In between ads for cheap student meal deals and advice from the Japanese embassy on securing a visa, Masaaki Imaeda advertised a handful of rooms online, perfect for students looking for something cheap, easy and peaceful in Sydney.

Photos of simple mattresses and campervan-style kitchens were accompanied with a $160-a-week price tag and promises of convenient locations, shared washing facilities and a quiet environment for those who want to study.

Mr Imaeda, a 64-year-old property mogul and entrepreneur, has since pulled his ads for a Bexley North apartment, a Bexley home and several caravans in Alexandria from cheers.com.au, a Japanese-language online hub for prospective students.

However, with little distinguishing his ads from the other offers of cheap rooms flooding the site, 15 Japanese and Korean nationals moved into his Alexandria shanty town. They were lucky to escape alive on Wednesday when a ferocious blaze broke out during the night, uncovering a shocking illegal housing set-up that student organisations have warned is disturbingly common in Sydney.

Those who lived in the rundown handful of shipping containers, graffiti-riddled buses and decrepit caravans stacked on top of each other were well-dressed students and workers with good English, said Vicki Bonneville, who rented a unit on the same site for her catering business.