Sydney house renting for $940-a-week only has bathroom out the back

Would you mind if you had to go outside to access the bathroom? A Sydney home up for rent has exactly that – and it’s not cheap.

You’d have to feel flush to rent this property.

A Sydney property asking $940-a-week in rent is raising eyebrows over one unusual feature: The bathroom is outside.

For almost a grand a week, you do get a four-bedroom terrace on Napoleon Street, Rozelle, in Sydney’s inner west, which is just a short walk from popular Darling Street and boasts city views.

But, to access the bathroom you’ll need to go out the back door, walk across the courtyard and through the laundry.

And with all the bedrooms on the second floor, you’ll be wanting to forgo that before-bed glass of water to avoid having to use the (not-so) conveniences in the middle of the night.

But this is Sydney. Where the promise of a postcode will see prospective renters submitting applications despite such toilet troubles.

CobdenHayson agent and director Matthew Hayson said three rental applications were made after the first open home.

He explained the bathroom outside was compensated by the actual house being pretty big and having a garage, which was hard to find in the area.

Records show the property sold for just over $2 million in 2017.

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An outside bathroom has not deterred prospective renters for the Rozelle property. Picture: realestate.com.au

To access the bathroom, residents must go out the back door an across the courtyard. Picture: realestate.com.au/CobdenHayson

Mr Hayson said the property was priced accordingly, so if the house had been upgraded renters might be looking at paying closer to $1500-a-week instead of $940.

“I guess that’s a way for whoever is applying to save $500-600 a week … to walk outside, is that worth it? For some people it seemingly is,” he said, adding that the terrace attracted a mostly younger demographic looking for a share house.

Mr Hayson said the rental market in his area was active but not unusually so.

But prospective renters across Sydney are no doubt facing a competitive market.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves said he thought a “short open-air dash” to the bathroom was a relatively small issue to contend with when you got to live in one of Sydney’s most popular suburbs.

“Demand for inner Sydney homes will always be strong,” Mr Groves said.

“The rental market in Sydney is tight with short supply and solid demand with rents rising 9.3 per cent over the past 12 months.”

Agent Matt Hayson said the size of the actual house was attractive to applicants. Picture: realestate.com.au

Just last month, hundreds of renters turned up to a house inspection in Sydney’s southwest causing “mayhem” in the suburban street, with police needing to clear the area.

Listing agent Isabella Mucedola, from Blaze Real Estate, told news.com.au about 100 people had checked in to see the property and about another 100 missed out when illegal parking caused the police to shut down the inspection.

“Property demand is so high and there’s little stock available,” she said.

“If the property is priced at market value, you’ve got no problem finding a tenant.”

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Hinchinbrook was listed for $530 a week.

In December, experts warned they were expecting rental prices to increase dramatically in 2022.

Finder head of consumer research Graham Cooke said there had been a lack of demand for rentals as Aussie students moved home or international students moved back overseas during lockdown in 2020, but the market was recovering.

“That influx of new renters to inner city areas and university areas is going to increase demand even more,” he said.

“There are huge increases in investor loans and a lot of that I’d say is driven by people thinking the rental market is looking more secure than it did last year. All the indications are that this trend will continue.”