USING REAL ESTATE AGENTS AS SPIES- UNREGISTERED PRIVATE INQUIRY AGENTS I totally object to government proposals to require real estate agents to be used like KGB Spies to locate unregistered rooming houses who dare to provide housing for people. These Agents would in effect be UNLICENSED PRIVATE INQUIRY AGENTS If an agent observes evidence consistent with occupation of the building by a number of people, rather than the individual, couple or family otherwise identified as lessees, this may provide grounds for a reasonable belief. Examples of this kind of evidence are set out below.
What constitutes evidence of rooming house activity?
There are certain physical signs that may indicate that the building is being used as a rooming house. These may include:
- a large number of residents using the building
- the interior of the building has been changed in a manner consistent with multiple occupation and not envisaged by the lease (e.g. informal, ad hoc building works such as plywood dividing a room into two)
- locks or numbers on bedroom doors
- evidence of a high level of usage of facilities such as kitchens and toilets supported by high water, electricity and gas bills for the building
- a high level of usage of facilities that seem to be inconsistent with the usage envisaged by the lease
- high levels of rubbish and recyclables
- multiple vehicles parked on or off the street
- lots of mail addressed to different people
- multiple individual toiletries stored in bedrooms rather than bathroom
- lessee not living on site
- no communal area
- cooking appliances and fridges in bedrooms
- televisions, kettles, games consoles etc. in bedrooms but not in communal areas
- advertisements of rooms to let
- notices on display (e.g. of where to pay rent, to keep areas clean, etc.)
- caravans or sheds converted into bedrooms
- many mattresses on the premises.
The gillysrooms.blogspot.com is my first attempt to get the CRISIS & ROOMING HOUSE ACCOMMODATION topic in front of the not only the politicians who seem to have all the answers prior to being elected but also the department heads who really run the State Governments when lazy politicians leave it to the normal processes to continue.
One would assume and expect that with each successive change of State or Federal Government there would be an improvement with fresh new ideas to solve the problems always blamed on the previous government. In my opinion little changes when a few extra politicians in the opposing side get elected thus swinging the political power to another group or syndicate or coalition of politicians. Why? In my opinion it is because the staff in the departments are still the same people even if the Heads of Departments also change.
If you have any ideas to help alleviate the housing problem please
contribute your ideas to the blog ...I'm still learning how to use the blog so
forgive me if i appear as a commenter instead of the blog entry.
This is my first attempt at blogging and is meant to a medium of discussions about the problems of providing accommodation for people who claim to be at risk of homelessness or those who claim they are already homeless. Whilst it is written from the viewpoint of a rooming house operator; it will also actively attempt to lobby for the reasonable treatment of tenants by government authorities. It will be a no nonsence expose of what is really happening behind closed doors. It will lobby governments to allow and encourage new operators to provide accommodation for the different levels of need without penalising operators who dare to provide 4 or more unrelated people with a place to sleep at night without them needing to register with government departments for fear of heavy penalties. We realise the need for safety, however absolute safety from fire or smoke is not possible unless government prefer everyone live in canvas tents with easy to open doors for excape in case of fire. Death by exposure is more likely by those who have already lost a room due to council closures. The State Coroners case a few years ago when two people died in an upstairs Brunswick backpackers establishment being used as a reason why Councils need to close down several houses causing the eviction of many people. albeit. even some deserving it.
