Ramshackle West Auckland rental removed in 'caution' from Trade Me

A rental listing for a one-bedroom ramshackle lean-to in West Auckland asking nearly $300 a week to rent has been pulled by a major New Zealand property website.

The Waitakere dwelling consisted of a caravan under a crude timber structure without fixed walls and an adjoining small corrugated iron shed.

According to the listing on Trade Me it offered one bedroom and a bathroom.

It was listed at $285 per week for rent.

Trade Me confirmed that they removed the rental listing from their website earlier today.

"We were on the side of caution and if we have any concerns about any listing onsite we will take action," said policy and compliance manager James Ryan.

Read More

• Housing: Landlords are still raising rents despite ...
• Housing crisis: Many homeowners couldn't afford their ...
• Bed in garage shows shocking state of Auckland rental ...
• Kāinga Ora spends $1b buying state homes in five years ...

He said that listings that did not comply with the Residential Tenancies Act, House Improvement Regulations and the Healthy Homes Guarantee Act are illegal and cannot be listed on the website.

It was important that when members listed rentals onsite that they were upfront with prospective tenants and provided images, and a detailed description of the property, he said.

The company's Trust and Safety team monitored the site constantly for things that shouldn't be there. However, with eight million listings on the site at any one time they weren't able to pre-vet every listing, Ryan said.

The West Auckland rental property that was pulled from Trade Me today. Picture / Supplied

Members could also alert Trade Me to anything they believed to be non-compliant by clicking on the Community Watch button which sent a notification to their team, he said.

It follows a controversial listing in West Auckland last month for a room in a garage that was posted to a Facebook group looking for flatmates.

Pictures of the accommodation showed a double bed, small dining area and shelf next to a car parked in a garage.

The listing was pulled.