This is the peak time for subletting because S2 results have been released one after another. Those who passed are ready to return to their home country. Those who didn’t are prepared to make up for the exams and return to their home country after the results are released. The summer holiday under a double semester is quite long, at least one month, more than three months. Many partners haven’t gone yet and intend to rent a room online or, based on their character. They will lose a lot of money if they are not careful when stepping on the mine.
This issue of the article, from personal experience, summed up the essence of the rental point of view and was divided into three parts: what can not be rented, what is carefully considered renting, and what can be rented.
As I said below, as long as you listen to it when renting a room, look at the point to keep an eye out. You will not step on the mine whether it is a whole rent or sublet room. The article mentioned is my experience; I have never stepped on a mine in Australia. If I think of any more, I’ll add them later, but if I don’t, I don’t. After all, I’ve been away from Australia for three years now. And I don’t know much about the changes in the situation, so I can’t give more real-time information.
The only thing I can say for sure is this: there is an imbalance between supply and demand in the rental market. And it is now a seller’s market, with rent prices rising much more than before I left. And it’s even hard to find a room.
What Can’t Be Rented
❌ Google Street View Shows Partial + Empty
It may be a fake listing, and it is potentially dangerous to trick people into visiting the house. Remote and empty areas may have fewer households if it is not a phoney listing. You need to look at the surrounding houses through Google Street View to see if they have been unmaintained for a long time. If so, you can give up.
There was a time when someone renting a house in Australia went to look at the house and found that the closer the other party gave the address, the more remote it was, surrounded by some people who did not look too friendly to live. I left a heart and soul without synchronising with the other party in time when I arrived. And after arriving at the place, I did not run around and observe the neighbourhood. I found that the photos of the house provided by the other party were not quite the same as what I saw. And the surrounding area looked very remote. Although the other party still wanted him to continue to go, he chose to give up and go.
❌ Trying to be Cheap and too Far Away from School
Being too far away means spending more time on the road. The more suburbs in Australia, the more inconvenient the traffic is. The route operation table has changed, making it inconvenient to travel. Buses in Australia stop suddenly, and when you arrive at the bus stop on time, the bus has already left.
❌ More than 50 Percent of Weekly Living Costs
If the rent is too high, it compresses the cost of living and puts pressure on your expenses. In Australia, rent is usually paid once every 2 or 4 weeks. If your living expenses are not paid on time, it will affect your integrity. For example, your weekly rental cost is no more than 50% of your weekly living expenses. If you’re a non-cook, an average lunch is $15. That’s $75 for five days for lunch alone, and I’m not even counting your morning, evening, + weekend expenses. And you still need to set aside $15-20 per week in your living expenses for share bill expenses and transport.
Now, just in Adelaide, if you lived in the suburbs or the city and shared a small second bedroom, you would need to start at $1600 monthly to be ok. And that’s based on the fact that I cooked a lot, went out less, socialised less. Then, $200 was added to the cost of living. And the best part is that renting back then wasn’t as horrible as it is now. If you can work for yourself to earn a living wage to reduce stress, rent as much as you want.
❌ Close to the Railway
Mostly suburbs and near suburbs, houses are mostly old and poorly soundproofed. The railway runs loud and early, which affects personal rest. When I first came to Australia for three months, I lived in Leader St. in Goodwood, which has a train and tram. So I had a lot of trouble in the morning.
❌ No Formal Contract
Whether it’s an agent, landlord or a second landlord, you will be ignored if you don’t have a formal contract. There are two types of formal agreements: the formal agent’s contract and the local state government’s official rental contract. Of course, some second landlords will not get this kind of contract. Both parties must sign a contract in English and Chinese, along with the second landlord’s identity information, or else they will not rent. Do not believe in verbal agreements and chat records.
❌ Surrounded by Aboriginal Settlements or Frequented Areas
Aboriginal people in some places have a poor quality of life and tend to gather and cause trouble. Characteristics of aboriginal people are that they don’t wear shoes, gather in groups, smell, wander around during the day, make a lot of noise, etc. It’s best not to come into contact with them quickly. If you usually walk on the road and see them often walking together, looking strange, not looking at them. And not speaking loudly to ridicule or even talk about them, you will likely be beaten up.
❌ Garage/Basement/Storage Converted Room
Poor ventilation, no light, stuffy, possibly unauthorised; best not to rent if you’re not poorly off or in particular circumstances. If you are not poor in money or the life force causes you to have to, don’t touch this kind of room, moreover don’t listen to how good the other party says.
What to Carefully Consider Renting
❓ Purely Carpet-furnished Rooms with no Air-conditioning
Carpets absorb heat, and whether the room has windows or not, coming home on a sunny afternoon is a steamer. I’ve lived in carpeted rooms, brick rooms, + wooden floors, and it’s still hot. Especially carpeted rooms, there are large floor-to-ceiling windows, the outdoor temperature is 15℃ on a sunny day, at night when I return to my house, it can be up to 30℃, in the summer, carpeted room bedroom temperature can be up to 40℃. It is challenging to bear if there is no air-conditioning in the bedroom. You can only buy a fan or chiller or turn on the air-conditioning in the living room to lower the temperature.
And the carpeted room needs Hoover for daily cleaning; if there are stains, it’s troublesome to clean up, or even replace the whole thing. Some of my classmates used to have cats and peed on the carpet. It was tough to clean, and they couldn’t just replace one piece of carpet. So they had to replace the whole house and lost much money. No pets until settled, have a stable income, or own a home or a non-carpeted house. You will cry when you lose money.
❓ Rent is >30% Cheaper than the Same Type in the Neighbourhood
If the rent is more than 30% cheaper than the exact specification or the neighbouring type, the room may have a problem. So you need to check it out and ask why. The whole house was more expensive than others in one of the townhouses I rented before. And the price of the opposite side was much lower than ours. When we were about to look for a new home, the neighbourhood suddenly moved out. So we asked why it was so cheap. The other side said the house has been leaking for a long time and hasn’t been fixed, so don’t rent it.
❓ Sharing a Room with Your Best Friend
I don’t want to say anything more, but even the best girlfriends get tired of each other because of their different habits. And I would like to remind you if you are looking at properties together and discussing rentals. You find that the other person rarely takes the idea, expresses his or her opinion, and lets you make all the decisions. I would advise you not to consider it. The probability is that something will go wrong later on.
❓Couples/Families with Babies
Some couples will be fine together, others will be all kinds of trouble, it depends on your luck. Families with babies have a lot of things to keep in mind, and it’s too much trouble to get along. Don’t get yourself into trouble during the school year; you’ll cry when the final exams arise.
❓No Direct Public Transport within 5 Minutes of Walking Distance
It’s not friendly to commute time, and if your schedule is spread out, it’s tiring to go back every day. You need to look at the timetable for transfers in Australia. So, if you get caught in a traffic jam and are not reminded of it, going back can be a problem. In Australia, there will be some parades and other things, causing traffic jams on the main roads is a common thing. There was once a demonstration by environmentalists that blocked the main road in front of the entrance to Alden, making it impossible for 99 and 98 to pass through, luckily I don’t live far away and could sneak back. When I got home, I saw a young man at the station waiting an hour for a bus. So I told him there was a traffic jam, so don’t wait.
In addition to Google Maps, pay attention to the local state government department of transport, Twitter, and Facebook; usually, the news will be said above.
❓ Pure Electricity, No Gas
It’s not too friendly for the little ones who have to cook for themselves. Electricity is expensive. Gas is cheap. If you often cook by yourself, the electricity bill will be higher. And it’s easy to get into trouble when you share the bill in the case of shared accommodation. And one more thing, the induction cooker will not have enough cooking power, and the power consumption is also quite significant.
❓ Windowless or Poorly Ventilated Rooms
Living in a place without sunlight for a long time can be depressing. If you don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter.
What Can Be Rented
🟢 Sign a formal contract and receipts bond money from the government.
If the second landlord or the landlord collects the money (although this is not under local law, sometimes there is no way out), you must have a signed receipt in English and Chinese.
Don’t use cash, transfer money! Transfer money! Transfer money!
🟢 The area it belongs to is more lively, not a remote area. And there are at least two public transport connections directly to the school within 5 minutes walking distance.
Preferably one bus + 1 tram/train/O-Bahn. Like some Australian cities, you must take a boat to school. Then you have to choose the transport according to the local situation too.
🟢 There is at least one convenience store + several restaurants, cafes, etc., within 1km.
Convenience stores are usually small supermarkets open seven days a week and open until about 10 pm. However, things are a bit more expensive, at least for emergencies. For example, IGA Local Grocer Adelaide, if you are a bit far away from big supermarkets such as Coles/wwls etc, this kind of small convenience store is the place to go for emergencies.
🟢 Don’t go near places that host outdoor events on Saturdays and Sundays. And stay away from red-light districts, overly busy neighbourhoods, etc.
When I first came to Adelaide, I lived in Leader St. Goodwood, and there was a showground across the street. On weekends, there were open-air parties and such, as well as a market during the day. The sound insulation of the unit in the old brick building wasn’t excellent. And it was right across the street from me. On weekends, it could get high until 10 pm, which gave me a hard time. But generally, places close to residential areas that are so busy past 11 pm are subject to complaints and end around 10 pm. So if you’re okay with that, you can consider it.
🟢 There is electricity and gas.
Cooking by yourself is not afraid of the electricity bill super, monthly share bill when good communication reduces the appearance of tug-of-war problems.
🟢NBN has been opened and connected to the house; an optical cat + login account must be taken.
This article corresponds to the whole rent, if you want to rent a house shows that there is nbn but not connected to the house, I suggest you find a place that has already been connected to the house, especially if you want to rent a home that is not a condominium. Otherwise, it’s a pain to call and have their people come in and set it up again.
The place I was staying at the time in Ade City had access to NBN, and Telstra still claimed to have the best service. The nbn box was installed and not led into the house then. They came three times because they didn’t want to drill a hole and pull me into the house. They were especially lazy and unwilling to help me solve the problem and did not let me pay for a third party. In the end, the landlord negotiated to let them connect the nbn to the warehouse; optical cat put warehouse. The house is a double-storey townhouse, which is quite significant. The network in Australia is one of the worst in the world. Even the nbn is extremely poor, not to mention the signal blockage in the warehouse.
Therefore, to rent a whole house, you must prioritize finding a home that has already opened the nbn and entered the house to directly plug in the optical cat to change the account on the line. Otherwise, talk to the agent or landlord; this thing has to be dealt with by them. The reason is that in Australia, as long as the area is covered by nbn, the original ADSL will be stopped within a year and replaced by nbn.
🟢 Neighbours are residents and friendly, and the house is regularly maintained (mainly look at the exterior and garden)
Examining whether the occupants are friendly can be done a few more times in advance on weekends to check it out. The weekend of my first whole house rental, the entire block of neighbours met at the first house for drinks and chats with the kids and the dog. I was also called to join my housemate and me, but we were busy moving and didn’t attend. Later, we bought two single sofas, and our neighbour, Brother India, was also very active in helping us move in when he saw it. If you have friendly neighbours, you won’t have to worry about it.
As for why it is crucial to see if the house is regularly maintained, this is an excellent overall quality to judge whether it is habitable, stable, etc. My own experience is that whether it’s an older house or a newer townhouse, as long as the neighbours take care of their gardens and clean up the house’s exterior, the overall quality of the neighbourhood is good.
🟢 There is at least 1 AU POST within 1km of the house.
The official courier in Australia is AU POST. If you are shipping from China, AU POST will deliver your parcel. If AU POST doesn’t deliver the parcel to your door, or no one will pick up the parcel when you are not at home, you have to go to AU POST to pick up the parcel yourself. It’s a hassle to go back and forth. And it’s even worse if you have an oversized parcel and don’t have a car.
FAQ
Consider proximity to your educational institution, access to public transport, local amenities, and the overall safety of the neighbourhood.
Rent can vary widely, so aim to budget between 20%-30% of your income whilst accounting for other living expenses.
Typically, you’ll need identification, proof of income or financial support, references, and sometimes your visa details.
Shared housing is popular among students for affordability, and you can find roommates through social media, campus noticeboards, or rental websites.
Online property portals, real estate agencies, and university accommodation services are excellent starting points.
