r/sydney•
jazzychick

Real estate agent made me uncomfortable, how can I leave evidence without escalating?

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your time and advice in advance.

I’m in Sydney and recently needed to renew my lease. My landlord lives overseas, and I’ve never had direct contact with him, the real estate agent (REA) has always been the person to contact him on my behalf. Normally the landlord only signs 6-month leases with me, but this time I asked for 12 months because I have a major surgery coming up and I don’t want to risk having to move during recovery.

The REA (who is also the founder/CEO of the real estate agency) came to inspect my apartment. During the inspection, he came very close to me, our shoulders were touching, he put his hand on my back and on my shoulder, looked me up and down from head to toe, and squeezed my shoulder for 5 minutes while saying“relax, you look very nervous, relax for the surgery, it will be fine.” After he put his hand down, I stepped back immediately, but few mins later he would come pat on my back again.... at that time, I was not sure whether he does not know about personal space or he was just really cheering me up... Maybe I shouldn't have told them the truth about why I need to renew my lease for 12 months. But at that time I was silly, I felt I should give them a reasonable reason.

I didn’t say NO at the time when he was touching me because I was afraid he might influence the landlord not to renew my lease. He stayed in my apartment for an hour and had no intention to leave. I said I need to get back to work, then he left.

Two days later, he told me the landlord had agreed to the 12-month lease. I don’t have any record or evidence of him touching me inappropriately that time. I have been losing sleep becuase I am afraid he might come into my apartment without permission, or asked me to move out during my surgery recovery.

Since then (for the last 2 months) he has been texting me every couple of weeks asking if I need his help with the surgery. I’ve always politely declined. I really find this unwanted contact very annoying and causing me to loose sleep. This morning I finally be courageous and texted him saying that I appreciate his kindness but prefer some personal space. Now I’m worried that might have upset him, and he could retaliate — for example, by influencing the landlord to end my lease early, or even by using his access to enter my apartment without permission.

What I am afraid of is I really don't want to go through the stress and trouble finding a new rental place during my surgery recovery, becuase doctor advised I need at least 3 months of recovery.

At this stage, I don’t want to escalate this to NSW Fair Trading (because I don't have evidence of him touching me inappropriately) or lodge a formal complaint unless he actually acts unreasonably. But I’m worried that if things go bad later, I’ll have no evidence of what’s already happened.

My question is: is there any way I can leave a record of this situation without formally escalating it right now?

Thank you so much for your time and advice.

Posted Aug 31, 2025, 12:13 AM UTC

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