Melbourne woman recalls moment she found stranger living unnoticed in her garage for months

One tenant described the moment she spotted a stranger living unnoticed for months in the garage of her rental apartment for fear of spiders.

Kate Dood, a woman from Melbourne, was moving out of her rented apartment when her roommate asked her to remove the various items in the property’s separate garage.

Confused, Ms Dood told her flatmate she doesn’t have any stuff in the garage because she’s afraid of spiders – a “legitimate” reason for not storing anything in the space.

The couple cleaned out the garage together and discovered that a stranger had made a home in the storage room.

In a series of videos shared on her business account, The Loved Up Co, Ms Dood said the couple had “no idea” anyone lived in the garage.

Melbourne native Kate Dood has shared a series of videos on TikTok in which she explains how she and her roommate discovered a stranger was living in the garage of the property they rented

“We went down together to see what was going on and lo and behold, someone lived in there,” Ms Dood said.

“We never saw the person in there at that point, but you can see their slippers… their sleeping bag, their bucket and lots of other little things to suggest someone was there.”

“We’re assuming that this person must have lived there for months as far as stolen items and bags of all sorts of things were also found in the garage.”

Ms Dood initially thought her flatmate was pranking her and vice versa, with the couple calling each other the bluff by enlisting the help of the police.

The police came and after inspecting the items in the garage, found that someone had lived there.

The garage was locked and a sign posted urging the owner of the items to call the police to collect their belongings.

Ms Dood said she saw an “incredibly dressed” woman rip the sign off the garage and storm off the next day.

“The next day we saw her pull the sign off the garage door and obviously storm off, she was mad,” Ms Dood said.

“I’m not sure what happened to her after that, but let me tell you, this woman was so incredibly dressed and so smart.”

Ms. Dood guides through the garage and explains the items, including a sleeping bag, slippers, laundry and a toothbrush, which proved the woman had been living there for months (pictured Ms. Dood inspecting the garage).

In another video, Ms. Dood tours the garage and explains the items that prove a woman has been living there for months.

“That’s me in the background, looking around the garage, let me give you a tour,” Ms Dood said.

She first points to a long brown lounge, which she claims was already there, but the sleeping bag on the sofa didn’t belong to her or her roommate.

“There’s a bucket under the chair and some towels, which I assume this person washed up with,” she adds.

“Very close in the back are her shoes, they’re black on the side… we found out [all the bags] had been things stolen from the market.

“Up here [shelf] we have Aeroguard, Listerine, Toothbrush, Hairbrush. I have no idea where these chairs came from. But the bag is hanging [on the wall] That’s where she kept her trash.”

Ms Dood added that a towel was also found outside the door to the garage, leading her to believe it was the area where the stranger “was taking a shower”.

Ms Dood, who runs The Loved Up Co, said she and her flatmate had “no idea” the stranger lived in the storeroom. Her fear of spiders meant she never kept any of her items in the garage

The videos shared in February quickly went viral, with many asking Ms Dood to explain why she was unaware someone lived there.

‘The garage wasn’t attached to the house, it was on a side street. So unless you parked there or walked there every day, you wouldn’t know,” Ms Dood commented.

She explained the scenario, which some viewers called “terrifying,” which happened seven years ago, and even said if she had known the woman was there, she might have let her stay.

“Properties to her that she found a place that wasn’t being used at all and used it,” Ms Dood said. “In hindsight, should I have let her stay? Probably.’