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Would you pay $1,000 a month to live here? Overcrowded tin shed advertised as a ‘studio’ coming to market in latest rent crisis craze, before council is forced to intervene
- Metal shed touted as ‘grandma’s flat’ to be demolished
- The owners listed the shed for $1,000 a month
- The council found that it violated national and council codes
A bleak-looking tin shed marketed as a ‘grandma’s flat’ and rented for $1,000 a month is to be destroyed after an irate neighbor informed the council about the bizarre listing.
A community member reported the narrow shed, which was listed in the backyard of a house in Minto, south-west Sydney, after they saw the listing online.
“My blood boils to see the level of exploitation that goes on during a housing crisis,” the local, who did not want to be named, wrote in a Facebook community group.
The shed had a bench, a sink, and a bathroom with a toilet and shower, but little else.
The listing is just the latest example of Sydney’s dire rental market, where prices have risen a staggering 31.2 per cent compared to early 2022.
The local filed a complaint with the Campbelltown City Council, which found that the shed and the owner’s attempt to list it violated both national and municipal property codes.
The metal shed (pictured), located at the rear of a property in Minto in south-west Sydney, was put up for sale for $1,000 a month in rent before local council demanded it be demolished.
The ‘studio’ will now be demolished after a complaint from the city council
A Campbelltown City Council spokesperson confirmed that they “were made aware of an illegally constructed shed advertising for rent as a grannies flat following a complaint received from the community.”
“An order to demolish the unauthorized shed has been issued to the property owner,” the spokesperson said.
The council spokesman said the shed had numerous violations of the National Building Code and was also built too close to a separation fence, meaning it needed to be demolished.
The owners of the property also did not seek approval from the board or other ‘certifying authority’ before listing it for rent.
The man who reported on the shed has since been hailed as a “legend” within the Facebook group after tracking down the property’s address to properly report it.
He reviewed numerous rental applications to match up the brick from nearby properties and locate the steel shed.
“Dude this is amazing we all deserve proper housing,” one group member wrote.
‘Wow, a “studio”. The audacity’, wrote a second.
There are many of these at the moment. I urge everyone who comes across an ad like this to report it,” wrote a third.
The bathroom inside the shed, with the tiles only partially extending up the wall.
The Campbelltown City Council found that the property had violated national and municipal building codes in an attempt to list the shed as a potential home, demanding that it be demolished.
Sydney’s rental market has been in free fall as rental prices for units and houses have skyrocketed in the last quarter.
In January 2022, a listing in Bundeena, South Sydney, caused a stir as the “modern garden studio” was trading at $375 per week.
The house was marketed by agent Ray White as a “modern garden studio” with electric and water bills included.
Listing agent Shellie Boswell told Daily Mail Australia last year that demand for granny flats was on the rise as Sydneysiders tried to escape the Covid pandemic for a quieter life.
“The thing about these properties is that they are affordable for people who want to live on their own,” he said.
‘People have been fighting over them during the pandemic. Rents have gone up $200 here.
“They can work from home and enjoy the surrounding area, you can swim or bush walk, where else would you like to be during a lockdown?”
The rear garden studio house hit the market for $375 a week in Bundeena, on the southern tip of Sydney, bordering the Royal National Park.
The one-bathroom studio is for rent in Bundeena, a small beachside town on the southern tip of Sydney that borders the Royal National Park.