An Aussie CEO has revealed he was rejected from the perfect rental because the real estate agent claimed he was single and too young.
Kyle Hunt, 25, who juggles executive work for three companies, was eager to find a home close to work and spotted a promising listing in Melbourne last month.
He arranged for a private viewing of the property and was elated to inspect it.
‘I’d been looking for an apartment for three months and I finally found one in the perfect location, beautiful,’ he said in a TikTok.
‘And I spoke to the real estate agent over the phone, super nice, and I booked the inspection.’
But the agent appeared a little apprehensive when he met with Mr Hunt.
‘When I arrived, his demeanour completely changed.’
‘He was like very standoffish and I was like, “okay, maybe he’s had a bad day”.’
He said the home had everything he was looking for, despite the abrasive agent.
Mr Hunt said he continued the inspection, silently. The agent didn’t show any of the individual rooms and sprung a bizarre question upon the 25-year-old toward the conclusion of the inspection.
Then the agent asked if Mr Hunt had a partner.
‘I said “no”, and he said “oh”,’ Mr Hunt told news.com.au.
The property had also been listed as a fully furnished home, but when Mr Hunt enquired about which furniture would stay in the property he was told that ‘wasn’t part of his job’.
Regardless, Mr Hunt asked for the application forms to be sent to him.
The agent obliged, but after two days Mr Hunt still hadn’t received any email from the agent.
He contacted the agency who passed him on to the agent again.
He asked to receive the forms for the application and the agent told him he wouldn’t.
‘I asked super politely … And his immediate response is “I’m not doing that”, and I was like, huh, why?’
‘He says, “I’m going to be straight up with you Kyle, I shouldn’t have shown you the property because of your age but you came to the property alone, you’re single.’
The agent reportedly said Mr Hunt was not what the agency were looking for despite his well-paying jobs and mature age.
‘He said “we wanted desirable candidates to view the place,” I was like ‘what the hell?”,’ the CEO said.
‘I call back to the office, to another real estate agent, [but] when I was on the phone with the real estate agent they said, “sorry you’ve been black-listed so we can’t offer you any of our properties so I’m going to have to refer you to another real estate agent”.’
‘I don’t know what’s going on with the real estate agents,’ he said.
The Tenant’s Union is clear that it’s unlawful for landlords and real estate agents to discriminate against would-be renters.
The union states it is unlawful for agencies to deny opportunities to renters based on their race, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, disability, or age.
The CEO estimated it took him a further three months to find a property following the ordeal.
Another agent found him a suitable apartment.
He joked the whole experience was ‘cooked’ and said he didn’t want to have to move again.
Viewers to his story on TikTok were quick to sympathise with the 25-year-old.
One viewer warned the experience could have been worse.
‘Imagine if you had a dog! It gets even worse,’ they joked.
Mr Hunt replied, saying: ‘It felt like I was the dog’.
‘That is not on,’ another simply said.
‘The amount of times this has happened to me,’ one viewer concurred.
But some viewers said the ordeal could have been a blessing to the 25-year-old.
‘Rejection is redirection,’ they said.