The ‘house of horrors’ where Luke Davies and Jesse Baird reportedly met their tragic end has been transformed into a makeshift memorial with hundreds of flower arrangements draped over the cast iron gates.
Unsurprisingly, the former Channel Ten reporter’s housemates have decided to move out of the $2.5 million Paddington mansion in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in the wake of the alleged murders.
But what will be the fate of the three-bedroom property itself, once the flowers fade and the intense public scrutiny disappears?
Experts agree that it will be extremely difficult to rent or sell in the near future as potential renters and buyers are deterred by the stigma surrounding the alleged crimes that occurred within its walls.
It has now become a so-called ‘stigmatized property’ – one that buyers or tenants may avoid for reasons unrelated to any physical defects.
And the impact is already being felt in the surrounding areas.
The Paddington terrace where Jesse Baird, 26, (left) and Luke Davies, 29, (right) were allegedly murdered has been decorated with hundreds of floral tributes
Mr Baird’s roommates have decided to move out of the Paddington rental in Sydney’s east
Dan Sofo, of Unicorn Buyers Agents, based in Paddington, just a 15-minute walk from Mr Baird’s former home, said potential buyers were already being scared away from the area.
“I did have buyers in a property nearby and it certainly had a negative impact on that particular buyer’s perception of the property they were considering, and it played a role in the decision that it was not for them,” the Mr Sofo to Daily Mail Australia.
He added: ‘There is certainly a taint in the surrounding areas around the stigma associated with the (alleged) crime. I couldn’t quantify it in percentages, but there is definitely an effect.’
Mr Sofo said that from experience he believed the owners would wait “quite some time” before even thinking about unloading the property.
“My personal perspective would be that the stigma will diminish as time goes on and it will no longer be of importance and will be a topic of conversation in the distant future,” Mr Sofo said.
If the owners want to sell within the next five years, they can’t keep the alleged double murder a secret if they sell through an agent.
Christopher Pearce, lecturer in private law, equity and real estate at UNSW, told this publication that changes to the Property and Stock Agents Act in 2020 mean the owner would be legally required to declare ‘material factors’ such as an alleged criminal offence. .
Garth Brown of Brown and Brown Conveyancers said the solicitors and conveyancers acting on behalf of the buyer had a duty to ask the landlord if anything unusual had happened.
Beau Lamarre-Condon (photo) has been charged with two counts of murder
Mourners spend time at the front door of Mr Baird’s home – where he and his partner Luke Davies were allegedly murdered on February 19.
“That’s one of the questions you ask: Has something happened that needs to be made public? That it is stigmatized?
‘Because you run the risk that the contract may be declared null and void (void), if people have the time and money to deal with it.
‘And Paddington is an expensive area, so people have the money, time and connections to go there too.’
Mr Brown pointed to the infamous Gonzales case in 2001, in which Sef Gonzales murdered his parents and his sister at their family home in North Ryde in Sydney’s north.
In 2004, the house went on the market and a devout Buddhist family, unaware of the property’s grisly history, posted a non-refundable $80,000 deposit.
After discovering the truth about what happened, they retreated on religious grounds and fought to get their deposit back.
The notoriety of the case eventually led to the NSW government making it illegal not to disclose information about a property’s history.
A mourner is seen leaving a bouquet of flowers outside the $2.5 million Paddington terrace
However, Real Estate Institute of NSW CEO Tim McKibbin pointed out that only the real estate agent had to disclose whether a property was stigmatized and the owner could ultimately sell it without disclosing what had happened.
“I would have thought the whole country probably knows about that property at this point,” he said.
“But if over time people move on and forget what (supposedly) happened on that property and if the seller chooses to sell the property themselves, then the public wouldn’t really be aware of that.
“The events that took place on that property would not be attracted to the region consideration for future purchases.
‘The question for the seller then is: ‘Will I do better by selling the property myself and not disclosing it, or will I do better by having the real estate agent sell the property and disclosing it?’ “
Mr McKibbin said he had long been ‘troubled’ by this apparent loophole and had campaigned for stigmatized property disclosure legislation to protect a seller who chooses to sell privately.
Mr Baird’s roommates have decided to move from the terrace in Paddington where he and Mr Davies (pictured) were allegedly shot dead on February 19.
“We have said repeatedly that there has to be some consistency,” he added.
‘If the government’s intention is for a buyer to be informed of the property that he would be purchasing the incidents that occurred on that property – the stigmatism, then it seems very strange to us that you place that burden only on the agent, and not on the seller.’
However, Mr McKibbin acknowledged that the area was notoriously difficult to navigate.
“We have some guiding principles about what a material factor – a stigmatism – is, we have some guiding principles. But it will be very difficult.
‘Suicide, for example, is something we still struggle with.
“Are there people who think something should be disclosed if the seller committed suicide or if a tenant committed suicide on the property?
‘There are people who have very strong opinions about this one way or another. ‘
He added: ‘Other people don’t want to buy a house where domestic violence has happened and led to divorces and things like this, these are very personal decisions.
‘We live in a society with diverse cultures, religions and superstitions, so it is not easy.’
