A brand-new issue of ‘Rat King Landlord’, written by Murdock Stephens, hit the streets of Ōtepoti on Friday, May 5. Originally published in 2020, the novel-turned-tabloid-newspaper is a comedic satirical story about a rat that becomes a landlord.
But behind the layers of satire are the very real issues of housing inequality and renters’ rights. Murdock teamed up with Renters United to hand out copies to students completely free of charge and host a launch party at Yours, the anarchist café on Moray Place.
Rat King Landlord discusses the housing crisis in Aotearoa through the “dumb fantastical idea of a rat that inherits a house and becomes a landlord,” said Murdock. The fresh tabloid copy is filled with colourful art from 16 illustrators. Jordie, President of Renters United, suggested students use the art as posters to “make your landlord feel uncomfortable.” Just be sure to put it up with pins, not blue-tack (subject to your RTA contract).
Students' initial reactions to the novel were mixed. Second-year student Arlo was already a fan of the novel, having read the original. Another student said, “Fuck yeah… landlords are rats,” while another pointed out that, “landlords are people too, trying to make a living [from us].” Murdock was quick to point out that contrary to what the title implies, “not all landlords are rats.” As for the perspective of landlords: “Who cares what [they] think about it,” said Murdock.
Murdock, along with Jordie and Sven from Renters United, have been travelling across the motu to promote the book and give out free copies. But, though the copies are free, they weren't free to print. Murdock and the team behind Rat King raised around $10,000 from around 300 sponsors, three of which funded 10,000 copies at around 73 cents a pop. Around 600 copies were given out to students on campus in just two hours last Friday. But if you missed out, you can pick one up from Yours.
And it wasn’t only students that benefited. “Every single Member of Parliament has received a free copy of rat king landlord,” said Jordie. Meanwhile, some sponsors provided the address of “class traitors” who were sent a free copy of the novel along with a targeted letter.
Murdock described the project as “one of the most successful, positive and uplifting kinds of things I've ever done.” As depressing as the housing crisis can be, Murdock set out to create a positive vision of change. “I wanted to experiment with what radical change looks like,” said Murdock. Conveniently, the last two pages include a 37-point plan across four categories on “how to fix renting.”