Aussies shocked by price of roach-infested Sydney rental

News.com.au

6 days ago

A young woman's video exposing the shocking conditions of her Sydney rental has gone viral – sparking fresh outrage over the city's housing crisis.
The woman, who paid $240 a week to live in Petersham in Sydney's inner west, shared a clip on social media showing her so-called 'room': A converted shipping container with a single window.
Inside the house – shared with nine other tenants – she revealed grim living conditions including two shared bathrooms, both covered in greasy floors and littered with toilet rolls.
In one bathroom, the entire toilet seat is lying on the floor, detached, while an unfazed cockroach crawls across the ceiling light.
In other footage, a freakishly large roach can be seen scuttling across the pillows of a bed.
Tenants also had to make do with a 'shared living room' which simply consisted of two plastic chairs and a wall-hung sheet outdoors.
In the now-viral clip, which has been viewed over 250,000 times, one horrified viewer said, 'There's no way this is legal,' to which the former tenant replied: 'I genuinely don't think it is, I thought about hiring a lawyer.'
Many others agreed, describing the property as a 'hell hole' and 'illegal', while calling for tighter regulation of rentals.
'Sydney is probably the worst place to live,' wrote one viewer.
'This is exactly the reason why landlords have a bad reputation,' said another.
'Gotta love the housing crisis,' joked a third.
Others were less empathetic, claiming she 'got what she paid for.'
'For $240 what did you expect?,' asked one.
'You didn't get scammed, this is exactly what $240 will get you in Sydney,' said another.
'This is actually surprisingly good,' a third weighed in.
Housing expert Jordan Van Den Lamb told news.com.au that the property 'should be shut down.'
In NSW, landlords and agents are required to make sure rental properties meet 7 minimum standards for tenants to be able to live there.
These standards include: be structurally sound, have adequate natural or artificial lighting in each round, have adequate ventilation, be supplied with electricity or gas, have adequate plumbing and drainage, have a water connection that can supply hot and cold water and have bathroom facilities that allow users' privacy.
'Whether it's structurally sound, well that's really subjective. Plumbing, draining, hot water, that's all arguable given the water pressure in the house,' said Mr Van Den Lamb.
'This is becoming more and more common. Overcrowding, terrible conditions – it's bad for people's health.'
'It's pretty clear that the government is not going to do anything about this, the only thing we can do is organise against our landlords,' he added.