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Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
NSW Government announces Rent Check tool to help renters compare properties in similar suburbs
Molly Magennis 7 News (No paywall)Renters in New South Wales can now use a free rental comparison tool developed by the state government to help them identify if what they are being asked to pay is fair. Developed by the NSW Rental Commissioner, Rent Check uses the latest bond data to compare the prices of rental properties in a particular suburb across metro and regional areas. All users need to do is enter a postcode, and answer a series of questions about the property (if it’s a home or unit, how many bedrooms) as well as the property’s current rent, or how much the renter is willing to pay.
https://7news.com.au/news/nsw-government-announces-rent-check-to…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.The worrying trend of landlords banning tenants from working from home
Emma Guinness The Independent (No paywall)Landlords have come under fire for banning prospective tenants from working from home, resulting in calls for new legislation to protect renters. In what appears to be a new trend, adverts for shared homes have been appearing, specifying that the potential new occupant must not work from home. Now, the charity Generation Rent has called upon the new government to impose regulations to stop the practice, which is arguably given force by Section 21 “no-fault” eviction powers.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/landlord-housing…
# International, Eviction, Rent.How did a Tory promise to end no-fault evictions become stalled?
Mary Dejevsky The Independent (No paywall)Conservatives pledged in the 2019 manifesto to abolish Section 21 notices, which allow landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason. No-fault eviction, as it is called, has been one of the biggest complaints of tenants, and the abolition of Section 21 notices has long been a central demand of tenant and homelessness campaign groups, such as Shelter.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/politics-explaine…
# Hot topic International, Eviction.Sirius irony: The elites who have bought into the landmark former public housing block
Lucy Macken The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As a couple of mining moguls, the son of billionaire Lang Walker and a venture capitalist trophy homeowner from Mosman take the keys to their flash new apartments in the Sirius building, the irony of the whole development is as obvious to many Sydneysiders as the brutalist landmark itself. After all, the Tao Gofers-designed block is arguably the most famous public housing complex in the country, even after the state government sold it in 2019 for $150 million to developer JDH Capital to be refashioned into 75 luxury apartments. Think gentrification on steroids.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sirius-irony-the-elites-who…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing.The Market Alone Can’t Fix the U.S. Housing Crisis
Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan Harvard Business Review (No paywall)The United States is experiencing a serious housing crisis, and has been for a long time. Growth in rents continues to exceed overall price inflation. Mortgage rates have been at a multi-decade high due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes since summer 2022. Tens of millions of households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Shelter is a basic human need and unaffordable housing is — and should be — a national scandal.
https://hbr.org/2024/09/the-market-alone-cant-fix-the-u-s-housin…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Policy Lab: Cracking Down on Rental “Junk Fees”
Katie Wilson Urbanist (No paywall)President Biden has called out junk fees, but landlords continue to charge them in most jurisdictions, Seattle included. “Junk fees” are a growing problem across the economy, as corporations nickel and dime consumers with arbitrary and surprise costs added to the prices of concert tickets, hotel stays, and more. Here in Seattle we’ve received a pointed lesson in the subject this year, as delivery app company DoorDash has tried to strongarm elected leaders into rolling back minimum pay standards for gig workers by slapping on fees.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/09/11/policy-lab-cracking-down-…
# International, Rent.Can rent controls help tackle Scotland’s housing crisis?
Laurie Macfarlane Future Economy Scotland (No paywall)Last week’s Programme for Government reaffirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to introducing long-term rent controls. The pledge follows the publication of the Housing (Scotland) Bill in March 2024 which, if passed, would grant Scottish Ministers to designate ‘rent control areas’ based on recommendations from local authorities. Within these areas, increases on private tenancies could then be restricted for a fixed period. The inclusion of rent controls in the Bill marked a significant victory for activists and Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants’ union, who have long demanded that the Scottish Government take bolder action to control soaring rents.
https://www.futureeconomy.scot/posts/57-can-rent-controls-help-t…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Ban on rental bidding wars is on the way - but will it work?
Becky Morton BBC (No paywall)With renters in popular areas facing intense competition for homes, many are increasingly finding themselves pitted against each other in bidding wars. Housing campaigners have welcomed plans for new laws to ban the practice in England - but are warning more action will be needed to tackle unaffordable rents. Jason Phillips had been living in his flat in Crouch End, north London, for 10 years when his landlady decided to sell up.
https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.com/news/arti…
# Hot topic International, Rent.