When Chinese international student Jiaying Wan first arrived in Sydney, she was forced to pay more than $8,000 up-front for her four-month lease and bond.
Wan found a private room, in accommodation described to her as a “boarding house”, online before arriving in Australia.
Eventually, she sought help from legal services.
Redfern Legal Centre subsequently took the landlord to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The tribunal ordered the landlord to refund Ms Wan $3,600 in additional fees and bond, including a $1,000 unauthorised credit card charge.
Jiaying Wan’s story comes as a new report released today found international students were being frequently exploited by landlords across Australia.
The joint study by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) found more than half of the 2,440 students surveyed living in share housing encountered deceptive and illegal conduct or poor living conditions.
“International students are extremely vulnerable, they are far from home, they often don’t know their rights, they don’t have family or friends here to guide them,” said UTS senior law lecturer and report co-author Dr Laurie Berg.
“The regulation in this area and investigation and enforcement is weak … rogue landlords continue to prey on international students, because they know they will get away with it.”
Dr Berg said stories of exploitation in the media are just “the tip of the iceberg” and authorities need to make reforms.
“The government rarely takes action. When they do, the penalties are weak, so there’s not a huge incentive to avoid this opportunistic exploitation,” she said.
The report made several recommendations including that universities and government provide stronger housing services, better legal assistance and make landlords more accountable.
Read the full article here (ABC News, 4 December 2019)
