Appalling details in Sydney rental slammed: ‘Is this illegal?’

A sublet vacancy in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs has been slammed after a picture of an unmade bed in a cramped space was shared online on Sunday by a social media user who asked if the arrangement was even legal.

The room in the South Coogee sharehouse on Arden St — living with nine other people for $95 per week including bills — is “substantially cheaper than most other rooms available in the area” according to the Tenants’ Union, and comes with some “glaring red flags.”

While the advertised room available until December claims to be “a spacious double room” with “lots of wardrobe and store space”, some users questioned how interchangeable those two descriptions were.

“Looks like the bed is in the built-in wardrobe,” one person commented on Reddit.

“Yeah, it’s got loads of wardrobe space because it’s an actual wardrobe. If it wasn’t preying on people’s desperation, it would be funny,” another wrote.

The ad boasts a bus stop right outside the door, a large living room and kitchen area, a pool and barbecue.

But images of the space are limited to a single snapshot of a small, dirty bed beneath what several commenters described as looking like a “sewage pipe”.

“Looks like a basement storage unit to me, with a sewage pipe running along the upper left-hand side, so you get to fall asleep each night to the gentle sound of every unit above you flushing their toilets,” one wrote.

Some suggested the selection of this image was intentional.

“No, there is thought that went into it. This would ensure the truly desperate would apply. I can smell the sweat-laden sheets from here,” one person commented.

Tenants’ Union of NSW policy and advocacy manager Jemima Mowbray told 7NEWS.com.au she agreed with these theories.

“It’s unclear, but the ‘room’ advertised seems to be in a basement or garage, rather than a bedroom as originally intended within the home.

“There will be people who, despite their misgivings and the glaring ‘red flags’, might be interested because of the price and location.”

Tenants’ Union safety standards warning

Given the limited, and potentially misleading, information about the advertised room, Mowbray suggested tenants avoid trusting such rental advertisements at face value alone.

“NSW renting laws set out a range of minimum standards for rentals. These include adequate ventilation, adequate lighting, and adequate power sockets to ensure you can light or heat the room, or otherwise use appliances in their rooms,” Mowbray said.

“It’s really unclear whether the room advertised actually meets these standards.”

Mowbray suggested residents check to ensure their prospective rental met relevant standards.

“You also should have access to bathroom facilities that allow privacy. With nine other people living in the property, you’d want to make sure there are an adequate number of bathrooms to accommodate you all,” she said.

“You might want to look into whether or not the room, and the house generally, met applicable local Council health and safety standards, especially in relation to the ‘subdivision’ of this room.

“In addition, someone interested should certainly be confirming that the head tenant (the person with their name on the lease who is subletting this room) has got approval to sublet before signing a lease or moving in.”

She said the listing was “a very poor reflection of the current private rental market”.