Kaylee Cranley
Updated 13 May 2026, 11:52am
First published 13 May 2026, 11:43am
A landlord’s generous act over 43 years has been revealed after his rental weatherboard cottage recently hit the market for sale in one of Sydney’s priciest suburbs, with the tenant reported to have paid rent of just $100 a week.
Selling agent Angus Gorrie of Ray White Eastern Suburbs said the landlord kept the rent for the Queens Park home unchanged for “decades” and the home had the same tenant since 1983.
“The seller never lived in the home, he had the same tenant renting it for 43 years,” Mr Gorrie said. “He never adjusted their rent (for decades), he was just happy they were looking after the property.”
It is not known exactly how much the tenant paid upon signing the lease in 1983, but $100 would have been equivalent to about $450 a week in today’s dollar and was largely in line with market rents at the time.
Current median weekly rent for houses in Queens Park is just shy of $1,900, with the current cheapest rental listing in the area advertised at $850 per week.
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17 Isabella St, Queens Park
Inside the four-bedroom house
The century-old weatherboard cottage at 17 Isabella St has hit the market for the first time in 50 years, with Mr Gorrie claiming it could be one of the suburb’s most affordable buys.
The vendor paid $16,000 for the four-bedroom, one-bathroom residence five decades ago, records showed. He used the property as an investment throughout that time, Mr Gorrie said.
The property now has a price guide of $2m.
The original settlers cottage was already about 60 years old when the seller bought the home, and now Mr Gorrie said it was time for the property to have a new chapter.
“It’s a weatherboard home so there’s not much there to save. It’s a knockdown,” he said.
“It’s purely land value, and there’s no heritage restrictions, so it’s a perfect blank canvas.
“This could be the cheapest property in Queens Park.”
Mr Gorrie said the property is a ‘perfect blank canvas’ offering purely land value with no heritage restrictions
The backyard of the home
Located in Queens Park where the median price for houses is $4.15m, according to PropTrack
According to Mr Gorrie, there have been 25 groups through the first open home with interest from “builders, wannabe builders, and some developers”.
Mr Gorrie said the suburb had changed a lot since the seller first bought the home.
“The seller said when he came to see the property for the first time in 25 years he was shocked,” Mr Gorrie said.
“He said when he bought the cottage there were a few other similar cottages on the street, but they’ve now all been replaced by modern homes.
“The seller is now in his 80s and ready to sell.”
The property is set to go to auction on May 30 and is listed for sale with Ray White Eastern Beaches agents Angus Gorrie and Nick Wiggan.
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