The family of two sisters missing from Aberdeen were unaware of their plans to move out of their city-centre flat.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, had told their landlord they planned to end their tenancy only days before they went missing.
The landlord carried out inquiries at the address last Tuesday which led them to be concerned about the pair’s whereabouts.
During a press conference a week on from their disappearance, Superintendent David Howieson confirmed it was the landlord who raised the alarm with police.
Officers are treating the case as a missing persons inquiry and not a criminal investigation.
Eliza and Henrietta’s brother, Jozsef Huszti, said the latest details shared by police came as a surprise to him and his family.
“We don’t understand this whole thing,” he told BBC News.
“That they wrote a message to their landlady, that they wanted to immediately end their tenancy agreement. We didn’t have any information about that.
“So that’s the strange thing, that the girls didn’t tell us anything about that.
“They never mentioned any such plan.
“Even when my mother spoke to them on the Saturday, they didn’t mention anything about it, that they had any plan to move out.”
He added the sisters, who are part of a set of triplets, had no known financial problems and were hoping to buy their own property.
Eliza and Henrietta never shared flat plans with family
The operation to find the missing sisters has now entered its eighth day.
Police said they are remaining “open-minded” about what happened but one of the main theories they are focused on is that they both entered the River Dee.
Eliza and Henrietta were last spotted on CCTV on Market Street at Victoria Bridge around 2.12am on Tuesday, January 7.
It is understood the pair left their home in Aberdeen in the early hours and took “a direct route” to the river prior to their final sighting.
They crossed the bridge and turned right on to a path next to the River Dee heading towards Aberdeen Boat Club.
There is “no evidence” they left the immediate area.
Extensive searches have been carried out over the past week in and around the river, with plans to continue efforts in the coming days.
Today, the search team was expanded with expert oceanographers and “search advisors”
Superintendent Howieson added: “We won’t stand down the search until we have a degree of confidence we have done everything in our power.”
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