A landlord has been brutally dragged online after they listed a “shanty town” on Facebook Marketplace for 400 bucks a week with no bills included.
It’s no bloody secret that the rental market is in the toilet right now. There are literally accounts on social media that are dedicated to following this absolute shitshow.
Rachel McQueen (@rachmcqueen1 on TikTok) is one of the many folks who documents the woes of rental market.
In her TikTok series titled “Real Estate with Rachel”, the content creator analyses a variety of properties that are up for rent across Australia. In most of her videos, Rachel calls out the landlords for their shady behaviour and their ridiculous prices.
It’s definitely one of the funnier real estate series on the platform, but it’s quite upsetting to know that this is the reality for those who are looking for an adequate and affordable place to live.
In a recent video, Rachel tore apart a $400 a week “shanty town” rental located in Mullumbimby, which is up north of NSW in the Byron Shire.
Before even clicking on Rachel’s video, you can see that the property is basically a tent and caravan hybrid. After all, the ad is titled “A caravan setup included [sic] two caravans”.
Rachel went right into calling out the ridiculous living conditions and rent.
“No, your eyes do not deceive you. This would appear to be some kind of shanty town. Your eyes are also not deceiving you when you see the number $400 right here. And yes, we’re talking $400 a week, not including bills,” Rachel said.
Rachel then turned her focus to the property description, which said that pets were not allowed, despite the landlord claiming they were looking for “nature lover tenants.”
The FB listing reportedly had no photos of the caravan’s interior, but there was a snap of the kitchen, which sparked some worry in Rachel.
“What concerns me most about this makeshift kitchen in the middle of the bush is the fact that this would appear to be a gas cooktop surrounded by all of this wood and shit,” Rachel said.
“I just want to know where they got the $400 a week not including bills figure from because bitch, you can get a fucking little apartment in a city for $400 a week. This is a shanty town.”
Thankfully the landlord provided a photo of the “best outdoor shower”. Yeah, nah, mate. That’s a catfish description right there!!
Rachel even called out the shower heads, claiming they’re quite bad even in indoor showers.
Rachel then got extremely serious about the disgustingly overpriced rental, claiming that the landlord who owns the listing could be profiteering off people who have been without a house due to the 2022 floods.
“I’m just gonna come out and say that $400 a week, not including bills for this fucking shanty in Mullumbimby, are you profiteering off people who still do not have a place to live after the fucking floods?,” Rachel said.
“Don’t even try and tell me that this fucking landlord is doing something nice and charitable for people who are still displaced after the floods. No they’re not. Because if they were, they wouldn’t be charging $400 a week, not including bills for this shit.
“Wake up to yourself. This is greed and profiteering at its very fucking best.”
Since Rachel uploaded video, many folks DRAGGED the shit out of the landlord.
One user wrote: “Is this even legal?”
“I’m considering moving to Australia and this page genuinely has me thinking twice,” a second person wrote.
Heaps of people also joked about setting up a tent in their own backyards and renting them out at varying prices.
Rachel seems to be spot on when it comes to her claims of profiteering as folks from Mullumbimby were forced to evacuate their homes in 2022 due to the devastating floods. According to a report by CoreLogic, Mullumbimby recorded the largest portion of flood-impacted properties (17.4 per cent) across the Byron Shire.
Yahoo! News reported that the listing is no longer available on Facebook Marketplace but before it was pulled, the price had reportedly dropped down to a mere $350 a week, still with bills not included.
Hopefully it never sees a listing or marketplace site ever again because what a bloody rip off.
