An Australian dad has unleashed fury from renters after revealing the home he was ‘kicked out’ of has sat empty for two years.
Arlo Enemark, 42, shared a video on Tuesday showing the inner-Melbourne home where he and his wife used to live.
The couple happily lived in the home until 2023 when the owner, who Mr Enemark described as a ‘developer’, asked them to move out.
‘They then proceeded to leave the place empty for 18 months and, being developers, could afford to lose the $50,000 in rent that we would’ve paid in that 18 months’ time,’ Mr Enemark said.
‘They’ve put it back on the market empty again. It’s just crazy that there are people sleeping in their cars while developers can just buy places and leave them empty.’
While Mr Enemark and his partner were able to buy an apartment, which they live in with their one-year-old child, he shared concern for those who would’ve been left unhoused by the situation.
‘We need to have an empty property tax for homes and commercial properties, because they should primarily be their function of being a home or being a commercial property,’ he said.
‘They’re not like NFTs, they’re not just purely speculatory assets. They’re actually functional properties and buildings to provide homes and locations for businesses.
@bossfightpr
I won’t have anyone tell me that property developers “provide housing” when they boot people out of their home only to leave it empty for years on end. Let’s be honest it’s the builders, trades people, workers that provide homes. Developers are subsidised by tax payers to put themselves in between the builders and the home buyers. We need to make it unviable to land bank or leave homes empty. Same with commercial businesses. There’s no reason that a high street should have any empty shopfronts. Drop the rent until it’s viable for business to operate out of them. Otherwise the government should seize these properties on behalf of the taxpayer. #auspol #australianpropertymarket #emptypropertytax #shitrentals #housingcrisis #rentalcrisis #housingaffordability #rentersrights #propertyhoaders #emptyhomes #rentersofaustralia #taxwealthnotwork
♬ original sound – BossFightPR
Arlo Enemark (pictured) and his wife were asked to vacate a property so it could be sold, only for it to sit empty for 18 months
Several Australians have called for Australia to introduce a nationwide tax for owners of empty homes
‘We need empty property taxes immediately so it’s not viable to leave these things empty anymore.’
Victoria currently charges owners of vacant homes an annual tax of one per cent of the property’s capital improved value.
The tax was introduced at the beginning of 2025 and is unique to Victoria.
As more Aussies grapple with the ongoing housing crisis, many have called for the tax to be introduced nationwide.
The median cost of weekly rent sits at $650. The high cost means many renters are unable to simultaneously save for a home loan deposit.
Meanwhile, Australia’s vacancy rate is 1.2 per cent as of August, which is about 40,000 homes.
The 2021 Census found more than one million homes were empty, however, this figure includes those away only for a short time, houses being renovated, properties available to rent, newly built homes for sale, and homes deemed unliveable.
Tenant raises eyebrows over ‘dangerous’ find during house inspection
Hundreds of commenters under Mr Enemark’s video agreed with a vacancy tax being introduced.
‘Actually, I agree with the empty home tax,’ one wrote.
‘Investors ‘provide’ homes in the same way that scalpers ‘provide’ concert tickets,’ another said.
‘I don’t think anything but individuals should own residential properties. Companies can own commercial properties. But if it’s for people to live in it shouldn’t be a business,’ another wrote.
However, others told renters to stop complaining about the existing system.
‘No we don’t need more taxes. We need people to stop thinking that people who worked hard and invested for the future owe them a living,’ one wrote.
‘Their home, they can do what they like,’ another said.
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