A KOREAN education agent has been implicated in the running of a two-storey Bri*****ane suburban home that was housing up to 37 foreign students.
A raid by Bri*****ane City Council inspectors uncovered the operation under which a near record number of students were being used to service a $6000-a-month lease to cover the education agents’ upstairs home-office.
It is believed that when council raided the quiet suburban property in leafy Sunnybank Hills, in Bri*****ane’s south, they discovered 27 students in the remodelled building, including three Asian girls asleep in a double bed, with beds for a further 10 people.
The latest revelation of extreme overcrowding in overseas student accommodation comes in the wake of similar incidences in Sydney and Melbourne, where one house had 38 students setting a dubious national record.
Cash-strapped foreign students, studying in Australia as part of the $15 billion industry, have complained of being exploited by industry-linked operators— leading to calls for universities and colleges to massively ramp up campus accommodation.
When The Australian visited the Bri*****ane property yesterday, the Lebanese and Korean university student residents expressed shock the house had a notorious accommodation history.
At the time of the raid in March — revealed yesterday as part of the council’s crackdown on illegal accommodation — it is believed most of the residents were students of Asian origin. All of the then residents have since moved.
Griffith University human resources masters student Adel Kassem, 25, of Lebanon, said there was no longer overcrowding in the 12-bedroom home.
‘‘ I haven’t seen many people living here. I work four days a week, come home, shower and sleep and study. I don’t see the others hardly at all,’’ he said.
Eight people — including an older Asian woman and a child— were present at the property.
Two double bunk-beds were also seen in one bedroom off the motel-style corridor.
The Korean students told The Australian they paid between $130 and $160 a week each for their own rooms. However, before the raid each of the 12 bedrooms had multiple beds.
The raid followed complaints to the local Neighbourhood Watch about other crowded houses in the area, with one neighbour of the Sunnybank property saying that despite the overcrowding she had never found them to be a problem.
‘‘ Although they used to run a shuttle service of three or four cars to the local transport of a morning, and then there were still people leaving on foot,’’ she said.
The property’s agent — Queensland Property Investment Solutions — said that once the lease breach had been discovered earlier this year, it had been assiduous in working with council to enforce the six-person condition of the lease.
‘‘ We are appalled and our client, the property’s owner, is beyond pissed off,’’ QPIS property manager Janine Colman said.
Milton Dick, ALP planning spokesman on the council, said a further crackdown by state and council authorities was needed to prevent student overcrowding.
‘‘ I would hope people aren’t profiteering, preying on vulnerable students to cram them into illegal accommodation to make a quick buck,’’ he said.
Greens senator Sarah HansonYoung — who is conducting an inquiry into Australia’s treatment of overseas students — said there was a lack of clarity as to where the duty of care lay with international students.
‘‘ I’ve heard stories of young people who have come to Australia to study and are paying top dollar for their course and for the first few weeks they are sleeping in the corridors or the libraries of their universities,’’ she said.
A council spokesperson said council had no powers to prosecute the perpetrators of the overcrowding, and action had been limited to raiding the property and working with the agent to enforce lease terms.
Deputy Mayor Graham Quirk said inspections of more than 1000 houses had led to more than 180 enforcement or show-cause notices in that time.
A raid by Bri*****ane City Council inspectors uncovered the operation under which a near record number of students were being used to service a $6000-a-month lease to cover the education agents’ upstairs home-office.
It is believed that when council raided the quiet suburban property in leafy Sunnybank Hills, in Bri*****ane’s south, they discovered 27 students in the remodelled building, including three Asian girls asleep in a double bed, with beds for a further 10 people.
The latest revelation of extreme overcrowding in overseas student accommodation comes in the wake of similar incidences in Sydney and Melbourne, where one house had 38 students setting a dubious national record.
Cash-strapped foreign students, studying in Australia as part of the $15 billion industry, have complained of being exploited by industry-linked operators— leading to calls for universities and colleges to massively ramp up campus accommodation.
When The Australian visited the Bri*****ane property yesterday, the Lebanese and Korean university student residents expressed shock the house had a notorious accommodation history.
At the time of the raid in March — revealed yesterday as part of the council’s crackdown on illegal accommodation — it is believed most of the residents were students of Asian origin. All of the then residents have since moved.
Griffith University human resources masters student Adel Kassem, 25, of Lebanon, said there was no longer overcrowding in the 12-bedroom home.
‘‘ I haven’t seen many people living here. I work four days a week, come home, shower and sleep and study. I don’t see the others hardly at all,’’ he said.
Eight people — including an older Asian woman and a child— were present at the property.
Two double bunk-beds were also seen in one bedroom off the motel-style corridor.
The Korean students told The Australian they paid between $130 and $160 a week each for their own rooms. However, before the raid each of the 12 bedrooms had multiple beds.
The raid followed complaints to the local Neighbourhood Watch about other crowded houses in the area, with one neighbour of the Sunnybank property saying that despite the overcrowding she had never found them to be a problem.
‘‘ Although they used to run a shuttle service of three or four cars to the local transport of a morning, and then there were still people leaving on foot,’’ she said.
The property’s agent — Queensland Property Investment Solutions — said that once the lease breach had been discovered earlier this year, it had been assiduous in working with council to enforce the six-person condition of the lease.
‘‘ We are appalled and our client, the property’s owner, is beyond pissed off,’’ QPIS property manager Janine Colman said.
Milton Dick, ALP planning spokesman on the council, said a further crackdown by state and council authorities was needed to prevent student overcrowding.
‘‘ I would hope people aren’t profiteering, preying on vulnerable students to cram them into illegal accommodation to make a quick buck,’’ he said.
Greens senator Sarah HansonYoung — who is conducting an inquiry into Australia’s treatment of overseas students — said there was a lack of clarity as to where the duty of care lay with international students.
‘‘ I’ve heard stories of young people who have come to Australia to study and are paying top dollar for their course and for the first few weeks they are sleeping in the corridors or the libraries of their universities,’’ she said.
A council spokesperson said council had no powers to prosecute the perpetrators of the overcrowding, and action had been limited to raiding the property and working with the agent to enforce lease terms.
Deputy Mayor Graham Quirk said inspections of more than 1000 houses had led to more than 180 enforcement or show-cause notices in that time.
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