Cold calling real estate agents - is there a law against it?

Submitted ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨trk@aussie.zone⁩ to ⁨australia@aussie.zone⁩

Some real estate dickhead just rang my mobile (which is not advertised anywhere) saying they were “just in the area” and wanted to do an appraisal on a house we own in <suburb name>.

It’s an agency we don’t use for any purpose, have never used for any purpose, and have never approached for any reason.

Is there some sort of legal issue with some smarmy sales knob looking up property owner details and cold calling them?

Makes me feel all gross that their grubby mitts are pawing through my deets somewhere in the hope of being able to stick a tongue up my bum and get a taste of some back door cash.

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Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
There should be a law against owning properties you don’t live in.

That said fucking with real estate agents I can get behind so do whatever on that front. Maybe consider not being a landlord though.

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- M500@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I can think of a few exceptions. But I think owning multiple properties in the same location for more than a specified amount of time should be illegal or heavily taxed.
  
  For example, you buy a home and are still trying to sell an old one. You might own two houses for some time. You might inherit a house and need to sell it.
  
  You might have family in multiple parts of the country or work in multiple parts of the country/world and need a place to live.
  
  A friend’s mom had severe asthma and was told to leave her home state during the winter and live in Florida.
  
  But I have a friend who owns like 3 hours in the same neighborhood just as rental properties. That should be illegal/heavily taxed.
  
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  - Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    But I have a friend who owns like 3 hours in the same neighborhood just as rental properties. That should be illegal/heavily taxed.
    
    mao-aggro-shining
    
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- trk@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah, it’s a pity there isn’t a law against it I guess. If I sold that one extra house I’m hoarding the housing crisis would be pretty much over tbh.
  
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  - Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I get what you are saying about this not being a matter of personal individual responsibility, but coming on hear and complaining about a telemarketer that you could just ignore is pretty fucking insensitive to all the unhoused folks that you could be helping by just not being a rent-seeking parasite.
    
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  - Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    yeah yeah, no snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
    
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- Nath@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  There should be a law against owning properties you don’t live in.
  
  I’m trying to picture what this looks like. Who do we rent from if we can’t afford to buy a house in this alternate vision of the future? There is no way that 20-year-old me working at servos had the capital to buy a house. I had zero savings and a low income.
  
  I see you invoking the Maoist uprising in another comment, but I’ll be honest - the years following that uprising were hard for a huge swathe of the population (not to mention fatal for Millions more). I would not want to live through a Chairman Mao. Modern China happened despite Mao. Not because of him.
  
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  - Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You literally cannot conceive of a reality wherein a home does not have to be rented from a parasitic landlord?
    
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  - Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The practice of “renting” needs to die in a goddamn fire. Single family homes should never be “rented”. Temporary (6-month to 5-year) occupancy of a single family home should be done under a “land contract”.
    
    Basically, the occupant starts making mortgage payments (principle, interest, taxes, insurance) but title stays with the landlord. The landlord receives only the “interest” part of the payment. The “principle” part of the payment is held in escrow, in an interest-bearing account. This is the occupant’s equity in the home.
    
    If the occupant stays through the term of the contract, title transfers to the occupant, the escrowed principle payments transfer to the landlord, and the contract converts to a private mortgage. If the occupant leaves before the term of the contract, the principle payments are returned to them.
    
    Land contracts build tenant wealth and drive people toward home ownership.
    
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  - GarbageShoot@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    I see you invoking the Maoist uprising in another comment, but I’ll be honest - the years following that uprising were hard for a huge swathe of the population (not to mention fatal for Millions more). I would not want to live through a Chairman Mao.
    
    If you think it was hard to live under Mao, you should see what it was like before him.
    
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  - Tankiedesantski@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    I see you invoking the Maoist uprising in another comment, but I’ll be honest - the years following that uprising were hard for a huge swathe of the population (not to mention fatal for Millions more). I would not want to live through a Chairman Mao. Modern China happened despite Mao. Not because of him.
    
    What was it like to live in China before 1949 compared to after 1949? Please support your assertions with relevant statistics.
    
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  - Marsupial@quokk.au ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-04/…/102639674
    
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- Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  not sure we go that far (in a sane system rentals have their place) but absolutely start taxing the ever loving shit out of anything over the PPR. The more houses the more tax. More. More. MOOOOOOOOOORE.
  
  And ban corporations / companies / business entities from owning standalone housing and land.
  
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  - Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Literally the only way to achieve this is through some sort of revolution. Reformism is impossible under the dictatorship of capital.
    
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saltesc@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It’s unsolicited.

www.donotcall.gov.au/…/making-a-complaint/

Or you can always sign their mobile up to services. Usually you’ll find it on a billboard next to the mugshot of them sporting a shit-eating grin.

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- trk@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Or you can always sign their mobile up to services. Usually you’ll find it on a billboard next to the mugshot of them sporting a shit-eating grin.
  
  Or just in my recent call history… Looked it up and they’re the “founder” of the company along with like 4 other people. All claiming equal rights. I wonder if they fought over who got their name first?
  
  And they do indeed have a shit-eating grin. All of them. Why do they always look like that?
  
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  - saltesc@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Damn, they called from their own number? I don’t know why I’m surprised lol. At least you know you can block it and that’s probably that.
    
    You can also write a complaint to the other four founders and reference your formal complaint to the gov in it. I’m sure that’ll stir the pot if there’s any power struggles currently going on 👍
    
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- walter_wiggles@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Would be a clever way to case the joint too
  
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fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I don’t know but if I had to guess I’d say no such law exists.

They can’t “harass” you, but a once off call isn’t that.

Even if you could prove they had gotten your personal details through some nefarious means, no one would care. If you complained to their professional body I can almost guarantee they wouldn’t understand what the problem is.

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- DolphinLundgrin@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  They can’t “harass” you, but a once off call isn’t that.
  
  Found the non-Millennial! I would say all phone calls are harassment. 😋
  
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  - Nakoichi@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    fuck off this person is whining about cold calls while people are literally dying because people like them are hoarding surplus housing.
    
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  - Yolohobo1@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Think you need to chill out. Saying “No thanks” and hanging up doesn’t take a whole lot of courage or effort.
    
    Also, who answers calls from numbers they don’t know? That shit can go to voicemail.
    
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Auzy@beehaw.org ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Here in VIC, its also completely s*** there aren’t any junk mail laws.

Myself (and I heard this from others) plan to shred up any crap they put in my mailbox though from now on, and scatter it in their office. If everyone does that, it makes it unprofitable for them to do dodgy junk mail drops at least. It’s also likely totally legal, because you’re returning their litter… At the moment, they ignore NO JUNK mail signs because there are no repurcussions, but, even shoving it under their door at their office might be enough to make them stop.

I generally add their number to every callback number I can find on the internet, so they have to deal with dodgy phone calls.

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GarbageShoot@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
In America there are “do not call” lists and I think it’s illegal to cold-call numbers on those. Otherwise, you’re free game if there’s not a state or municipal law protecting you (and there rarely is). Maybe Australia has something similar.

Either way, you’ll get far fewer inquiries from landsharks if you stop hoarding properties and parasitizing the wages of people who work.

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Brainsploosh@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
In several countries you can add your number to a no-marketing list, making it illegal.

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