Can I bring my friends to the house?
Sure, you can. This is a friendly home, remember? You’ll be responsible for anybody you’ll bring to this house. That means you have to make sure that they don’t disturb any other tenants. You are also responsible for their mess. When they leave you need to clean up whatever mess they’ve made.
Do you provide Internet?
Yes. We do have ADSL 2+ Internet connection in the house. When you move in, we’ll give you a password to our wireless network.
What is the shortest lease you accept?
If you feel a need to ask this question, I have a suspicion that you haven’t had a good experience with shared accommodation. Right? You might have experienced noisy or messy housemates. People moving in and out all the time. Housemates not paying their share to cover bill payments. Anything else?
That’s the thing. We do not operate like that. We do whatever it takes to make sure that our tenants can live in a clean, pleasant, friendly environment. They have a private quiet room where they can study or rest after a hard day at work. To achieve all that, here is what we do:
- Vera personally selects tenants suitable to live in the house. She has lots of experience and she is pretty good at selecting good tenants.
- Majority of our tenants are always priority. If there is one person who spoils the environment for other housemates, again Vera deals with him/her personally. Over the years, we have had only two occasions when we hadn’t extended the lease to two tenants. They wanted to stay. We said “no” and everybody was very happy.
- Most of our tenants have had 12 months lease, some 6 months. 5 months was the shortest lease we’ve ever had and that was only because the international student came to Australia for 5 months only.
- Some of our tenants chose to stay for two years or even three years.
- We know for sure that the longer tenants stay, the more peaceful and pleasant living in a shared house gets. We prefer tenants who are serious about finding their place in Melbourne. They are good tenants. We love them, we take care of them and they love their nice home.
- And the last but not least, if you have any questions about this talk to Vera. She is particularly passionate about choosing the right tenants for our home.
How far is the house from my school/college/university?
Our house is located in a central suburb of Melbourne. We have easy access to public transport, trains and buses, as well as main highways and freeways. Check Our Location.
This is just a few locations and how accessible they are from our house:
- Murrumbeena train station – 10 minutes walk
- Bus stop – around the corner
- Princess highway – 100 m
- Monash University – Caulfield Campus (5 minutes by train)
- Monash University – Clayton Campus (20 minutes by bus)
- Deakin University – Burwood (20 minutes by bus)
- Holmesglen TAFE College – 15 minutes by bus
- CBD – 20 minutes by train
- Chadstone shopping center – 10 minutes walk
Who else lives in the house?
At any point in time, we have 5 to 7 tenants in our 6 bedrooms. We are an “international house” which means we welcome anybody who is willing and able to share their living environment with others, who is considerate and tolerant. Overseas tenants often prefer this environment as it enables them to practice their English. Australian tenants learn about other cultures and customs. Everybody benefits.
Most of our tenants are between 18 and 25 years old. They are female and male tenants. They come from all over the world, as well as from Australia. They either study at a university or college, or they work.
Can I bring my own bed/desk to my room?
Yes, you can. We are flexible. If you don’t need our furniture in your bedroom we can remove it and leave the room empty. Just the wardrobes stay. You tell us your preferences and we’ll get it organized.
Can my sister stay here when she comes over for a visit?
Yes. If you have a friend or relative staying with you for one night only, that’s fine. If you have someone coming over for a longer time, a week or two, we need to know about it. We’ll give you permission for your friend/family member to stay and they’ll be required to pay $20 per night.
If you would like someone to share a room with you for longer, we would change the lease, so that the new person is included in our tenants list.
