A landlord has been slammed after asking prospective tenants to pay more than $260 a week to share a tiny ‘slum-room’ with another person.
The owner used Facebook to advertise the room in an apartment located opposite Southern Cross Station in Melbourne’s CBD.
‘Looking for a male, who can live from September 20. You are going to share a room with one Japanese male,’ the listing read.
The rent, which is worth $264.50 a week, covers the bills for utility expenses.
The prospective tenant must also fork out $265 in bond before they move in.
A photo of the room showed a single bed covered in a doona squeezed into a narrow space with both sides of the mattress touching the walls.
The apartment included access to a shared bathroom, laundry and kitchen while the building had a gym, pool, sauna and barbecue area.
The rent for the small room (pictured) is worth $264.50 a week and the payment covers the bills for utilities expenses
Reddit users were appalled at how the ad exposed the dire state of the rental market in the Melbourne, which has become one of the most expensive in the world to rent in.
‘Damn didn’t realise Melbourne was becoming New York City,’ one wrote.
‘Some of these slum-room rents are almost [worth] as much as an entire house,’ another wrote.
Others were left stunned by the bizarre request to rent out the tiny space while it’s already being used by another tenant.
‘What is left to share?’ one wrote.
Some said there is an upside to renting small rooms in apartments in the city even though they admitted this listing was an ‘extreme example’.
‘[It] means you don’t have to pay for a car or public transport, which saves you a ton [and] you’ve got super quick access to everything you need,’ one wrote.
Commenters on social media were left outraged with some claiming that the city has become more unaffordable to live in than some of the major global cities (stock image of Melbourne)
The latest figures from PropTrack reveal the median price for an apartment in Melbourne is $609,000.
Sydney remains the most expensive capital city in Australia to buy an apartment with the median price of units at $819,000.
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