Documenting recurrent black mould, exposed asbestos and perpetually “squishy” carpets, content creator Jordie van den Berg has garnered millions of views exposing Australia’s worst rental properties on TikTok.

Known as @purplepingers on social media, the 27-year-old trained lawyer is now using his viral momentum to launch a grassroots movement in the form of a review site: Shit Rentals.

It aims to hold real estate agents and landlords to account. Through the site, renters can anonymously submit detailed reviews about a property, along with photos.

Mr van den Berg then individually verifies each submission before uploading it to a public-facing spreadsheet that identifies the rental’s address and the representing agency.

Within two weeks of launching the website, Mr van den Berg has manually verified more than 1,500 properties and agencies with a backlog of many more.

He told The Drum that the website exists to try and “redress the power imbalance” between landlords and renters.

“When you apply for a rental, you give the real estate agent and the landlord so much information about yourself and you have no transparency on how that is going to be used and also you have no information on the place you’re going to be living or the experience you’re going to have,” he said.

Referencing comedian Tom Cashman — who infamously had a rental application terminated after requesting a “landlord reference” — Mr van den Berg said when renters did try to hold agencies and landlords to account they were “laughed at” and punished for it.

“This is to try and give renters more information for free and to help them make a more informed decision on the current rental crisis we’re experiencing,” Mr van den Berg said.

A confirmation of crisis

Data from PropTrack’s August report shows that the power discrepancy between renters and landlords is only getting worse, with vacancy rates falling to a record-low 1.1 per cent.

The vacancy rate is the percentage of all available dwellings in a rental property that are vacant.

Census data says that 31 per cent of Australians rent their home. Mr van den Berg says the success of his website confirms a stark power imbalance between renters and landlords.

“The uptake is quite phenomenal,” he said.

“If the question was, ‘Are shit rentals a widespread issue?’ the uptake so far proves that yes, yes it is. We have a problem.”

Mr van den Berg said he is “annoyed” that he feels the responsibility to create a database of bad rentals.

“The rental crisis is a failure of successive governments for decades. It’s not surprising [the government] have not stepped up to offer a registry,” he said.

Mr van den Berg said given the tight rental market, the dynamic between renters and landlords means tenants are even more vulnerable when they do report poor agency and landlord behaviour.

“The government relies on renters to be their own rental cops,” he said.

“There’s such a massive power imbalance, that if they do that [report issues], they get evicted — that’s what I’ve seen.”

‘The listing looked good online’

Renter Blake Hesketh invited Mr van den Berg to his home in Melbourne’s west after receiving an eviction notice following a rent increase dispute.

In a video shared to TikTok, he tours through the property, highlighting the poor conditions.

“This shower doesn’t turn off,” he says in the video, adding: “The bathroom is covered in recurring black mould.”

Using a thermal camera, Mr van den Berg shows the extent of a leak damaging carpet.

“Check out this gorgeous native wildlife,” he says while examining weed spores in the damp carpet.

Mr Hesketh told The Drum that he received a second eviction notice referencing the video, deeming the property unsafe to live in.

He said he was a tenant at the property for seven years and that issues with the dwelling were apparent at the time of moving in.

“The listing looked good online but when we got there it was the opposite,” Mr Hesketh said.

Mr Hesketh said he had to lay planks down across damp carpet.

“We had to walk the planks just to have a shower and whatnot,” he said.

Mr Hesketh said that during his time living at the home, the ownership changed three times.

“The house progressively got into a state where we were like, ‘You need to look after your investment. We love this house just as much as you guys and we have been here for seven years and we are part of the community, and you’re just letting this thing go to waste,'” he said.

“It got to the point where the only thing we could do is reach out to a TikTok celebrity.

“They say renters have rights, but it is never enforced.”

Keeping momentum

Mr Hesketh said he just recently found a new home after submitting more than 50 rental applications. He welcomed Shit Rentals as a chance to “level out the playing field” for renters.

“All review sites are just doing landlords and agencies favours,” he said.

“It’s good to have a pro-tenant review site.”

Mr Hesketh added that while the website gave renters more information, it did little to address the current vacancy issues.

“You can only really grab what you can at the moment,” he said.

“I just applied for more than 50 houses and only got one.