Maribyrnong rental property has major issues left unfixed for years

This dilapidated home that’s rented out for $1600 a month has dangerous electrical wiring, leaking pipes and a broken oven – and the tenants are being booted after requesting repairs.

The Maribyrnong home costs more than $1600 a month to rent. Picture: Ian Currie

The seedy underbelly of Victoria’s rental market is being exposed with tenants forced to live in homes that are damaged, disgusting and dangerous.

One home visited by the Herald Sun this week had exposed asbestos, dangerous electrical wiring, carpet soaked from leaking pipes and a broken oven.

Shockingly, the three tenants, who asked to remain anonymous, have requested multiple repairs over seven years of tenancy with many problems remaining unfixed, despite them paying more than $1600 a month to live at the Gordon St home in Maribyrnong.

In a nasty twist, the tenants are also now facing eviction, saying they were issued an eviction notice when they made another request for the landlord to make repairs after they received a letter saying the rent was being raised.

“We have lived here for seven years and they wanted to increase the rent by like $50 a month. We would have been happy to pay it but we just wanted a few things fixed,” one tenant told the Herald Sun.

Exposed asbestos behind the oven, which does not work. Picture: Ian Currie

The back door lock. Picture: Ian Currie

Instead they received a notice to vacate with 60 days to get out, so the landlord could renovate the premises.

The tenants claim no council permit has been issued for work to their knowledge and that key documentation was missing from the initial eviction notice, which was reissued.

The tenants have since been to VCAT arguing a breach of duty.

A leaking pipe can be seen through a hole in the floor in the hallway cupboard. Picture: Ian Currie

The leaking pipe under the hallway cupboard. Picture: Ian Currie

Despite concerns about their safety now being forced to leave the tenants face the prospect of homelessness with Melbourne’s housing crisis in full swing.

“I’ve got no where to go,” a second tenant at the address told the Herald Sun.

“We’ve applied for like 20 rentals and we haven’t got any. We go to the houses and there’s lots of other people there.”

The Herald Sun inspected the house this week and found it was dilapidated, wet and mouldy and had serious electrical issues.

Mould on the bathroom ceiling. Picture: Ian Currie

Cracks and mould can be seen in a bedroom. Picture: Ian Currie

Prime Residential Property Management, the agency overseeing the rental confirmed they took over the lease in December 2021 and that some repairs had been done.

Through a lawyer the group issued the statement: “The property is in severe need of repair and requires a lot of work. Therefore, the rental provider will be renovating the home immediately after the renter vacates, which is estimated to take up to 14 weeks. These works cannot be carried out while the renters are living at the property. For this reason, the rental provider has instructed us to issue the notice to vacate under section 91ZX of the Residential Tenancies Act, giving the required notice of 60 days.”

The Gordon St home was first brought to the attention of the public by social media rental advocate Jordie van den Berg, who goes by the handle @purplepingers.

It’s just one of dozens of examples of non-compliant rentals in Melbourne that he has posted about.

Many of his videos that carry the hashtags #Melbourne’s #shitrentals have gone viral as he proactively holds landlords and agents to account while showing the conditions people are forced to live in.

Jordie van den Berg, who goes by the handle @purplepingers, is exposing dodgy rentals. Picture: Supplied

“I get so many messages and emails and I can’t keep track of them,’’ he told the Herald Sun.

“The thing is we have quite good rental regulations in Victoria, but the issue is with compliance,” he says.

“There is no one out there checking and there are renters out there who are incredibly vulnerable.”

Tenants Victoria lead community education lawyer Ben Cording said unsafe housing was “sadly, not uncommon as an issue,” and was increasingly a concern “because of the background issue of a massive housing under supply”.

“In terms of the reality for people living in these conditions it has huge economic costs and ongoing costs in terms of health”.

He said new mandatory minium standards introduced in 2021 by the Victorian Government that all landlords must abide by were a step toward in the right direction.

He also reminded tenants who have experienced similar situations that they may be entitled to compensation and to seek help.

A Government spokesman told the Herald Sun that “we expect all landlords, agents and rental providers to follow the law because every Victorian deserves a safe and secure roof over their head – dilapidation of a rental property is not acceptable.”