

"I THINK PRICES HAVE INCREASED IN THIS WAY"

S.K., speaking to DHA, stated that he had previously worked in real estate and said, "I posted an advertisement for a rental apartment. I wrote a price of around 16,000 lira in the ad. A real estate agent contacted me and said, 'I can rent your apartment for 20,000 lira, they have a government employee as a guarantor, they are also government employees.' I replied to him, 'Why do you want to do such a thing, why did you specify the amount as 20,000 lira when I agreed to 16,000 lira?' I told him that this would raise the market and set an example. I exempt other real estate agents. Of course, not all real estate agents are like that. Maybe if the identity of that real estate agent were known, honest real estate agents would also react to it. Maybe he is inexperienced, maybe he acted impulsively, I don't know, but I think prices have increased as a result of this behavior," he said.

INVESTIGATION BY THE REAL ESTATE AGENTS CHAMBER

Hakan Akçam, the President of the Ankara Chamber of Real Estate Agents, stated that they have initiated an investigation into the real estate agent, saying, "I saw the advertisement, I am following it. He messaged the homeowner to increase the price. Real estate consultants are not the ones who determine the price. It would be wrong to put our colleagues in the same category as people who do not know themselves and do not know their job. Like in any profession, there will always be people like this in our profession. When they first appear, we intervene. It is not acceptable for a real estate agent to say 'we will rent a house for 20,000 TL' for a house worth 16,000 lira. If the real estate consultant is registered with us, we will take the necessary legal actions, and if they are not registered with us, we will initiate official applications to the relevant institutions. Does the fact that a citizen says 'I am a real estate consultant' affect the citizen in this way? I don't think it has much of an impact. However, it affects people who are already malicious and want to increase the value of their property," he said.

MINISTRY: WE WILL TAKE ADDITIONAL MEASURES IF NECESSARY

According to information obtained from the Ministry of Trade, a total of 889 real estate agencies that caused excessive price increases in the sale and rental housing advertisements, disrupting the market and free competition, and causing consumer grievances, were fined a total of 88 million 900 thousand TL. In the inspections carried out through the provincial trade directorates in 81 provinces last year, a total of 1,201 real estate agencies were fined 91 million 207 thousand 655 TL due to various deficiencies, and this year, 353 real estate agencies have been fined 27 million 103 thousand 27 lira so far.

In a statement made by the Ministry, it was stated that "As the Ministry, our inspections and audits regarding housing advertisements obtained from listing platforms, which cause manipulative price increases and exploit the difficulties experienced by our citizens due to the current economic conjuncture, continue through our provincial trade directorates in all 81 provinces. As the Ministry of Trade, we will continue our inspections without slowing down in the coming days in order to ensure that the market operates fairly, competitively, and stably, and to prevent the negative effects of manipulative price increases. If necessary, there will be no hesitation in taking additional measures for the real estate sector," it said.