Rent bidding is still the curse of Sydney tenants despite new laws. How can it be stopped?

Real estate company Viewey wrote to its mailing list last week about an apartment in inner Sydney that had just been let for $175 above the original asking price.

By last weekend, the company says it received 31 applications from would-be tenants. On Tuesday, it received an offer of $825.

Viewey says the property is not an example of rent bidding, as the $825 offer had been made voluntarily by the tenant. He insists agents are largely reacting to market conditions.

But he concedes that tightness in the market means agents are often adjusting the asking price on properties based on demand. He says his agency recently listed a property in Redfern that had previously been leased for $600.

Within two weeks, the agency received 71 applications, and it was eventually let for $750.

In the lead up to the New South Wales state election this month, there has been a growing acknowledgement by political parties about the electoral influence of tenants. It has helped make the rental crisis a key issue ahead of the poll.

Both parties have also sought to address rent bidding. In December Perrottet introduced new regulations banning agents from soliciting bids above the asking price for a lease.

Labor says it will ban secret rent bidding if it wins power, while also introducing legislation to force agents to give all applicants a chance to match offers if a tenant bids more than the listed price.

But there is also nothing to stop tenants outbidding one another on a property, as in the case of the Camperdown apartment.

For those in the rental market, the difficulties are all too apparent. When 19-year-old Jordan Anderson began searching for a rental last year, he quickly found that most of the options were well out of his price range as a student at the University of Sydney.

Without ending no-fault evictions on fixed-term properties, Patterson-Ross says, the state could experience the same issues faced by Queensland after it introduced its own no-fault reforms.

In some cases, Queensland real estate agents have been encouraged to issue tenants with a notice to leave at the same time as they are offered a new lease as a way to circumvent the laws.