ROGUE rooming house operators are being let off the hook due to inadequate inspections, according to a scathing report into consumer protection in Victoria.
The auditor-general’s Consumer Protection report, tabled in State Parliament, shows inspections of suspected rooming houses are being carried out without enforcement officers gaining entry to the property.
Research by RMIT University’s Professor Chris Chamberlain last year revealed the west was bearing the brunt of a city-wide explosion in rooming house numbers, with people being squeezed out of the rental market.
An eight-fold increase in the number of rooming houses and their tenants was recorded in western Melbourne, including Brimbank and Maribyrnong.
The Counting the Homeless report showed the number of rooming houses rose from 36 in 2006 to 339, and occupants increased from 288 to 2669.
Tenants include those with mental health or drug issues, people on disability support, students and, in some cases, elderly people who can’t afford rent after a partner has died.
Consumer Affairs Victoria increased its rooming house inspections from 42 in 2008-09 to 610 in 2011-12.
It says new regulations mean companies operating rooming houses face fines of up to $2800 for each failure to meet minimum standards.
However, the auditor-general’s report found seven of 24 inspections sampled for the audit took one minute or less to complete.
Nine properties were suspected as being rooming houses yet seven of these were marked as having “no further action required”.
The Tenants Union of Victoria says the report shows “an abject failure” by the state government to properly regulate Victoria’s shoddy rooming house sector.
Policy worker Mike Williams said: “Vulnerable residents of rooming houses can’t rely on the regulator to ensure the premises they live in are safe and meet appropriate standards. Extra inspections mean nothing if you can’t access the properties or don’t spend enough time to ensure that the rooming house and the operator are complying with the law.”
—Benjamin Millar
