Scape Peel - Student Accommodation Melbourne — Local services in Melbourne

I stayed at Scape Peel between February and July 2025, renting a bedroom in a shared four queen bed bedroom apartment (girls only). I'm an interstate student who wanted to rent her own place but was unable to due to the high demand in January and therefore resorted to staying here for six months until I could find my own place.

Overall, I would say the experience was satisfactory.

The room itself was large enough, had decent storage space, was clean when I moved in, had a nice view and comfortable bed. The location is amazing, right in front of Melbourne Uni and right near a Woolworths Metro (although for a larger shop it is a 20 minute walk). The facilities are great - a gym, a movie room, social areas, study areas, a pool table and a nice rooftop (although it's under construction so don't expect it to be like the photos they provide). The view is amazing.

The shared areas of the apartment were a little bit more questionable; the bathroom was appalling with mould on the sink basin, super tiny, had no lock on it when we moved in and just in general a little nasty. Shower was constantly overflowing because of design. For a 4-bedroom apartment, you do get 2 bathrooms, which is definitely a plus. The kitchen was fine, however very small for 4 people and considering my roommates had their boyfriends over all the time it got incredibly cramped at times. We had to buy a shelf to fit all our stuff (still couldn't).

My biggest qualm would be that all the bedrooms had super heavy, automatically shutting doors with key card locks that were basically unable to be held open by anything. You also cannot turn light or aircon on without the keycard being in the slot. My roommates and I struggled on multiple occasions with locking ourselves out, whether it was to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or letting the door go for one second while chatting with someone on the outside. If you lock yourself out it is 2 free times and $20 from there on, which is ridiculous.

The service of the building was overall very good and the staff was super nice. However, I do feel like there were maintenance issues all the time and that led to someone from the maintenance team being in our apartment and bedrooms all the time. Even though they sent our emails and knocked, it still is inconvenient and annoying to have someone invade your privacy like that (especially often). Specifically, there was a problem with the air conditioner in the warmer months as it kept dripping and even at times pouring water everywhere. The issue wasn't really fixed (although it got better during winter) and I find that this often times the case with maintenance issues as they take ages to be resolved and require a lot of back and forth.

The laundry is $4.50 for washer and another $4.50 for dryer. 9 bucks for a load of laundry. Scam.

The events that Scape holds are amazing though, definitely recommend taking advantage there is something for everyone and is mostly free, or very cheap!

The highlight of my stay with Scape were my flatmates, as we all quickly bonded. It's definetly nerve-wracking at first though, as you move in knowing absolutely nothing about them and what they are like.

Another thing to note is that they are definitely very money hungry. Before vacating my room I scrubbed the floor of both my room and the living space by hand. When I was moving out my inspection included them flipping over my mattress, moving my bed, inspecting the inside of the fridge (which was still being used by my roommates in the middle of their lease) and being held responsible for both bathrooms even though I had never even stepped foot into the other one. I ended up having to pay $170, which while reduced from the usual fee of $350 is ridiculous because I cleaned every corner of that room for days.

Overall, expensive, kinda dirty but a solid choice if...

I would not recommend staying with Scape, particularly if you are on a budget.

They take weeks to finishing sorting out maintenance requests. it took them 6 months to replace the dishwasher in the flat.

There are constant false fire alarms, especially at unsociable hours. This also defeats the point of having one as many people do not evacuate the building, making it less safe.

There was also a smell in the corridor of my floor, which was embarrassing when having friends over. Nothing was done after I let reception know.

Whilst some of the staff were nice and friendly, other staff can are condescending when it comes to sorting out maintenance issues, saying things like it just the way it is in this building. Also with the cleaning fees below - just saying it is that and there is nothing they can do.

Lastly they charge an extremely high exit cleaning fee, yet these fees aren't written down anywhere, and they aren't very transparent. The amount you have to pay is not in the contract, just that there is a cleaning fee, which is very deceptive. What is concerning, is that only reception can tell you the cleaning fee, and they have told me the wrong one twice. The fee is not written anywhere, not in the welcome booklet, exit booklet or even in the contract.

I was charged $169 for a room that was left clean, with no damage or wear and tear. I was expecting it to be around $95 as that was around what my flatmate was charged, and what I was told when I asked reception. I was there when they cleaned my previous flatmates room, and they only spent 5 minutes in there, which makes me think that they are charging a very high mark up. I am also left unclear as to whether this fee included the shared kitchen, as this was never cleaned after my flatmates left. Therefore, $169 for 1 clean bedroom is ridiculous.

When I raised these concerns with management, they couldn't justify the charge, just saying inflation and labour costs (for 5 minutes!). They couldn't even tell me that they would change their policy and put the actual cost in the contract to make it more transparent. My email raising these concerns has not been answered properly to as I don't think they can (or want to).

This tells me that they are happy to continue to exploiting students, many of whom are international, as well as taking advantage of the cost of living crisis to justify a 77% increase. I have left Scape with none of my concerns answered and feeling rather invalidated, as though they don't care.

If you are already at Scape, I highly recommend getting everything they tell you at reception written down and emailed to you, especially when it comes to how much you have to pay for things, as they will tell you different things. I really hope you have better luck than I did with them.

I can see people have already mentioned concerns about the high cleaning fee, so I hope management will do...

At Scape Peel, several concerning issues persist:

Hypocrisy: The management imposes charges for nearly everything but refuses to take responsibility for their mistakes. Upon check-in, the condition of my apartment was appalling, as shown in the attached images. The fridge was not functioning. They did not properly prepare the apartment for the new resident. Despite raising concerns, the issues I reported were not resolved. However, at check-out, they impose exorbitant charges, including a $312 cleaning fee for each individual for a shared five-bedroom apartment—an example of their double standards, exploiting vulnerable international students who are new to the country. They said it needs one hour to clean our bedroom while we agree it takes less than 15 minutes. They cheated and over exaggerated the fees.

Maintenance Problems: Recurring maintenance issues significantly impact residents' quality of life. The air conditioning system frequently malfunctions. On one occasion, the AC was non-functional throughout the night, making sleep impossible. When I sought assistance, the reception staff informed me that repairs would have to wait until Monday. Given the high prices residents pay, compensation for such inconveniences should be considered. Additionally, water quality is inconsistent, sometimes turning grey, requiring caution before consumption. Frequent false fire alarms further disrupt daily life. Staff also failed to provide proper resident induction, contributing to ongoing confusion and dissatisfaction.

Lack of Resident Care: The management prioritizes profit over residents' well-being. Overcharging for various services is common practice. Prospective residents, especially those without significant financial means, should carefully reconsider before choosing to live here. It is an exploiting business, masquerading as a student friendly and fair-fee accommodation.

I lived there for one year. I wish I knew what I know now. Please carefully reconsider before they trick you into...