A resident of a beachside suburb of Melbourne is so fed up with the dilapidated and abandoned storefronts along a main road that they’ve stuck a sign on a road demanding landlords be forced to pay a new tax.
The sign stuck to a shop window of St Kilda appealed to the owners, calling for a ‘vacancy tax’ for those who neglect their buildings.
Photos of the former takeout shop posted to Reddit reveal rubble and trash scattered inside.
There are overturned chairs, tables stacked on top of each other, rubble and a sagging ceiling that makes it look dangerous to enter.
Last week’s post on Reddit demanding landlords be taxed (pictured) sparked discussions about commercial property owners and tenants in the area, with some saying the owners are greedy while others claiming they pay enough taxes. to have
The overturned chairs, tables stacked on top of each other, rubble and a sagging ceiling make the place (pictured) dangerous to enter
A shop window in Melbourne was smashed with a sign urging landlords to pay taxes on vacant lots
A St Kilda resident said ‘the landlords were ‘crazy greedy’ (photo, Fitzroy Street)
“Greedy absentee landlords are killing Fitzroy Street,” the sign on the storefront read.
‘Look how they leave their buildings that we walk past every day! They don’t care!
‘It is now time for a vacancy tax.’
The social media post sparked a debate over the condition of the suburb and the street, with one saying ‘St Kilda has lost its vibe’.
‘This is how slums are born,’ another commentator wrote of the store’s condition, with a St Kilda resident who was fond of the tax calling the owners ‘crazy greedy’.
A former South Yarra pub owner wrote of their experiences with landlords, saying they were “the greedyest.”
“It got to a point where our rent was 75 percent of our fixed expenses. At the end of a five-year term, enough was enough,” they said.
“The rent was raised to the point where we really didn’t believe it was market-leading because there were so many empty shops around us being rented out for much less along Toorak Rd and Chapel St.”
The commentator said they fought the rent increases and won, leading to their rent being reduced.
Still others sided with the shop owners who struggled to get tenants, while another said the tax was a “silly idea.”
Real Estate Institute of Victoria President Richard Simpson said tenants are cautious about starting a business because of rising interest rates and said vacancy taxes were ‘way too high’ (photo, Brunswick Street in Melbourne in June 2020)
Another said not having tenants was punishment enough for the controversial owners.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria denied that landlords were scalping and had enough on their plates.
President Richard Simpson said: Yahoo News Australia: “If it’s empty, you’ll still have to pay rising mortgage payments, land taxes, rates, water rates and repair costs, as well as home insurance at a higher premium because it’s empty.”
Mr Simpson said tenants are cautious about starting a business because of rising interest rates and said the vacancy tax was “way too high”.
“But I think landlords have a duty to the community to keep their empty stores presentable,” Mr. Simpson said.
Meanwhile, the buzz continued to roll on social media with a commentator writing Fitzroy street under Canterbury Road ‘has been a mess for years, well before covid.’
A comment from a year ago showed Melburnians complaining about St Kilda as a shell of the once ‘vibrant, quirky and fun’ community it was.
“Fitzroy Street has been destroyed and the businesses look so trampled and run down. Homeless people are everywhere etc. it feels unsafe,” they wrote.
Social media from a year ago showed Melburnians bemoaning St Kilda as a shadow of the once ‘vibrant, quirky and fun’ community it was