Rental crisis: Outrage over cramped garage offered as bedroom for $250pw

The latest tactic from a landlord in an attempt to cash in on the country's rental crisis comes in the form of a crammed Sydney garage offered as a bedroom to a would-be tenant for $250 a week.

The rental in the inner-west suburb of Dulwich Hill was advertised online last week before being taken down. The makeshift bedroom showed a double bed running parallel to the garage door while a mirror leans against it.

The listing noted the prospective tenant "must have employment" to rent the space with exposed brick walls and overhead plumbing pipes, and would share the rest of the property with a 50 and 70-year-old.

Aussies respond to 'insane' rental listing

And while the asking price is well under the going rate for a standard rental home in the area, unsurprisingly people were outraged at what was offered when the ad was shared to TikTok. Many were concerned the tenant would be able to do very little to control the temperature of the space.

"Literally a furnace room in one of the hottest summers ever," one wrote, while another pointed to the gaps in the walls and the garage door, saying, "good luck in winter and autumn!"

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While the majority of people believed the space and its price was "insane", with one writing "1k a month is robbery", another admitted desperate times meant it was possible the room has been snapped up.

Makeshift space branded 'illegal'

Under Australia's National Construction Code a garage is classified as a non-habitable room as it is built to house vehicles, therefore it isn't suitable for living in. Often the space is inadequately waterproofed, and can be exposed to termites, or may not meet energy efficiency standards.

Homeowners can covert their garage into a bedroom, however, certain criteria — including those listed above — need to have proposed solutions before council approval is granted.

It is unconfirmed whether the garage in question had council approval, however, it is likely it did not considering exposed gaps between the garage door and exposed brick walls are visible in the listing, with many online branding the landlord's move as "illegal".

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