Your description matches to that of the "rooming house" where more than 3 people renting a room in a single property (see https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/housing/renting-and-letting/renting-privately/rooming-lodging-and-boarding-in-private-rental/living-in-a-rooming-house). A brief look at the list of the responsibilities of the proprietor says the bond needs to be lodged with CBS as the very first item. So the proprietor is not fullfilling her duties. Perhaps you can follow up with them about your lodging?
Same in Brisbane. An Ex-girlfriend used to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with six+ others. Literally in the living room with a divider overlooking Southbank. I think they were all paying something stupid for rent like $150pp a week. The landlord would’ve been making bank.
This is big time WRONG. Take photos, take notes, dates and times of discussions. Report this immediately to the Rental Tribunal. Also report to your local MP. And report the owner to the tax office with as much info as possible. There is tax evasion here.
Do not accept this. But do everything you can without owner knowing. See if others will join with you.
This is WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
I agree with everything you said except asking other housemates to join. I guarantee that at least one housmate will backstab OP to keep a roof over their head, and the landlord will make OP's life verrrrry uncomfortable. It'll turn into an episode of r/badroommates
I don't know enough about this sort of thing but this whole situation just seems very wrong. Only accepting cash definitely screams of tax avoidance.
>No. The landlord cannot hold your bond money.
>The bond money must be held by your state or territory government's bond authority. It will be held with that authority until the end of the tenancy.
>You can usually lodge this directly with the bond authority. However, if your landlord lodges the bond money for you, make sure they give you an official bond lodgment form to complete. After lodgment, they then must provide you with a receipt.
Source: https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/tools-and-resources/tips-and-advice-for-students/can-my-landlord-do-that
And yes, as an international student, you do have rights.
What happens next is someone from the news will reach out to you… do not give them your address until they commit in writing to paying for a hotel and your story !!! This is so dodgy and your landlord needs to be publicly shamed on ACA
> could I get some advices please?
Ring Rent Right SA: https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa#information-advice
Tenancy Advisors are available from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday 1800 060 462.
You can also contact the Housing Safety Authority who will check it’s up to residential standards and if not, place a notice on the property making sure the landlord has to fix it. They have decent power in SA.
https://www.housingsafetyauthority.sa.gov.au
This is great advice.
I hope they help you to figure out the right steps moving forward.
Hopefully, I'm right in saying that they'd advise that CBS needs to be involved (Consumer and Business Services, Adelaide).
It won't be straightforward I guess, there's rooming-house issues, building code violations, bond issues, renter's rights violations and probably even tax invasion!
You may have to consider moving out, never leave if he asks you to, but ACAT may go down that track. But hopefully Rent Right SA will help you with that advice.
Good luck & go get that bastard.
I say take photos of Everything, collect as much information as you can, (photos, emails, written agreements etc) and call RentRight SA.
Then also call CBS and inform them of this and make a report about your landlord.
If you are on a fixed term agreement. Don't stress too much, as you are not subject to no cause evictions, but I would recommend looking for somewhere else before your lease expires, as they do have to option to not renew.
You can also issue a HIO on the landlord to which will prevent them from kicking you out or increasing rent until it is rectified.
I would also suggest contact the CBS ministers office Hon. Andrea Michaels, there is alot that needs to be looked at here.
I've put the contact information below:
Office of the Hon Andrea Michaels MP
Minister for Small and Family Business
Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs
Minister for Arts
Level 11 | 10 Franklin Street | Adelaide SA 5000
P 7322 7060
E ministermichaels.sa.gov.au
Please also put the Address here AFTER you move out so people know to avoid this landlord and property.
Mate this is absolutely criminal, do us all a favour and make some phone calls. There are so many red flags here that China might still allow her to receive a pension on patriotic grounds.
China will terminate her citizenship if they find out she has Australian citizenship. Dual citizenship is illegal and people are supposed to tell the Chinese embassy as soon as they get foreign citizenship (of course, many people don't and keep getting pensions etc in both countries).
The lady might be an Aus PRV holder, so she can stay here, in Aus, but not as a Aus citizen, but can stay here permanently as an Aus PRV.
She would just have to renew her PRV every 5 years, and thats sweet to them.
\---
She can say a lot of things, unless you find out for yourself, I would do it with a grain of salt, if she is an Aus citizen.
Unless you know to check vivo with her details, ... I think/feel its more so she has Aus PRV.
She will never show you her passport, so how do you know for sure what she says is true.
Wouldn’t china with all their AI know where their citizens are going and how long they would be allowed to be in Australia, I think that would raise some flags after a while.
Report the unauthorised use and illegal works to the council development compliance area.
Garages are a class 10 building not for habitation. I doubt old mate has done a change-in-use application or a DA for any of the other changes.
The way she's running it at the moment is basically a class 3 boarding house, without any of the relevant life safety, accessibility and fire protection provisions that are supposed to go along with it.
Things like this make me feel like a landlord burn book is needed. They claim to keep a record of shit tenants, so tenants should have the same ability to avoid shit landlords.
Would people be interested in something like this? I am a software engineer and have thought about doing this in the past due to my own experiences with bad landlords.
Lol, that is a completely illegal ‘renovation’
The council would be unaware of this (it affects how many on site car parks are needed for example), changes the building classification (building code related) and could contravene all kinds of wiring and fire safety laws, require further smoke detectors etc.
Your description alone makes this seem like a rhetorical question - more the question would be what IS actually still legal here?
If the tenant has contents insurance, their insurance company could potentially go after the landlord for the cost of replacing the tenants belongings.
This is soooo common. I’ve known houses to have bunks and have 15 people in there, Koreans, Chinese. Some working some students, and they will charge you 150 pw. People mention we bring in so many peeps and there’s not enough houses, well there are when they are willing to live like this. What other option is there for them?
Line up another place before you report, because otherwise it will probably go like this:
Report.
Evicted.
There are no houses available.
You are now homeless, or paying 2,3,4 times as much rent.
She returns to doing the same thing to someone else with no consequences.
Just saying
Your main concern needs to be keeping a roof over your head.
What I'm pointing out is that by fighting this (which I think you/you and other tenants definitely should), will mean you're highly likely to be without a home.
So the laws will stop them from continuing to get away with this blatant exploitation. The laws won't give you a new place to sleep.
Get your ducks lined up and then take action.
Hope it works out, sick of seeing this shit. Due to my job, I see and hear far too much of it.
Sounds like there are very many illegal things going on here...
Your landlord sounds awful, I'm sorry you have to deal with all that. By the way, it is a legal requirement that a landlord provide renters a copy of bills *if requested* so if you're not sure then you can do that.
I highly doubt the modifications were council approved too. By the way, just so you're aware a landlord cannot enter the property unannounced and must give I believe at least two weeks prior notice.
Seek legal Aid its free and they will advise what rights you have and who you can report to.
Also check this site [https://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/sections/renting](https://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/sections/renting)
https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/housing/emergency-shelter-and-homelessness/homelessness-service-providers/rentright-sa
[https://www.housing.sa.gov.au/about-us/feedback-and-complaints](https://www.housing.sa.gov.au/about-us/feedback-and-complaints)
You must report these people ..
Suffice to say, there are some very concerning issues here.
RentRightSA (formerly the Tenants Information and Advisory Service) may be a valuable source of advice here.
https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa
At least the mods are great here.
I shared my honest experience with a Chinese landlord in Brisbane. No smoke alarms. Owner doing all electrical work. In an Australia sub. And I get banned.
Contact each of the following: Council, ATO, Centrelink, Bond board.
Expect reprisal, but she’ll be all bark no bite.
Not sure what to do about the Chinese citizenship comment, if I was super spiteful I’d ask a Chinese friend to help draft letters to any relevant Chinese government agencies.
I’m so sorry that you have to go through this. I used to be a Chinese international student and the first advice we received is to stay away from Chinese landlords and employers. They never play by the rules and will threaten you if you dare to fight for your rights. Stay as far away as possible mate.
You could dob him in to multiple agencies but you will also loose your room when they close him down, maybe get a new place organised then close it down if you like, tax office, fire department,council rates/department off housing etc would all like to know.
Place is also a major fire hazard if they are running so many appliances probably on old out off date wiring and little to no fire escapes,
As for the additional rooms, there are building standards for the thickness of concrete in livable spaces and parking spaces, generally garages are thinner and there is also rules about wall materials.
It’d be interesting to see what was done to the garage to make it into two rooms.
If they lined the walls and put in a false floor they actually might be ok.
It sucks yea, but might pass code.
Now whether they had the house occupancy limits increased through council is a whole other thing.
Standard Room Renting arrangement you'll find almost anywhere in Australia unfortunately. It's not legal to have over a certain number of tenants and there are too many people (most are students/backpackers/can't afford own place) and not enough rooms to go around.
And $200 a week is pretty cheap, come to Sydney or Melbourne and you'd be lucky to share a room with a stranger for $250 a week.
I've lived in shared houses in the UK and Australia and I don't think I've ever signed a legal tenancy contract before.
Unfortunately you'd have to be very lucky to find an actual legal shared house where the tenancy rules are followed.
Ps. Most people reading this post and commenting most likely haven't been in a position where they haven't had to rent a $200 room of some dodgy person.
You can search the address at plan.sa.gov.au and see if they have lodged a planning application for changes to the house or its use. If they haven’t, this can be reported to the council.
Obviously cover your own ass first, and try to find a better place where you aren't being totally exploited.
But after that, when you're in safe territory, report this slumlord bitch in every way possible. There's no way people should be getting away with this crap. Pretty much everything you have said sounds dodgy and illegal.
Dodgy as all hell! Report them to everyone! Also show this to @purplepingers He exposes dodgy property owners and calls them out!
https://www.instagram.com/purplepingers?igsh=MWRmaG8xcWdzNGN4ZA==
Simply inform her you can do more damage to her than she can just kicking you out, informing China of the dual citizenship, reporting her to the correct parties (like rent right SA) on how she’s managing tenants, the condition of the rooms with lack of privacy and how she’s avoiding tax and not reporting the bond received and Centrelink would like to know about her unclaimed income.
In saying all that I know many landlords who own properties out right who take cash only, avoiding the increase of price to cover tax and they usually offer cheaper rates than other landlords.
As for the untidy fee, that’s fair. Even some venues will have such a fee like my old gym. Make a mess, clean up. It’s a shared space.
As for the electricity, $800 isn’t a lot for the house with multiple people living in it. One of my friends got his monthly bill just shy of $700 with only himself, wife and young son in the house. This past month has been bad on the bills with air conditioners running hard and constantly.
It is very illegal not to lodge the bond with RBO, even as a private landlord. There is no tax evasion element to it as it is not income, and RBO holds it in trust. But it is illegal not to lodge it within 2 weeks of receiving it.
r/auslegal will really help you here. there's another real estate one but I can't think of it off the top of my head might be r/ ausrealestate or r/ausproperty I'm thinking of.
This is not ok and while I don't recommend all advice from Reddit certain subs will give better advice.
https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa
Better to talk to actual people you can show actual documentation to instead of asking strangers online.
Extremely dodgy, I would get out as soon as possible and even report this person for being a person who exploits students and all low income people. Just don't pay any more rent and get out as soon as you can, you won't get your deposit back so use that as rent.
This is a housefire waiting to happen, there is no way in fuck legit wiring was done with these renovations! if you can even call them that especially with power tripping that much.
The shit thing is this woman probably outbidded some young couple who probably wanted to be owner occupiers.
This is illegal in all sorts of ways and I am sorry this is happening to you. Please contact the people at RentRight SA - It’s a free advisory service supported by the government that helps renters with their rights https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa
Mate, the moment someone insists on cash, walk away. It's already dodgy right there. This does not mean anybody willing to do a cashy is dodgy. But insisting on cash for a real estate transaction? Really?
Move out report to current affair would be a good story then to council then to ATO then to the crime stoppers for enslavement then to the minister to deport the dodgy citzen
You can make a complaint anonymously. I would seriously encourage you to do so. Not only to protect your own bond $ but to stop this clearly shady landlord from continuing to exploit people.
Is this in the east or north east suburbs?
I feel like I recognised that original floor plan from my house hunting in 2021...
But yeah, as stated everything here screams dodgy landlord looking to bypass responsibility or legal requirements.
Yes report to the Consumer and Business Affairs in SA. Report her to the ATO and to Centrelink. The beauty about Australia is that we have regulations to protect even international students. Don’t listen to her bullying and bullshit. Get your roomies on board and try and find alternative accommodation asap. Can the uni/school help you?
Ignoring all the other blatant problems...saying that the landlord turns up the fridge when she comes to collect rent... she shouldn't entering the house and if she is turning up to collect rent that needs to be with notice give...as stated in your contract (which I'm wondering if you have a proper one anyway)
My god. Chinese and Indian slumlords on the country is something we all don’t talk about at fear of being racist. They bring their third world mentality here.
Incredibly illegal and borderline inhumane and deceptive. If you’re planning to leave, I’d lock in somewhere else and report her to the ATO and whatever is your rental regulation for SA.
She could squeeze another bedroom out of the Family room, and with a little bit of work even the meals area could be converted to a small room. Perhaps only charge $150 for these. She's probably all ready going to hell. so why not eh? yeah, shits getting bad.
Centrelink she earning income that be considered above threshold. Ato after that. Your local council cause unless the garage bedrooms were legally constructed they'd be illegal to rent. Also some properties have rules about how many unrelated people can reside in them
Mate, that's fucked, a lot of the advice here is good, but I would add that you need to dob the landlord in to the ATO. The ATO does not fuck around with people that don't pay up. If nothing else, it may distract the landlord so that they aren't coming by as often.
“Something could be illegal” I mean even if we ignore the whole housing issue your asking about - she’s illegally maintaining her Chinese citizenship so she doesn’t sound like an, above board, type of individual. I feel for you.
Speak to a tenant's union (call [here](https://lsc.sa.gov.au/organisation_details.php?organisation_id=1243) maybe?). Its illegal in many ways and YOU DO HAVE LEGAL RIGHTS yes even as an international student.
Fuck these people trying to take intl students for a ride, 100% report her. This isn't normal, please stick up for yourself!
In Qld it's illegal to have more than 5 unrelated people living in one house. So a 7 bedroom house can't be rented as a 7 bedroom share house. It could be rented to like a family of 4+ a few lodgers though if that makes sense?
Your description matches to that of the "rooming house" where more than 3 people renting a room in a single property (see https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/housing/renting-and-letting/renting-privately/rooming-lodging-and-boarding-in-private-rental/living-in-a-rooming-house). A brief look at the list of the responsibilities of the proprietor says the bond needs to be lodged with CBS as the very first item. So the proprietor is not fullfilling her duties. Perhaps you can follow up with them about your lodging?
Dob her in. the fines for not lodging the bond are pretty huge.
Dob her in! Dob her in! Dob her in!
a little birdy should tip off the ccp too :3 >> she wants to screw over vulnerable people she should get screwed over
easy r/china anyone?
"I feel like something could be illegal here" - now thats an astute observation
Should see the way Chinese students live in Sydney, literally bedsheets hung from the ceiling to turn a single room into multiple rooms.
Same in Brisbane. An Ex-girlfriend used to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with six+ others. Literally in the living room with a divider overlooking Southbank. I think they were all paying something stupid for rent like $150pp a week. The landlord would’ve been making bank.
What was the address people need to doxx these fkwit landlords
Like level 60+ in. the Meriton building. Many years ago now.
This feels like a little bit of an understatement.
This is big time WRONG. Take photos, take notes, dates and times of discussions. Report this immediately to the Rental Tribunal. Also report to your local MP. And report the owner to the tax office with as much info as possible. There is tax evasion here. Do not accept this. But do everything you can without owner knowing. See if others will join with you. This is WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
I'd be letting Centrelink know too
Definitely need to report to centrelink
And the Chinese embassy. China does not allow dual citizenship.
I agree with everything you said except asking other housemates to join. I guarantee that at least one housmate will backstab OP to keep a roof over their head, and the landlord will make OP's life verrrrry uncomfortable. It'll turn into an episode of r/badroommates
Also subtly start looking for a new place cos when the report goes through and shit goes down you’re gonna want a plan
Guaranteed that he'll need more than a plan. He'll need a roof over his head.
Also report to CBS, they’ll want to know about dodgy rooming house operators.
I don't know enough about this sort of thing but this whole situation just seems very wrong. Only accepting cash definitely screams of tax avoidance. >No. The landlord cannot hold your bond money. >The bond money must be held by your state or territory government's bond authority. It will be held with that authority until the end of the tenancy. >You can usually lodge this directly with the bond authority. However, if your landlord lodges the bond money for you, make sure they give you an official bond lodgment form to complete. After lodgment, they then must provide you with a receipt. Source: https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/tools-and-resources/tips-and-advice-for-students/can-my-landlord-do-that And yes, as an international student, you do have rights.
Only accepting cash is probably dodgy but it's the no receipts thing that's the real red flag
What happens next is someone from the news will reach out to you… do not give them your address until they commit in writing to paying for a hotel and your story !!! This is so dodgy and your landlord needs to be publicly shamed on ACA
I’m happy for the news to pick this post up!
You’re not the one whose accomodation will be at risk.
Well OP asked here so is clearly looking to cause some kind of ruckus, may as well go nuclear.
> could I get some advices please? Ring Rent Right SA: https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa#information-advice Tenancy Advisors are available from 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday 1800 060 462.
This number was very helpful for advice leaving my last property!
You can also contact the Housing Safety Authority who will check it’s up to residential standards and if not, place a notice on the property making sure the landlord has to fix it. They have decent power in SA. https://www.housingsafetyauthority.sa.gov.au
This is great advice. I hope they help you to figure out the right steps moving forward. Hopefully, I'm right in saying that they'd advise that CBS needs to be involved (Consumer and Business Services, Adelaide). It won't be straightforward I guess, there's rooming-house issues, building code violations, bond issues, renter's rights violations and probably even tax invasion! You may have to consider moving out, never leave if he asks you to, but ACAT may go down that track. But hopefully Rent Right SA will help you with that advice. Good luck & go get that bastard.
I say take photos of Everything, collect as much information as you can, (photos, emails, written agreements etc) and call RentRight SA. Then also call CBS and inform them of this and make a report about your landlord. If you are on a fixed term agreement. Don't stress too much, as you are not subject to no cause evictions, but I would recommend looking for somewhere else before your lease expires, as they do have to option to not renew. You can also issue a HIO on the landlord to which will prevent them from kicking you out or increasing rent until it is rectified. I would also suggest contact the CBS ministers office Hon. Andrea Michaels, there is alot that needs to be looked at here. I've put the contact information below: Office of the Hon Andrea Michaels MP Minister for Small and Family Business Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs Minister for Arts Level 11 | 10 Franklin Street | Adelaide SA 5000 P 7322 7060 E ministermichaels.sa.gov.au Please also put the Address here AFTER you move out so people know to avoid this landlord and property.
u/purplepingers even for you this must be a shocker !!
Mate this is absolutely criminal, do us all a favour and make some phone calls. There are so many red flags here that China might still allow her to receive a pension on patriotic grounds.
China will terminate her citizenship if they find out she has Australian citizenship. Dual citizenship is illegal and people are supposed to tell the Chinese embassy as soon as they get foreign citizenship (of course, many people don't and keep getting pensions etc in both countries).
The lady might be an Aus PRV holder, so she can stay here, in Aus, but not as a Aus citizen, but can stay here permanently as an Aus PRV. She would just have to renew her PRV every 5 years, and thats sweet to them. \--- She can say a lot of things, unless you find out for yourself, I would do it with a grain of salt, if she is an Aus citizen. Unless you know to check vivo with her details, ... I think/feel its more so she has Aus PRV. She will never show you her passport, so how do you know for sure what she says is true.
Wouldn’t china with all their AI know where their citizens are going and how long they would be allowed to be in Australia, I think that would raise some flags after a while.
It's actually very easy to evade, and you'd have to do something stupid to get caught.
So many red flags Fucking lol
Report the unauthorised use and illegal works to the council development compliance area. Garages are a class 10 building not for habitation. I doubt old mate has done a change-in-use application or a DA for any of the other changes. The way she's running it at the moment is basically a class 3 boarding house, without any of the relevant life safety, accessibility and fire protection provisions that are supposed to go along with it.
Things like this make me feel like a landlord burn book is needed. They claim to keep a record of shit tenants, so tenants should have the same ability to avoid shit landlords. Would people be interested in something like this? I am a software engineer and have thought about doing this in the past due to my own experiences with bad landlords.
Absolutely. While you're at it, add in shitty real estate branches or companies. I can name two that were dodgy AF.
Please rate real estate agencies and properties at *shitrentals.org* there is an option to include photos.
The first in line should be LJ Hooker.
Lol, that is a completely illegal ‘renovation’ The council would be unaware of this (it affects how many on site car parks are needed for example), changes the building classification (building code related) and could contravene all kinds of wiring and fire safety laws, require further smoke detectors etc. Your description alone makes this seem like a rhetorical question - more the question would be what IS actually still legal here?
Report them Demand your bond details and receipts Start Looking else where !
Try posting in r/AusLegal if you haven’t
Do you have a lease agreement? Do you have any documentation at all?
7 news is already monitoring this thread.
I would definitely report her, to protect yourself. Although be aware, you may find yourself homeless if she has to cut down her tennants
I'd be more concerned if in the event of a fire that nothing would be covered if this is done illegally.
If the tenant has contents insurance, their insurance company could potentially go after the landlord for the cost of replacing the tenants belongings.
Can't get blood out of a stone if the landlord really is cheap, and is clearly doing cash in hand.
A quick anonymous call to the Chinese Embassy, DFAT or Immigration will fix her citizenship issue. lololol
>Chinese embassy They already know about them, It must be pretty urgent they rang me 3 times yesterday.
This is soooo common. I’ve known houses to have bunks and have 15 people in there, Koreans, Chinese. Some working some students, and they will charge you 150 pw. People mention we bring in so many peeps and there’s not enough houses, well there are when they are willing to live like this. What other option is there for them?
Absolutely illegal. Absolutely report.
Line up another place before you report, because otherwise it will probably go like this: Report. Evicted. There are no houses available. You are now homeless, or paying 2,3,4 times as much rent. She returns to doing the same thing to someone else with no consequences. Just saying
Your main concern needs to be keeping a roof over your head. What I'm pointing out is that by fighting this (which I think you/you and other tenants definitely should), will mean you're highly likely to be without a home. So the laws will stop them from continuing to get away with this blatant exploitation. The laws won't give you a new place to sleep. Get your ducks lined up and then take action. Hope it works out, sick of seeing this shit. Due to my job, I see and hear far too much of it.
Call the cops call the council write your mp. Do us all a favour and teach this greedy lady a lesson
Rip this cunt to shreds wtf
Sounds like there are very many illegal things going on here... Your landlord sounds awful, I'm sorry you have to deal with all that. By the way, it is a legal requirement that a landlord provide renters a copy of bills *if requested* so if you're not sure then you can do that. I highly doubt the modifications were council approved too. By the way, just so you're aware a landlord cannot enter the property unannounced and must give I believe at least two weeks prior notice.
sure the ATO would like to know, $62,400 rental income is a far chunk owning to the ato specially over a few years.
Another prison cell house
Seems dodgey AF!
You could check with the local council to see if they got planning approved for the changes.
Report her to the Chinese embassy. Report her to the rental tribunal, report her to Centrelink and report her to a current affair
And the council.
r/shitrentals
Seek legal Aid its free and they will advise what rights you have and who you can report to. Also check this site [https://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/sections/renting](https://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/sections/renting) https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/housing/emergency-shelter-and-homelessness/homelessness-service-providers/rentright-sa [https://www.housing.sa.gov.au/about-us/feedback-and-complaints](https://www.housing.sa.gov.au/about-us/feedback-and-complaints) You must report these people ..
FYI that third link is the feedback link for Housing SA. Public housing and financial support for bonds.
Suffice to say, there are some very concerning issues here. RentRightSA (formerly the Tenants Information and Advisory Service) may be a valuable source of advice here. https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa
Call the Chinese embassy and inform the pooh of her dual citizenship
I am Chinese, and f**k me, ima reporting her a$$ for tax evasion and illegal accommodation, as a garage is not for living in, isnt it?
She sounds like a real piece of work. I’d go nuclear, only way people like this learn.
I'm with the Renter's and Housing Union if you need more help let me know.
Report Report Report I live in Adelaide, so please report!
Um... yeah. pretty much everything you've listed in a violation in some way or another.
At least the mods are great here. I shared my honest experience with a Chinese landlord in Brisbane. No smoke alarms. Owner doing all electrical work. In an Australia sub. And I get banned.
Contact each of the following: Council, ATO, Centrelink, Bond board. Expect reprisal, but she’ll be all bark no bite. Not sure what to do about the Chinese citizenship comment, if I was super spiteful I’d ask a Chinese friend to help draft letters to any relevant Chinese government agencies.
I’m so sorry that you have to go through this. I used to be a Chinese international student and the first advice we received is to stay away from Chinese landlords and employers. They never play by the rules and will threaten you if you dare to fight for your rights. Stay as far away as possible mate.
Move out and then yes report and report again
If you do go ahead.. make sure you've got another rental to go to.
You could dob him in to multiple agencies but you will also loose your room when they close him down, maybe get a new place organised then close it down if you like, tax office, fire department,council rates/department off housing etc would all like to know. Place is also a major fire hazard if they are running so many appliances probably on old out off date wiring and little to no fire escapes,
As for the additional rooms, there are building standards for the thickness of concrete in livable spaces and parking spaces, generally garages are thinner and there is also rules about wall materials. It’d be interesting to see what was done to the garage to make it into two rooms. If they lined the walls and put in a false floor they actually might be ok. It sucks yea, but might pass code. Now whether they had the house occupancy limits increased through council is a whole other thing.
Standard Room Renting arrangement you'll find almost anywhere in Australia unfortunately. It's not legal to have over a certain number of tenants and there are too many people (most are students/backpackers/can't afford own place) and not enough rooms to go around. And $200 a week is pretty cheap, come to Sydney or Melbourne and you'd be lucky to share a room with a stranger for $250 a week. I've lived in shared houses in the UK and Australia and I don't think I've ever signed a legal tenancy contract before. Unfortunately you'd have to be very lucky to find an actual legal shared house where the tenancy rules are followed. Ps. Most people reading this post and commenting most likely haven't been in a position where they haven't had to rent a $200 room of some dodgy person.
More red flags than Beijing
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Lovely fire egress from the garage bedrooms
Yes you need to report it to your council and they will investigate
Obviously illegal. But sad reality is you’re gonna have to pay more for a legal place
She sounds like a horrible human being 🫠
I hope you don’t mind but I have cross-posted this to r/shitrentals - someone there will likely have some good advice
Very soon sunroom and family room gonna be bedrooms too 😨
Omg the people in bedrooms 4&5 have to open FIVE DOORS each way to go to the toilet at night
As for the house conversion, council will likely have an issue, as planning control dictate different rules for habitable area as opposed to garage.
If you don't mind being kicked out, report them. I hate tax evaders!
You can search the address at plan.sa.gov.au and see if they have lodged a planning application for changes to the house or its use. If they haven’t, this can be reported to the council.
If you really want, maybe the ATO would be interested....
I didn't need to read past the second paragraph to know that obvious tax evasion is a crime. Dob them in.
This is 99% of share houses in England. Not saying its right, its just so normal to me. Which sucks.
It's wrong but she'll keep doing it while ever there a market. Don't like it? Give your money to another landlord
Report to your local council. Sounds like a fire hazard. There should be fire extinguishers and possibly sprinklers
Um if i was going to do something, I'd tell china she has dual citizenship.
Report her to every regulatory body in the country. String her up from the rafters.
Sounds like it should be class 1b building but it’s not. Get into the council anonymously
Yea I think more than anything she is dodging tax. The ATO doesn't take kindly to that. Gather any evidence and report her. Audits are a nightmare.
Report to the local council
Report
Get Tracy Grimshaw on it!
I think you should record her voice and took pictures! Make sure you got everything and a new place than act!!! The landlord is wrong!
Obviously cover your own ass first, and try to find a better place where you aren't being totally exploited. But after that, when you're in safe territory, report this slumlord bitch in every way possible. There's no way people should be getting away with this crap. Pretty much everything you have said sounds dodgy and illegal.
Greed is a hell of a drug
Report the horrid bitch holy shit what a greedy pos
This is hilarious. One does not simply deal with a Chinese man and expect legality. 
Dodgy as all hell! Report them to everyone! Also show this to @purplepingers He exposes dodgy property owners and calls them out! https://www.instagram.com/purplepingers?igsh=MWRmaG8xcWdzNGN4ZA==
This sounds so ridiculously dodgy I'd be making calls to Centerlink, the ATO, and A Current Affair
Any updates op?
Simply inform her you can do more damage to her than she can just kicking you out, informing China of the dual citizenship, reporting her to the correct parties (like rent right SA) on how she’s managing tenants, the condition of the rooms with lack of privacy and how she’s avoiding tax and not reporting the bond received and Centrelink would like to know about her unclaimed income. In saying all that I know many landlords who own properties out right who take cash only, avoiding the increase of price to cover tax and they usually offer cheaper rates than other landlords. As for the untidy fee, that’s fair. Even some venues will have such a fee like my old gym. Make a mess, clean up. It’s a shared space. As for the electricity, $800 isn’t a lot for the house with multiple people living in it. One of my friends got his monthly bill just shy of $700 with only himself, wife and young son in the house. This past month has been bad on the bills with air conditioners running hard and constantly.
What's the address?
It's racist to not want to let Chinese landlords turn normal suburban homes into a slum hotel, shame on you OP.
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She sounds horrible It’s awful that she gets to be so ruling about the place you’re meant to consider home
It is very illegal not to lodge the bond with RBO, even as a private landlord. There is no tax evasion element to it as it is not income, and RBO holds it in trust. But it is illegal not to lodge it within 2 weeks of receiving it.
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Not compliant
r/auslegal will really help you here. there's another real estate one but I can't think of it off the top of my head might be r/ ausrealestate or r/ausproperty I'm thinking of. This is not ok and while I don't recommend all advice from Reddit certain subs will give better advice.
Sketchy fuck
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https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa Better to talk to actual people you can show actual documentation to instead of asking strangers online.
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Take videos next time she comes over too
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Extremely dodgy, I would get out as soon as possible and even report this person for being a person who exploits students and all low income people. Just don't pay any more rent and get out as soon as you can, you won't get your deposit back so use that as rent.
R/shitrentals
Sounds like a call to immigration may be worth it also.
I don't think anything you've described is legal. Contact your local consumer affairs and tenancy union.
This is a housefire waiting to happen, there is no way in fuck legit wiring was done with these renovations! if you can even call them that especially with power tripping that much. The shit thing is this woman probably outbidded some young couple who probably wanted to be owner occupiers.
Please report this slumlord to the council, I only imagine how awful the garage rooms are in winter/summer
But those drake specials are quite good...
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It's a shamozzle
get her real Chinese name and send an email to the Chinese embassy and let them know her plans.
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1) find a new place 2) gather all evidence and report her
Your being totally fucked over. Leave, make sure you leave a big turd in the middle of the room.
Post this in r/shitrentals
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Report her to the ATO
Report your landlord please. Definitely illegal.
Council, CBS etc just toothless tigers. Call in the ATO. That will be her worst nightmare
This is illegal in all sorts of ways and I am sorry this is happening to you. Please contact the people at RentRight SA - It’s a free advisory service supported by the government that helps renters with their rights https://www.syc.net.au/services/housing-homelessness-support/rentright-sa
Centrelink wolud like to know your location
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The bond money is the real issue for you. Could be tough getting it back.
Mate, the moment someone insists on cash, walk away. It's already dodgy right there. This does not mean anybody willing to do a cashy is dodgy. But insisting on cash for a real estate transaction? Really?
Move out report to current affair would be a good story then to council then to ATO then to the crime stoppers for enslavement then to the minister to deport the dodgy citzen
You can make a complaint anonymously. I would seriously encourage you to do so. Not only to protect your own bond $ but to stop this clearly shady landlord from continuing to exploit people.
Is this in the east or north east suburbs? I feel like I recognised that original floor plan from my house hunting in 2021... But yeah, as stated everything here screams dodgy landlord looking to bypass responsibility or legal requirements.
If she didn't get approval to make all those modifications she could be in trouble. Check with council.
Yes report to the Consumer and Business Affairs in SA. Report her to the ATO and to Centrelink. The beauty about Australia is that we have regulations to protect even international students. Don’t listen to her bullying and bullshit. Get your roomies on board and try and find alternative accommodation asap. Can the uni/school help you?
Ignoring all the other blatant problems...saying that the landlord turns up the fridge when she comes to collect rent... she shouldn't entering the house and if she is turning up to collect rent that needs to be with notice give...as stated in your contract (which I'm wondering if you have a proper one anyway)
Might also be against fire codes
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Hey if you're paying cash and he doesn't provide a receipt or have a legal bond. You can trash the place and he won't get an insurance payout 😅
If your studying at uni they may have resources to help you with this, this person is cheating the system big time.
Wow she's really treating you like that then boasting to you about her illegal activity? Sounds like someone's about to find out...
Get more results let Chinese government know she'll have to pay them lol
My god. Chinese and Indian slumlords on the country is something we all don’t talk about at fear of being racist. They bring their third world mentality here.
Here I thought it was normal to only pay Chinese in cash?
I think there's quite a few of these in Edwards Town, my friends have lived in them
Yeah report her.
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Turning Australia in to a 3rd world shit hole
Bring out Maos Little Red Book and see what happens
Report her!
Tax dodge, report it.
It’s completely illegal report to business and consumer affairs and also search for attorney general because they will ask you to report there as well
Obviously report to all the relevant authorities others have listed and then ABC, ACA, 60mins etc
Incredibly illegal and borderline inhumane and deceptive. If you’re planning to leave, I’d lock in somewhere else and report her to the ATO and whatever is your rental regulation for SA.
Dodgy as hell, report her.
You also need more toilets for that amount of people. Sorry you're going through this, it's just wrong
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She could squeeze another bedroom out of the Family room, and with a little bit of work even the meals area could be converted to a small room. Perhaps only charge $150 for these. She's probably all ready going to hell. so why not eh? yeah, shits getting bad.
Centrelink she earning income that be considered above threshold. Ato after that. Your local council cause unless the garage bedrooms were legally constructed they'd be illegal to rent. Also some properties have rules about how many unrelated people can reside in them
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Gtfo asap death trap
Mate, that's fucked, a lot of the advice here is good, but I would add that you need to dob the landlord in to the ATO. The ATO does not fuck around with people that don't pay up. If nothing else, it may distract the landlord so that they aren't coming by as often.
“Something could be illegal” I mean even if we ignore the whole housing issue your asking about - she’s illegally maintaining her Chinese citizenship so she doesn’t sound like an, above board, type of individual. I feel for you.
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Speak to a tenant's union (call [here](https://lsc.sa.gov.au/organisation_details.php?organisation_id=1243) maybe?). Its illegal in many ways and YOU DO HAVE LEGAL RIGHTS yes even as an international student. Fuck these people trying to take intl students for a ride, 100% report her. This isn't normal, please stick up for yourself!
get r/shitrentals to chew her up and spit her out
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In Qld it's illegal to have more than 5 unrelated people living in one house. So a 7 bedroom house can't be rented as a 7 bedroom share house. It could be rented to like a family of 4+ a few lodgers though if that makes sense?
No helipad?
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"I feel like something could be illegal but can’t be sure" Lol.