‘It actually made me feel really sick’: Brisbane mum finds security cameras inside her rental home

A single mother has spoken out about an item in her rental property that’s made her feel “sick” and fear for her family’s safety.

A single mother has been left shaken after finding something in her rental that made her question her family’s safety.

The Brisbane mum, who had been struggling to find a place to live during the rental crisis, said she felt “sick” after hidden internal security cameras were discovered in her rental property.

Speaking to 7 News, she said she saw the lights on one camera flicker when she was walking through the home in her underwear.

That was when she made the discovery of a small camera in the corner of the room.

“It actually made me feel really sick,” the woman told 7 News.

A woman was shocked to find cameras inside her rental home. Picture: Channel 7

The cameras are in the corners of the room, suspectedly filming inside. Picture: Woman’s ‘sick’ find inside rental

“We don’t know who’s watching.

“Even if we cover the cameras we don’t know who can hear us.”

The advertisement for the property listed a full video camera system in the inclusions, but didn’t warn her about the cameras inside.

However, her real estate agent assured her the cameras weren't connected to anything.

Police reportedly seized a hard drive from the home but no further action has happened, the woman said.

Speaking to 7 News Tim O’Dwyer, a property lawyer, said the cameras could be illegal, and that the situation was “very abnormal.”

The real estate agent said the home’s owner has now agreed to remove the cameras, but the woman has moved out and is in desperate search of somewhere else to live.

The woman has moved out after the discovery. Picture: 7 News

It comes as a survey of hundreds of people by national housing campaign Everybody’s Home shows one in three Australians are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.

Renters are the hardest hit in the cost of living crisis, with the report finding four in five residents (82 per cent) were struggling to keep up with rental hikes and were now experiencing rental stress.

Rent for an average unit nationwide had spiked from $365 per week in March 2020 to $500 in July 2023, the report said.

The price for a rental home is highest in Queensland, with inflation seeing rent prices increase 14.9 per cent in the past year.

The vacancy rate, 1.1 per cent as of June, also isn’t helping the crisis, with many forced to pay more than they’d budgeted for.