Renters have been horrified after a landlord reworked a windowless storage right into a ‘studio area’ and demanded nearly $300 every week from future tenants.
The area was described as a ‘self contained room’ at a property in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane’s internal north, and got here with a hefty $280-a-week price ticket.
The rental was listed on Fb Market and stood out for all of the mistaken causes – together with not having any home windows.
The ‘room’ was listed as a ‘quiet and protected place’ and was centrally positioned, with an Aldi retailer simply 350m away.
The doubtful rental, which had uncovered plumbing pipes operating alongside the ceiling, additionally mentioned it was positioned close to a bus cease and was ‘obtainable now’.
In {a photograph}, a make-shift kitchen consisted of some shelving and a microwave – whereas a sink and fridge gave the impression to be lacking.
There was a desk with a chair, a bedside desk, a fan and a room divider.
Potential tenants shared their shock the storage may even be thought of a authorized rental, calling it ‘shonky’.
The since-taken down Fb Market put up promoting a ‘self contained’ storage that gave the impression to be windowless, regardless of having a small curtain (pictured)
Aussie renters are struggling to not simply discover a rental however to afford one as properly (pictured potential renters queue to examine a unit)
‘Is that this what I feel it’s?’ one requested.
‘I want folks would cease considering that is OK,’ one other wrote.
One other added: ‘I’m undecided however aren’t bedrooms/dwelling areas required by legislation to have home windows’.
The storage itemizing comes at a time when renters are dealing with historically-high weekly rents and low provide.
The median rental for Kelvin Grove is $525 for a one bed room unit, in keeping with Queensland Residential Tenancies Authority.
Though necessities can fluctuate between states and territories, a liveable room in Australia will need to have entry to pure mild and air flow and will need to have a ceiling top of two.4m.
The window can open in one other room, however because the storage is simply the one room, it’s laborious to know if it qualifies as a result of there was no image a WC window.
The Queensland Residential Tenancies and Rooming Lodging Act 2008 states the minimal requirements and necessities for leases properties.
Would you reside in a storage? Determined Aussies are renting out ‘transformed’ areas, comparable to garages – however even these are costly (pictured inventory photograph of a suburban storage)
‘Whereas the Act doesn’t embrace a definition of what makes one thing a room, the minimal requirements require that rental properties embrace curtains or different window coverings,’ a spokesman mentioned.
‘[These] present privateness in rooms the place the tenant would possibly fairly anticipate it, comparable to bedrooms or a rest room.’
In Australia, there’s a window requirement for all rooms, in keeping with the Grasp Builders’ web site.
‘The Constructing Code of Australia has a minimal requirement for pure mild to a liveable room. It’s calculated based mostly on the ground space of a liveable room,’ it mentioned.
‘A window opening is required that has an space 10% of the ground space of the room.’
