They will try to squeeze every single cent out of your pockets. Try your best to fight back, because they will try to get as much money from you as possible and hope that you don't fight back, you should as most off the time you will save some money because they KNOW they are taking alot of money from you. read more

If I could give a minus review of this company I would. I did the fixed term lease with SHA. I was told that things would get fixed quickly, not once was anything fixed on time. I would have to wait literally weeks. As of this review being published (12/12/2022) I am still waiting for them to send out someone to repair the dishwasher as it didn't work when I moved in. There was a nearly month long period where the elevator didn't work and all the tenants would have to use the fire exits just to get out of the building and it was only after multiple complaints that they did something about it. My fridge didn't work for the first few months and when i complained about it in my first week of living here, i was told "the fridge was tested in 2020 and was fine"... 2 years ago. Then it was discovered that the wiring in the wall wasn't even done correctly, so they had to send repairmen out on multiple days where i had classes (online course) and had to drown them out while they were working on the faulty electrical stuff They expect a 96 dollar fee to replace the crappy easily scrambled swipe cards that you have to use to get into the building and again as of this review being published because I refuse to pay it, they still haven't given me another and have had to sleep in my car once because of this. Laundry that you have to pay to use that is way more expensive then the laundromat that is literally down the road. extra 150 on top of the overpriced rent (827 a month as of this writing and which is going up to over 1k next year) to park your car, and I am now fighting the council to get over 2k of fines quashed because I cant park my car anywhere else (all spots taken) but in the front street. (maximum time limit of 2 hours parking out the front) Multiple breaches of renters rights, Advertising spaces before you have even moved out and giving you no notice for inspections when the absolute minimum they have to give you for open inspections is 48 hours. Soon this will only cater for rich students whose parents can pay their bills for them, or students that will have to work 3 jobs just to afford the price for their glorified cardboard boxes so people studying wont be homeless. My lease is up in 2 months, ill be leaving and never looking back and I doubt I will get my entire bond back or at all because word is from other ex tenants is they will pick at defects that were already there when you moved in to take money out. Stay well away from these people. Get a share-house with other students and avoid this company, plenty of honest alternatives out there that aren't corrupt people that see people as cash cows. Absolute rort. read more

Services are slow, property managers even slower and as elusive. Very loose with their policies and don't even attempt to clean the rooms before your hand off. Their furniture are dirty and beaten, and has pest control problems. The carpets are left dirty and blatantly damaged, and getting them fixed takes forever. read more

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Not recommended. Living at SHA was a terrible experience, management is too poor and insensitive towards the problems of the tenants. When I moved in, there were no blinds in the living area and I lodged a complaint that was entertained just 3 months before the end of lease period and the creamy-colored couch was too dirty and whole carpet was full of hairs. One day I woke up to corridors flooded with water possibly bcx of some pipeline that bursted and nobody was there to fix the problem for next 2 days. Bulbs/electric globes were quite old and fused within few months after I moved in, I ordered tons of bulbs from different stores and all did not work since there was something wrong with electric wiring. My request for maintenance fell over deaf ears. I know bulb replacement is renters own headache but taking care of wiring is the responsibility of rental provider. Just a suggestion, if you plan to move out better not to invest lots of money on their recommended professional cleaners bcx there is no way possible you will be getting your bond back. Before moving out I paid ~600$ to Boda Cleaning Service and made sure I left the property is perfect form perfect than ever before, property manager did not come for inspection when I moved out instead asked me to drop keys to their office. Next day, sent me an email of 880$ deduction for may be a "self-created" damage that I was never familiar with. In short, Student Housing Authority caused me a loss of 880 (deduction from bond)+~600 (cleaning)+80$ (bulbs)=1560$, sufficient financial drain for a student. By the end, you will lose your bond payment without any reason and whatever you pay to cleaner on the top of that! read more

Stay away. The reasonable prices, the good looking apartments, the slick website, it's all just a mirage, SHA is so dodgy in fact, RMIT and a few other unis have stopped recommending them altogether for student accommodation, my experience consisted of applying for vacant apartments listed then waiting weeks for a reply until I had to chase it up myself, only to find out it had already been sold despite there being no such indication when I applied that day or when talking on the phone finalizing details, this repeated a few times until I just gave up and stayed in airbnbs until I could find something more permanent, not a good thing to stress about in first year Uni.. read more

Do not choose SHA. I lived in their apartment for over 2 years and have been absolutely ripped off. - After 5 months of living there they tried to increase by rent by $20/week. - When I moved in the apartment it came with a second hand dirty mattress, which I obviously disposed off. When I moved out I was charged $280 to buy the landlord a brand new mattress - the new tenant didn't want a mattress so the money went straight to the landlord. - It took over 2 months for my bond money to be returned to me, I had to phone multiple times every week over 2 months to follow up and each time I called I was told the property manager wasn't available. - when I moved out I found a found a few potential tenants to replace my lease and they rejected them as they didn't have a student card, when I brought up the fact that Australian borders were closed to international students due to COVID-19 they said they did not care and I had to continue paying rent after moving out anyway. - The staff there provided a truly terrible service and never answered the phone whenever I would try to contact them. - They deducted $580 out of my bond in total to replace a dirty secondhand mattress, a small secondhand $20 IKEA unit and a basic secondhand TV remote. - Moving out of this apartment was a horrible experience and I feel they completely took advantage of me financially, not to mention not returning my bond for 2 months. Save yourself the distress and do not live in their apartments. read more

If I could leave a 0 star rating, it'd still be too generous for Student Housing Australia. Whilst you may be enticed by their low prices as I was, what you save in money you spend in time and effort and stress chasing up the incompetent agents, and killing the copious amounts of cockroaches in the rooms. SHA doesn't view their tenants as students seeking a home, but cash cows to fill their pockets. This was made evident to me when it was requested I pay 3 times the bond upfront, which is illegal. This was only one of many to come breaches of law and policy from SHA. Over the year I endured SHA, my experience was almost constant hassle. From the second I moved in, my room was trashed and smelly, with broken furniture and damage to the room. Additionally, SHA incorrectly dated my move in, leaving me without power for 24 hours, and left me ringing various companies to try and sort it out myself. The rooms are sloppily put together, as I discovered when my sprinkler pipe fell out of my roof and flooded my room, with the water raising to 4cm in height, and damaging some of my property. After this incident, SHA was sloppy to repair and rectify the situation, leaving my room without carpet for over a month, and a $300 electricity bill. Additionally, my room was intended to be repainted as the flooding left black stains everywhere, but by the end of my tenancy had still not been repainted. Additionally, as aforementioned many of the rooms get cockroaches, and also mould. Furthermore, as my letterbox was made from cheap materials (as confirmed by the locksmith), my key broke off and left me unable to retrieve my mail for over a week. Despite my immediate email to the property manager, my letterbox was not repaired. I emailed the property manager numerous times over the course of a couple of months and still received no reply. My letterbox was broken, and unusable for 7 months. SHA eventually arranged to have it repaired, but made no effort to inform me of this, or even leave me a key. The crux of my issues with SHA occurred when they wrongfully served me an eviction notice. As can be found in the Residential Tenancy Act, in most cases a tenant is obligated to receive 120 days notice for eviction with no reason, and 90 days with reason. SHA gave me 54 days notice of my eviction, for "no specific reason". Understandably stressed and confused, I began to communicate with SHA to try and gain some clarity. But unsurprisingly, their communication was abysmal, and it would be days in between email responses from them, which would also be left to 5.30, when their offices close. After one email, SHA did not reply to me for a month, thus cutting down my time to move out even more significantly. It was only when I rang their offices incessantly and every day that I got any kind of response. I have since moved out of SHA, and can very confidently say it was the best decision in that situation. As one can infer, their managers and staff are incompetent and lazy, and have very little consideration for the people they are housing. The buildings are slapped together and riddled with damage, cheap repairs, and various faults. I would not recommend SHA to ANYONE, unless you are willing to deal with abysmal service and extremely poor quality housing. read more

This is the most irresponsible company that I have ever seen!! I went to the office in person previously to fill up the form and changed my rental payment method (since there is surcharge paying by credit card) but this month I still got charged on the credit card. I called the office and asked what happened to my rental payment. The lady just simply told me that they do not have my form there and refused to proceed my refund of surcharge without even apologising that they have lost my form! I told them that it is really unfair for me since losing the form is not my fault! But the lady once again, told me that she can't see it as a big deal and no apologising at all! The staff was just irresponsible! Worst company ever! read more

The SHA has embezzled $480 of my deposit by the heads and shoulders. Nearly 1 month after I left Australia, SHA had sent a related party to do the dirty work. They overcharged me $60 for a single room's carpet cleaning. Moreover, they have framed me of "$268 missing dining table chairs", which were never provided and not even possible to fit in the single room, but they did not mention anything about their "invisible and intangible furniture" during the routine inspection. I have vacated my room before I checked-out. However, SHA also fabricated that they have "vacated 4 items" and refused to tell any details about the stuff cost $152 to throw away. On the other hand, this cunning company also made their item list ambiguous deliberately by not mentioning many things they actually provide, such as clotheshorse, hangers, and some kitchen utensils. The most absurd part is the $20 refundable amount calculated by SHA, which is not enough for a surcharge of international remittance. SHA is not even a true Aussie business. It is manipulating by a gang of overseas Chinese. I have also looked Clean Choice Aus up by its ABN. It's not a choice by yours or Aus', but a rip-off by sole trader with a Pinyin name. They even forge signatures for tenants. Furthermore, their dormitories have serious cockroach problems, the immortal cockroaches of SHA have sneaked into my suitcase and followed me back to my home in China. I made a complaint about SHA's scheming and blackmailing on ACCC's website. I will consider myself lucky if I can get part of my bonds back, probably no compensation for species invasion. Imaging how dodgy and dishonorable this company is, I didn't even sign the contract with them, I signed my contract with Student Accommodation of Swinburne University. Therefore, I strongly DO NOT recommend SHA! They deserve a -5 if it's applicable. Also, think twice before you apply Swinburne. Before I arrived in Australia as an overseas student, I really thought that the university was making an endorsement to SHA. I have paid all my rent to Swinburne and they charged me $70 extra per week compared to a similar room in the same building on sha.com.au +$45 application fee. Now, they are telling me that the university issues refund based on SHA's words. read more

Student Housing Australia - Cleaning Invoice - University Housing Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Do not choose to stay at any SHA accommodation. Most of their employees are terrible. They never respond to tenants' maintenance requests although it's their duty to do so. When it comes to claiming the bond back, they will try to deduct a lot of random expenses from it without even providing proof, and will take their sweet time to process the refund. The only time they respond promptly is when you threaten to make a formal complaint against them to Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. Do not hesitate to report them if needed because they are a dodgy company that have gotten away for far too long. read more

SHA does not even deserve a 1 star rating, it would be you know, Zero. They are ignorant, are extremely slow in the service of their delivery to make amendments to items in the apartment that should be working and items which pose as a HAZARD, to the student. But when it comes to taking money from you, they want to quickly lap it up. Talking to the landlord via the property manager is also a bloody joke! Or perhaps the whole of Sha and the agency is! If you choose to live in SHA, dont kid yourself, or let yourself be cheated by these extremely dishonest people, they will treat you nice at first to get what they want. As a tenant, because of an unworking television set before i moved in, it took four months for it to be taken off the wall. The ventilation is really shit and the place is really filthy, and plus the environment is just not suited for studying. A tiny peel on the wall results in an overcharged cost of a 100. The landlord also didnt want to come out money for a broken light shade, because it cost too much money and same with the TV. The bloody tv was placed on top of the wardrobe which could fall at any point and the light could probably fall on the carpet anytime and ignite maybe, and also the alarm system is bad. If you even try to cook thoroughly the alarm system would still ring even if you open the doors to the balcony, so you cant cook in peace. The carpet in the apartment was dirty, and they expected me to order and pay for their own carpet cleaning services Which IS OWNED BY the SAME OWNERS CORPORATION of SHA, STRATACO. They make money off you by MAKING YOU USE THEIR services. For the price of $88-90, it would be over a $100 if you changed the date for cleaning a 5 by 5 metre square carpet whereas for a bloody house in melbourne it would only cost a $150 for a double storey. Theres literally no parking there either and plus the elevators haven't been working for a record breaking 3 years in where I live. When you choose to live in SHA, take a very big grain of salt with you All the photos of the idyllic and comfy places that they put in there including treating you really nice at first are all a facade and a trap to lure you in. To exploit you. With these unscrupulous people if you choose to deal with them, take heed. They will lowball, They will take your money in exchange for a pathetic useless and a consistently unresponsive service, and run with it. Dont strike a deal with the devil when there are other alternative better options for housing such as homestay, ask around, but never trust student housing. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. I hope that one day SHA will get back what they've done to so many students and be brought to the light for the scammers and greedy bastards that they are. And a last message for SHA WATCH OUT for those Journalists and Students within National University Committees, who could very well be your tenants........a rude reckoning is just waiting to happen. You'll see read more

I have had a terrible experience with this company! Lived in their South Yarra accomodation for 4 months and when I moved in the place was a gross mess. Clumps of hair all over the floor, dishes dirty with old food and mold growing in the corners of the rooms. When I was moving out they took their time evaluating the place and failed me for having a bit of dust on the skirting, when the place was clearly not cleaned when I moved in. A month after the contract ended a debit came through my account for a months rent unauthorised, taking all my money out of my account. This is a simple process to prevent and should not have happened, completely unprofessional! I have been moved out of the building for 2 months now but still havent received rent back. On top of that they have sent me bills claiming its my repsosibility to pay them when the contract ended 2 months ago. I have had too many problems with these people. Would never go back there again. Fair warning to students! Doesnt even deserve a star. read more

The ownership of my current accomodation was transferred to Student Housing a few months ago. Ever since, it takes them ONE MONTH to reply our request for fixing air conditioning and broken shower, while I sent several messages to them. Because of that, I had to shower with cold water for one month in winter. read more

I would never recommend taking a room from them. My experience was very bad and not enjoyed living here as well since the apartment was not very well maintained. I have a deal with all kinds of lighting, plumbing, laundry issues. When I received the room was absolutely dirty toilet commode fully cover with dirty shits and carpet and kitchen everywhere full of dust just like no one used that room so long. But when I left the last to hand over the keys and I have paid for cleaning $ 103 for whole-house cleaning. Still, the staff were not happy and took their own advantages and scared me they would hold my bond until I have to redo the cleaning as per their criteria. Even the agent told me they are holding student housing all over Australia so they can put me in trouble and won't allow me to get accommodation anywhere. I just requested all of the students to be careful too before and after accepting any kind of accommodation. When you are leaving, just remember, keep your kind of proof so you will not get victim in any situation. read more

Didn't get a property. The entire process was misleading and there was NO communication even though it was promised on the website that they would get in contact within about one day. I waited over a week before sending a question online, waited 2 days for a response to that, and when I still didn't receive a response I called their general inquiries number, which referred me to the Caulfield office where it was managed. At this point, the customer support representative just said 'there were no properties left' in the suburb I had applied for, when at the time of applying, there were clearly properties advertised with no 'application pending' status, that I was looking forward to making my home for the year. It is now the original move-in date, and I have to find accommodation elsewhere. The customer support representative seemed kind and co-operative, but really very disappointed by the organisation, misleading advertising and complete lack of communication. 1 star. read more