Dodgy rentals demand up to $600 a week
See inside Sydney’s horror rentals, where landlords are banking on desperate tenants to fork out for near unliveable dwellings.
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These could be the worst rental properties in Sydney – boxy, rundown and, in some cases, barely inhabitable homes – where the landlords are expecting hundreds of dollars a week.
And one prominent rental observer reckons these types of rentals are getting increasingly common amid the rental crisis and ongoing shortage of housing.
The most eyebrow raising rental listings are spread around the city – and some look like something out of a horror film.
In Carlton, in Sydney’s south, a granny flat was recently listed for $600 a week, with what appears to have peeling paint on hard concrete floors.
The listing claimed there was “a well equipped kitchen for all your culinary needs”, but images showed only a trestle table, plug-in stovetop and small sink. The exhaust fan appears to be a makeshift pipe that leads out the window.
A garage converted to a studio apartment in Mayfield, a northwest suburb of Newcastle, is listed at $390 a week.
The kitchen includes a tiny microwave size convention oven and plug-in stovetop. The former garage does include a portable air conditioner though.
For $350 a week, you can also rent what is listed on Gumtree as a “one bedroom fully furnished unit” with a “renovated kitchen,” in Chester Hill.
Fully furnished in this listing appears to refer to one bed with a mattress, some drawers and a fridge.
The renovated kitchen also appears to have cracked tiles and cupboards falling of the hinges.
At least these images show a full size oven.
In Surry Hills, a renter has opted to lease what was advertised at $520 a week for a home where the toilet is located in the kitchen, with a glass divider.
Another alarming listing, put up on Facebook, requests to share a single bedroom in Haymarket for $250 a week.
Another user on Facebook marketplace has listed a cabin that appears to be in the backyard of their Rockdale house, and is hoping to get $350 a week.
Exposing Australia’s dodgiest landlords
Jordan Van den Berg has taken it upon himself to name and shame some of the most unliveable rentals and the real estate agents who list the properties.
Creating videos on TikTok through an account called @purplepingers as well as launching a website shitrentals.org, he said he felt that no one was speaking up about renter’s shared awful experiences with real estate agents and landlords.
“It felt like they were a bit untouchable and seeing the way they were treating particularly vulnerable people made me really angry,” he said.
“Now as the vacancy rates are the lowest we’ve ever seen, the fact that these kinds of properties are still on the market and becoming more prevalent, these landlords know that people are even more desperate and it’s becoming the new normal which I think is wrong.”
He said the most jarring part of all the listings he has seen was the lies and false advertising, with some images up to 10 years old and properties that were objectively unsafe.
“I don’t think they (landlords) care, I don’t think they turn their mind to it all,” he said.
“I think they have a mindset of this is my investment property I can do what I want with it even if it’s dangerous, and they know that someone is going to rent it because everyone needs a house.”
Rent in Australia the worst it’s ever been
Fetching hundreds and thousands of views on each video, he said people gravitate towards the content of ‘shit rentals’ because it’s a shared experience of almost every renter in Australia.
“I get people saying it’s really cathartic to share their review on the website which is concerning because housing is a human right you shouldn’t feel catharsis if you are venting about your experience accessing a human right.”
He said these properties are just a symptom of a broader issue with property in Australia.
Recent research has revealed Sydney is the most expensive city in Australia to rent, with a house costing $1,044 a week on average. Across the rest of Australia, rent has increased by 17 per cent over the past twelve months.
One reform Jordan wanted to see was a crack down on inaccuracies in listings.
“We’ve had state, territory and federal rental crisis inquiries; they’ve all had really good recommendations but we’ve just ignored them.”
Chair of the property investment professionals of Australia Nicola McDougall said although rents have risen sharply recently and many are struggling, property investors have contended with difficult conditions for many years now.
“Investors are legally required to adhere to minimum dwelling standards and educated investors also recognise the value of having properties in excellent condition as well keep long-term tenants,” she said.
“Investors are not punitive nor are they greedy. Rather, the vast majority of investors own a single property which they hope tenants will respect and treat as their home over the long-term.”
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