Disturbing detail in $350 apartment leaves Aussies disgusted: 'Not good enough'
Building Inspector Russell McCarthy took one look at the listing and said it simply 'wasn't good enough'.
A rental property in the heart of a major Aussie city has been blasted for one glaringly, unhygienic detail — with a building inspector telling Yahoo News he could "tear it apart limb for limb". The studio apartment in Balcatta, Perth was advertised online for a weekly price of $350, but it doesn't appear to meet minimum building hygiene requirements, inspector Russell McCarthy said.
Why? Because the four-walled living space was completed with a toilet in the middle, opposite the fridge.
"They can't just throw everything into a room and say, 'she'll be alright, mate'," McCarthy said. "With regards to the National Construction Codes, there's expectations of privacy, there's expectations of expelling foul air from the building. Properties have got to meet ventilation requirements and none of that would be achieved here.
"From a building approval angle, I could tear it apart limb for limb. It's just not good enough," he said.
Building inspector calls the rental an 'insult' to the public
The advertised rental listing copped heavy criticism online and the listing agency, Celsius Property Group at East Victoria Park, has advised Yahoo News the property has since been withdrawn and is no longer available for rental.
It is understood the property owners are undertaking further works to ensure the property meets all the required building codes for occupancy.
McCarthy wondered why something like that would have been listed. "It insults the general consumer," he said. "When I'm looking at this property, it looks relatively modern. It looks relatively new, and therefore it would have to comply with modern regulations, it's not a heritage system, and and the council wouldn't accept that as well."
After the listing was flagged on Reddit, Aussies joked the resident could at least watch your microwave meal cooking while on the toilet. Others called the Aussie rental market a "grim" place, with one man comparing the listing to a "prison cell", not dissimilar to another Sydney rental listed in June 2023.
McCarthy has urged anyone who inspects a property like this, or even sees one online, to "report it first and foremost to the council".
It's the latest "disappointing" property McCarthy has come across and he's seen his fair share of those, he told Yahoo News. He previously called Western Australia's construction industry a "wild west" as the lack of an independent regulator has led to many homeowners copping builders' shoddy work.
Unlike other states, those checking compliance of construction work are usually employed by builders — and none are required for renovation work. This leaves many in the industry "cutting corners".
"There is a practical element of construction but there is also a legal element of it," he said.
In the past five years, McCarthy said he has not inspected one new build that was "defect-free".
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