Australia’s worst bathrooms include kitchen with toilet and 19th Century outhouse

From slumming it without a shower or having a toilet in the kitchen, these five bathrooms beg the question – would you feel cleaner or dirtier?

Would using this toilet give you nightmares? Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Hidden shame and the real estate game – Australia’s worst bathrooms have been revealed.

While mouldy or unkept bathrooms can be embarrassing when friends or family visit, these five bathrooms take “unhygienic” to the next level – and beyond.

It’s not unusual to see dilapidated properties enter the market as deceased estates in need of a complete renovation (or rebuild), but when the toilet is in the kitchen or there is no actual bathroom at all, that’s when the mind really starts to boggle.

Fortunately, most of these properties not only sold well, they got a complete makeover and a massive boost in value.

Ah, if only those walls could talk.

Biohazard bungalow, Adelaide, SA

The bathroom at 2 Charlbury Road, Medindie Gardens. Pic: realestate.com.au

Once upon a time this Adelaide house used to be a doctor’s surgery – but let’s hope the bathroom was in a better state back then.

The 1925 built bungalow in the premium suburb of Medindie Gardens traded hands for the first time in 40 years back in 2020 – and its bathroom could easily have been described as a health hazard.

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At the time of sale the property was described as the worst house in one of Adelaide’s most premium suburbs.

The house was in desperate need of a renovation to make it liveable and the bathroom was no exception, with peeling wallpaper, black mould on the ceiling and so much mould in the shower that you’d be forgiven for not showering at all.

Without a loo Waterloo, Sydney, NSW

Step inside for your chance to experience 1880s slum living at its best.

From gross shower to no shower, residents in the gentrified Sydney suburb of Waterloo got a rare chance to experience 1880s slum living at its best when this dilapidated terrace was listed for sale in 2022.

When nature calls, do you dare walk outside to the outhouse?

The house itself was in a terrible state of disrepair. As for the bathroom, it was basically non-existent apart from the outhouse, with its cracked walls and dirt floor – only accessible by treacherous walk across the barren dirt backyard.

This toilet looks like the most modern feature of the home despite being in an outhouse that likely dates back to the 19th Century. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

A haunting vision of the past.

There was no internal bathroom with shower or bath in the house at all and the only sign of life in the property was the weeds growing next to the toilet – which was probably the most modern feature of the 1880s-built home.

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Rainbow rust terrace, Melbourne, VIC

“Disgusting” would be putting it kindly.

When this Lygon street terrace in Carlton was listed for sale in 2021, a Block parody video made by the agents marketing the dingy property went viral.

It showed the state of the property as it was being used by the tenants at the time, including a bottle of alcohol in a brown paper bag left on one of the tables.

The marketing photos included a bottle of booze in a brown paper bag.

The bathroom was in a terrible state and had crumbling walls with exposed pipes, stains of various colours, graffiti and missing flooring.

The deceased estate had been used as a rental that was tenanted month by month for 40 years after being purchased by the owners 67 years prior for 2000 pounds.

438 Lygon Street, Carlton went on to sell for $1.455m in 2021.

Shortly after the home sold for $1.455m, new minimum standards for renters came into force in Victoria.

Since then, the property has been fully renovated and is listed for sale through Jellis Craig Fitzroy with a price guide of $2,450,000 – $2,550,000.

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Rainshower roof, Sydney, NSW

A collapsing roof could create a shower of an unwanted kind.

Darlinghurst real estate has proved such prime real estate in recent years that even properties deemed unliveable are too expensive for someone earning the average wage.

Prime real estate in the heart of Sydney.

This dilapidated terrace on Crown St sold for $1,365,000 in 2022, far above the borrowing capacity of $684,100 estimated by Rate City for someone earning $92,030 back in April 2022 before interest rates soared.

Shame about the inside though.

Its bathroom could be described as having rotten wood, chipped flooring and the potential for a second “rainwater” shower where the roof was caving in.

Kitchen toilet cottage, Melbourne, VIC

It seems toilets were something of an afterthought for whoever built this Fitzroy North Terrace.

When the rundown property was listed for sale in 2018, the weird layout of the floorplan revealed the bathroom and the kitchen were indeed the very same room.

71 Rae St, Fitzroy North, where the bathroom and kitchen were one and the same.

Few can say they prepare food in the same room they excrete it, yet this old cottage showed it could be done.

Nope, the floorplan doesn’t lie.

Not only that, the house included a second toilet in the upstairs bedroom for maximum night time convenience.

Somewhere in this solitary bedroom there is a toilet lurking.

The one-bedroom cottage was snapped up for $1.19m – more than $200,000 over the quoted price guide.

The quirky old terrace hides the country’s worst bathroom – and kitchen.

Records show it was listed for sale in 2020 and 2021 following a complete renovation (separate bathroom included) but failed to trade hands on both occasions.

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Originally published as Australia’s worst bathrooms include kitchen with toilet and 19th Century outhouse