Frank Cassar, Australia’s BEST landlord, has a challenger.
George Maatouk.
The two men have much in common.
For example, both struggle under the enormous burden of determining what to do with the sizeable incomes they derive from their numerous properties around Melbourne.
CAV alleges that Frank, his wife and their business Betta Housing “own and manage the operation of up to 12 residential accommodation houses in Fitzroy, Clifton Hill and Carlton North”, while a government inquiry in 2006 concluded that George & Co. controlled a mere 60 properties, and had to make do with a paltry weekly income of $40,000.
Hopefully, residing in a $1.2 million mansion in Kew helps Frank to relax; Maatouk has had to content himself with access to a $100,000 powerboat.
Aside from attending to their many administrative duties, the pair also have to somehow cope with the massive financial penalties applied to them by the court system, and a media campaign seeking to portray them as “notorious” (Maatouk) and “extremely aggressive” (Cassar). Thus only this week Maatouk was “ordered to pay more than $9000 in accumulated fines and costs for breaches of the residential tenancies act over the past two years.”
For his part, in August, Cassar was fined the colossal sum of $13,500 for various offences extending over several years.
Obviously, for landlords (if not their wealthy tenants), breaking the Residential Tenancies Act and associated laws is no trifling matter. Those who would seek to either provide shelter for the homeless or even–God forbid–seek to gain unfair financial advantage at the plight of the vulnerable will eventually have to pay the costs. And it is well to remember that, in its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.
See also : Rooming house slums put families in crisis, Whittlesea Leader, June 19, 2009 | Glenroy rooming house boss busted, Mark Smith, Whittlesea Leader, February 9, 2010 | George Maatouk – Court action, February 2, 2010 | Housing rogues untroubled by watchdog, Tom Reilly, The Age, June 21, 2009 | Death threats at rogue rooming houses, Tom Reilly, The Age, August 9, 2009 | Hostel owner ‘avoiding’ inspections, Dan Oakes, The Age, October 27, 2008 | Inside Melbourne’s seedy boarding house world, Dan Oakes and Dan Silkstone, The Age, October 14, 2006.
