State Housing MInister has 14 properties
HE may be the state's Housing Minister but, as a landlord, Matt Brown claims to not know what is going on.
At one of Mr Brown's 14 investment properties in Ultimo in the inner city, tenants pay exorbitant rent to live in cramped conditions.
The Daily Telegraph discovered five people squeezed into a tiny two-bedroom apartment - one tucked into a corner of the living room in a makeshift "room" fashioned from cupboards, suitcases and a black sheet.
Mr Brown last night said he was shocked to learn about the state of his investment unit and would be contacting his real estate agent.
"I'm surprised and disappointed that five people are living in the two-bedroom apartment," he said.
But Mr Brown is just one of a new class of landlord MPs who are taking over the NSW property investment market.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has revealed more than one in three state politicians have investment properties, including some whose portfolios span more than two continents and the breadth of Australia.
Trendy inner-city areas such as Potts Point, Darling Point and Surry Hills - where they can attract some of the highest rents in Sydney - are among the most popular for our new class of landlord MPs.
According to the Parliament's pecuniary interests register, 47 out of the 135 MPs in NSW have second homes or rental investment properties - many have multiple properties.
Iris Liu, a commerce masters student at the nearby University of Sydney, said she paid $110 per week to share a room with another woman in Mr Brown's overcrowded unit.
"It's a little bit crowded but the space is enough for me," she said.
Ms Liu, who moved in four weeks ago, paid her portion of the rent to a man she called her "landlord", who shared the apartment's only other bedroom with another resident.
The extent of the investment in the property market by NSW Parliamentarians has raised questions as to why NSW still remained one of the only states to not have a cap on rental increases.
There has also been resistance to reforming tenancy laws in NSW, where the onus still remains with tenants to argue against rent increases before the courts.
Mr Brown is the most prolific landlord in Parliament, with properties listed in Ultimo, Inverell, Ayr, Rotorua (NZ), White Rock, Secret Harbour, Brisbane, Canningvale, Campbelltown, South Brisbane, Bushlands Beach, two more lots in undisclosed locations as well as his home in Kiama.
Nationals MP George Souris has 12, including properties in Redfern, Surry Hills and Darling Point - as well as six in Kythera, Greece.
House leader John Aquilina is also a leader in the property stakes, with an investment apartment in York St, on top of his family home in Blacktown and a holiday house - plus adjoining vacant lot - in Portland.
Police Minister David Campbell has six properties in total - although two of them are car spaces - including two apartments in Potts Point.
Greens MP Sylvia Hale, who owns an investment property where she has not increased the rent since 1990, said there was a need to overhaul the laws to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords.
"I would see it would fit with our broader policies of not exploiting people. We believe there needs to be a review of the Residential Tenancy Act," she said.
