[zaph]

Quote

VULNERABLE international students are being crammed into tiny flats divided by curtains and blankets - with 53 found living in 12 one-bedroom apartments.

sThe overcrowding was discovered after a bank repossessed the properties and sought to evict the tenants.

An investigation by the Sunday Mail has found shocking living conditions and exploitative rental agreements are commonplace in Adelaide.

Overseas students are regularly charged more than $100 a week for bedrooms crudely created in living areas using curtains, sheets or blankets, which are removed before routine inspections.

http://www.adelaiden...u-1226224831080

having a large Chinese population this happens a bit in my area, but not usually to that degree. 5 bedroom houses for sale get advertised as currently leased for 1k per week (when they're probably worth 400pw) with a huge yield claimed. there are maybe 5 bedrooms rented separately for 200pw.

the house across the road seems to have three families with toddler kids living there. no idea if they're renting or own.

another street over there's a beauty. garage converted to bedrooms. new tin garage next to that, also converted to rooms. the latest edition is a sixty foot shipping container on the front lawn. by looks and movements of the tenants they appear to be students and there at least 9 there, judging by the cars out the front. this would be either a 3 or 4 bedroom house. what i find odd is they don't appear to be short of money, all but one of the cars are no older than a few years and one is even a merc. all the local re agents are staffed by around half Chinese, so it's not like they're getting ripped off because they can't speak the language.

[tom]

I am not so sure that is many cases they are being taken advantage of.

It is possible that the students are having meals prepared etc and frankly for 100p.w. this is probably good value. They are choosing to live this way becaquse it is affordable to them.

They also generally come from a community with some members established here. If not they do the same research we would do moving to another country and of course initially we are likely to get a bit ripped off compared to when we get a feel for the area / local knowledge.

If they want to live like that, good on them. My concern is more that the government regulates against this. I'd prefer to ask the question, what is the problem?

Routine inspections.... they are dirty students, so what.

[zaph]

tom, on 19 December 2011 - 11:25 PM, said:

I am not so sure that is many cases they are being taken advantage of.

It is possible that the students are having meals prepared etc and frankly for 100p.w. this is probably good value. They are choosing to live this way becaquse it is affordable to them.

They also generally come from a community with some members established here. If not they do the same research we would do moving to another country and of course initially we are likely to get a bit ripped off compared to when we get a feel for the area / local knowledge.

If they want to live like that, good on them. My concern is more that the government regulates against this. I'd prefer to ask the question, what is the problem?

Routine inspections.... they are dirty students, so what.

I'm with you generally on what's the problem. the only problem i see is fire. the places i inspected when buying had very poor fire defences. gas camp style woks set up, with smoke/fire marks on adjoining walls. no smoke detectors and modifications that made evacuation difficult. my nine person example would likely be a death trap in the event of a fire.

edit - do I have a moral responsibility to dob them into council?

This post has been edited by zaph: 19 December 2011 - 11:45 PM

[tom]

zaph, on 19 December 2011 - 11:43 PM, said:

I'm with you generally on what's the problem. the only problem i see is fire. the places i inspected when buying had very poor fire defences. gas camp style woks set up, with smoke/fire marks on adjoining walls. no smoke detectors and modifications that made evacuation difficult. my nine person example would likely be a death trap in the event of a fire.

edit - do I have a moral responsibility to dob them into council?

Interesting question.

Morally I cannot see it, but if they all died in a fire I guess I would retrospectively be devastated by it. Then again same goes for a person driving too fast on the road, do you call the police? Or someone smoking a cigerette? Do you run up and have a go at them for it? Plenty do of course...

Law wise again even retrospectively after a fire it would not impose a retrospective analysis on your ability to predict the fire. The students are not vulnerable to you, where they are to the owner, you are there however but still I don't think they would have a claim against you or at any rate there would be people with a stronger relationship to the students than a visitor to the home. The council, the owner, the selling real estate agent long before they came to you.

Back on morals I try to justify my inaction to such things as my belief in a liberal society where people are free to pursue their own life and enjoy their own property without interference from others. Where one person is vulnerable to another this becomes more difficult to turn a blind eye to and it is possible in some cases with the students this could be the case. This is of course what these stories try to potray, vulnerable people being taken advantage of, as this does appeal to even liberal minded people.

If the story was written instead. Students escape paying $450.00 median rent by flat sharing / room sharing which poses a fire risk and then landlords complaining about their empty house because all the students are sharing accom, most would go, good luck to the students...

However if for example if they were being brought out here to pay $100.00 a week to study and ended up being pimped out and I knew of it I would probably act^.

^ Edit: wow reading that made me think I had better expand on what I mean by act, I mean report it to the authorities...

[zaph]

tom, on 20 December 2011 - 12:01 AM, said:

Interesting question.

Morally I cannot see it, but if they all died in a fire I guess I would retrospectively be devastated by it. Then again same goes for a person driving too fast on the road, do you call the police? Or someone smoking a cigerette? Do you run up and have a go at them for it? Plenty do of course...

Law wise again even retrospectively after a fire it would not impose a retrospective analysis on your ability to predict the fire. The students are not vulnerable to you, where they are to the owner, you are there however but still I don't think they would have a claim against you or at any rate there would be people with a stronger relationship to the students than a visitor to the home. The council, the owner, the selling real estate agent long before they came to you.

Back on morals I try to justify my inaction to such things as my belief in a liberal society where people are free to pursue their own life and enjoy their own property without interference from others. Where one person is vulnerable to another this becomes more difficult to turn a blind eye to and it is possible in some cases with the students this could be the case. This is of course what these stories try to potray, vulnerable people being taken advantage of, as this does appeal to even liberal minded people.

If the story was written instead. Students escape paying $450.00 median rent by flat sharing / room sharing which poses a fire risk and then landlords complaining about their empty house because all the students are sharing accom, most would go, good luck to the students...

However if for example if they were being brought out here to pay $100.00 a week to study and ended up being pimped out and I knew of it I would probably act^.

^ Edit: wow reading that made me think I had better expand on what I mean by act, I mean report it to the authorities...

i've had a house fire so i guess i'm a bit alert to fire issues. note to self - one smoke detector in a 4 bed, double story house is not enough. anyone want to buy me a smoke detector for xmas? off to bunnings on friday.

[Easy Tiger]

I’d dob ‘em in in a heart beat. There are rules on how many people can live in a house. I’m willing to bet some of that gouging by the slum lords is under the counter.


You can justify it any number of ways. Fire safety, pressure on local resources not set up for 500 people living in a two bed flat, no parking, etc etc. I’d just do it to stick it to a slumlord

[zaph]

how many smoke detectors do i need, and where should i put them? currently one in the hallway upstairs.

up - one decent master, one small bedroom and one cupboard size bedroom. smallish kitchen, large lounge, small dining, small bathroom, wc and internal staircase.

down - decent size living, one ok bedroom, bathroom, laundry, single garage.

does each bedroom really need a smoke detector?

[Peachy]

zaph, on 21 December 2011 - 05:04 AM, said:

how many smoke detectors do i need, and where should i put them? currently one in the hallway upstairs.

up - one decent master, one small bedroom and one cupboard size bedroom. smallish kitchen, large lounge, small dining, small bathroom, wc and internal staircase.

down - decent size living, one ok bedroom, bathroom, laundry, single garage.

does each bedroom really need a smoke detector?

No idea, but just to throw something into the mix, I think there are different types of detectors some get triggered by smoke, some by heat, some by carbon monoxide perhaps.... Different types belong in different spaces.