Jordan is going after Australia’s empty houses. His method is getting him death threats (2024)

Jordan van den Berg knows it's definitely not the antidote to the housing crisis, he does not encourage breaking and entering and believes bigger changes must be made to make housing more affordable.

But is he encouraging squatting and setting up a database to help people connect with houses that appear empty and unused? Yes, he is.

"It's hard to see all the abandoned homes when there are tent cities appearing nearby", he says.

You might know Jordan as Purple Pingers, the man behind 'sh*t rental' videos and his website where punters can review rentals, agencies and real estate agents.

With his unenthused, exasperated voice, he's built a TikTok audience of 150,000 followers while advocating for renters and reporting on the dire aspects of Australia's rental market over the past three years.

Exposing unresponsive real estate agents, fact-checking misleading rental listings and sharing the bad shape of some properties has been a way for him and his followers to feel like they're gaining some power back, he says.

He asked his followers to submit addresses of empty properties they've spotted which he can pass on to someone who needs it.

"If the government won't do anything about the rich hoarding empty homes, make them," he said in a TikTok video where he is standing in an empty house.

In a matter of days, he's had 409 property submissions — most are which are Australian properties, but there are US addresses in the mix too.

The houses are located around population centres, usually in capital cities, and about 60 per cent are in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest capital city.

The selection and state of the houses are mixed, but many of the properties are worth upward of $1 million, based on Domain sales Jordan has found online, he says. Some are even worth as much as $4 or $5 million.

Since starting the database, which he keeps private, Jordan has started matching people with empty houses close by. He's done this now a few times.

The encouragement to squat has not been without extensive pushback with some people even sending Jordan violent messages and death threats.

"It's the owner's house, that means he owns it. That means he can do whatever he wants with it," one person said in a comment under his video.

Jordan concedes, "whether or not that's the right thing to do is up for debate," but the law graduate reminds his audience that squatting may not be illegal in Australia.

"Squatting is quite clearly not the ideal solution to our housing crisis in Australia, but it obviously makes rich people angry and when rich people are angry, often something gets done," he said.

There could be up to 136,000 empty houses in Australia, according to recent estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2023.

There have been some attempts to reduce this number in Australia, including a vacant land tax on residential properties in parts of Victoria. Last December, the bill was expanded to "discourage land banking and encourage new housing developments".

Why do these laws even exist? John Bui, a principal lawyer at JB Solicitors in Sydney, said Australia's squatting laws exist to encourage mindful and efficient use of the land, with owners having obligations of their own to maintain a property.

"If they're not maintaining that land, and they've abandoned the property, then it'd be a waste not to allow someone else to use it," he said.

After finding a squatter sleeping on her porch, she said she had: "An innate fear of coming home. I'd always make sure I'd leave lights on."

Marco Arnese, President of the Landlord Association in South Australia said squatting was "outright wrong".

"That’s the livelihood of someone. For someone to repossess a home from a squatter is quite involved. It puts unnecessary stress on the landlord or the owner of the property," Arnese said.

"If they’re condemned they’re unsafe to live in so the landlord has a duty of care to provide safe accommodation so that might be one reason that they’re vacant. They [a squatter] might be putting themselves in harm’s way."

In Australia, a claim for the title could be possible under adverse possession laws in all Australian states if a person has managed to squat there long enough — 12 years in all states, bar Victoria, where it is 15 years. There is no provision for adverse possession in the ACT and NT.

In 1998, Sydney property developer Bill Gertos walked into a three-bedroom house, taking it as his own after learning the elderly owner had died.

He renovated, changed the locks and put renters in the place for 20 years - so essentially had them squatting for him.

In 2018, he won the title to the house, and he sold it in 2020, making $1.4 million.

Jordan thinks the time it takes to make an adverse possession claim in Australian states should be reduced.