More than half of international students are being exploited by landlords operating in the ‘wild west’ of Australia’s rental market, a new study has found.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney surveyed international students about their housing experience in Australia and found exploitation was rife.
Those living in shared housing were most likely to be victims of exploitative practices such as having their rent almost doubled during an exam period.
Report co-author Bassina Farbenblum said problems were most commonly experienced among students who organised their share house through social media or a peer-to-peer sharing website such as Gumtree or Flatmates.com.au.
She called on the government to crack down on rogue landlords and better regulate sites that offer share housing.
“We also need far greater investigation and enforcement to break the cycles of impunity and hold accountable the many landlords who just keep repeatedly engaging in deceptive and exploitative practices,” Ms Farbenblum said.
Shelter NSW CEO Stacey Miers backed the recommendations, saying the burden too-often falls to councils to enforce laws.
“It seems that the legislation is not strong enough when it comes to the capacity of people to be charged when they set up multiple rooms that really do breach the fire and building regulation and it comes back to councils having to go out and check on these dwelling all the time and there’s not enough resources to do that,” she said.
The report also recommends international students have access to better housing services from universities and government.
Read the full article here (SBS News, 4 December 2019)
