How one man managed to live in eight multimillion-dollar homes without paying rent

Only one family attended a recent open home inspection of a contemporary four-bedroom house in Waverley for rent for $3750 a week. “Anthony Lark” and his wife, Hayley, wandered from room to room as their two daughters filmed videos to show their big brother what they hoped would be their new home.

Everyone was delighted that each of the kids could have their own bedroom. The sunny open-plan living room and marble kitchen were a hit. Within 10 minutes of his arrival, Lark announced he wanted it.

Lark’s rental application was as good as it gets: an excellent reference from his former Bondi landlord Charles Levy, a copy of his passport, a bank statement, a recent Origin Energy bill, and a reference from his manager at NovaData Consulting, Sandy Galvin.

But it was all fake. There is no former landlord called Charles Levy, nor Sandy Galvin at NovaData Consulting; the passport had been doctored, as were the energy bill and bank statement, and there is unlikely to be any “excellent” reference from Lark’s former landlord in Bondi because he didn’t pay his rent.

That’s because Lark’s real name is Kim Anthony Sarkin, a serial rent fraudster who has defaulted on the rent he owes on at least eight multimillion-dollar houses across the eastern suburbs from Vaucluse to Bronte in the two years since he and his family moved to Sydney.

All but one of Sarkin’s landlords have taken legal action through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a bid to evict Sarkin and Hayley, their three children and two dogs from seven of those homes. In the process, they have revealed allegations of fake references and doctored receipts for purported rent and bond payments.

Agents who have unwittingly handed over the keys of their top rentals to Sarkin say the backlog of cases before NCAT means Sarkin can live rent-free for three to four months before eviction orders are handed down. His unpaid rent bill has grown to more than $120,000.

Fortunately for agent Justine Kidnie, Lark’s application didn’t make it far before her suspicions were raised by a discrepancy on the payslip and Hayley Lark’s curious inability to recall her current address.

“He didn’t actually get past first base with me, so I never worried about the fact his referee never responded. By that time I’d realised who he was,” said Kidnie.

It wasn’t the first time Sarkin had allegedly lodged fraudulent documents in the name of his alter ego in a bid to rent yet another luxury residence in the beachside eastern suburbs.

Anthony Lark’s name first appeared on a rental application in July, a few weeks after this masthead revealed Sarkin’s rental history. The application was for a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool in North Bondi on offer for $3500 a week.

He wasn’t successful, but the doctored documents prompted leasing agent Henry Farage to take the matter to the police. A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed there was an investigation into alleged fraudulent activity, but no further action was taken.

Sarkin, a data and AI governance specialist from South Africa, did not respond to questions. He has previously denied doctoring any bond payment receipts. Sarkin claimed this year that he intends to pay back the landlords once he gets his financial situation under control.

“It’s not like I set out to create a problem. These things have happened, which is really unfortunate. There was never any intent to harm these people,” he said.

Sarkin moved to Sydney from New Zealand in late 2024. At the time, his New Zealand business consultancy had been placed in receivership, and soon after ordered into liquidation by the Auckland High Court, owing almost $NZ1 million ($820,000) in unpaid taxes. He has since declared himself bankrupt in New Zealand.

The house in Auckland he claimed he owned as part of his rental application for the Waverley home is actually owned by his former landlord, Tony Wallace, who is still owed $NZ8000 in outstanding rent from Sarkin.

Corporate records show Sarkin recently set up a Sydney-based AI firm called NovaData Consultancy with an AI-generated website. The company is not to be confused with the Brisbane-based business intelligence and AI consultancy Nova Data, with which Sarkin has no relationship.

The email address for the “manager” at the Sydney-based firm, Sandy Galvin, was registered this month by Kim Sarkin.

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