A Ministry of Housing property sold privately because it required a lot of work and money to bring it up to standard. The gas metre had been removed, as the property was sold as uninhabitable. The new owner rented it out in that condition. The middle aged man who rented it had no hot water, no heating and no cooking. He was paying most of his Centrelink benefit to live in this place, leaving him little to live on. He accessed the local swimming pool for free showers, aid agencies for food, a hot drink and a place to sit and warm up. He was found dead in his house during the cold winter. He was 52…

There has been much discussion recently about the lack of rental properties available and the increasing number of people who are becoming homeless. Another equally serious concern is at last being recognised: that of property owners exploiting low income tenants who live in squalid conditions in substandard housing.

A single mother with five children lives with bare floorboards and paint peeling from walls where rain from the leaking roof separates paint from plaster. A large hole in the bathroom ceiling has never been repaired since a gas hot water boiler previously vented there was removed. Walls in the home are black from mould in spite of continuous washing with bleach. The refrigerator is in the lounge because the kitchen power point has water leaking on it, again from the roof. The pantry cupboard is alive with small brown cockroaches where the walls are damp. This mother keeps the place neat, clean and tidy insofar as is possible. The real estate agent has taken........

© Pearls and Irritations