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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Owners told to foot the bill for combustible cladding repairs
Euan BlackThe New Daily (No paywall)
From Victoria ... Home owners who have been told their building is unsafe will need to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove combustible cladding from their homes after being led to believe an agency run by the state government would foot the bill.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/06/03/owners-to…
# Australia, Strata, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Light-touch regulation keeps on failing homebuyers in faulty towers
Mike SteketeeThe Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)
It is all too familiar: another developer of apartment towers facing questions over alleged defects in one of its buildings and the structural integrity of another. ... there have been numerous announcements and pieces of legislation but the fondness of successive governments for light-touch regulation has left fundamental problems untouched.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/light-touch-regulation-keeps…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Hundreds of West Australians become homeless in first month after State’s rental eviction moratorium lifted
Michael Traill(Paywall)
More than 100 West Australians were plunged into homelessness in the first month following the State’s rental eviction moratorium being lifted. (The West Australian)
https://thewest.com.au/news/social/hundreds-of-west-australians-…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.FEANTSA The 6th Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2021
https://www.feantsa.org/en/report/2021/05/12/the-6th-overview-of-housing-exclusion-in-europe-2021?bcParent=27(No paywall)
This new report is an opportunity to shed light on young people who, especially when poor, are worse affected by housing exclusion than the rest of the population, and were so even before the current health crisis. It also takes stock of the wave of poverty affecting all of Europe, more than a year after the start of the pandemic. (International Union of Tenants)
https://www.feantsa.org/en/report/2021/05/12/the-6th-overview-of…
# International, Housing market, Young people.Rental vacancy rates at lowest level in years, but still high in some pockets: Domain data
Kate BurkeDomain (No paywall)
Renters in Australia’s biggest cities could find it hard to get a good deal with the number of empty properties falling, but there are some neighbourhoods still offering tenants more choice. ... For Sydney renters, the city’s west offers the most vacant rentals, with 4.6 per cent of properties in the Parramatta region and 4.4 per cent of rentals in the Auburn area untenanted last month. They were among a dozen Sydney regions, mostly covering Sydney’s middle-ring suburbs, which had a vacancy rate above 3 per cent. Meanwhile, the rate in the inner city fell to 2.9 per cent, down from 3.2 per cent in April.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/rental-vacancy-rates-at-lowest-le…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Housing investors to pick up slack as first home buyers retreat: AFG
Clancy YeatesThe Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)
One of the country’s biggest mortgage brokers, AFG, expects property investors will continue returning to the market, helping to fill the gap left by retreating first home buyers.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/housing-inve…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Apartment owners suing Sydney developer Toplace over dozens of 'defects' in near new Parramatta buildings
Josh BavasABC (No paywall)
Apartment owners in a large riverside apartment complex in Parramatta are suing developer Toplace over dozens of alleged defects discovered after the buildings were completed less than three years ago. ... The body corporate claimed more than 40 types of defects were found, including corroding concrete and defective installation of windows, doors, bathtubs and toilets.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-03/parramatta-apartment-owne…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Delay removing dangerous cladding ‘soul destroying’
Sarah Corker & Phil HendryBBC (No paywall)
From the United Kingdom ... The government will miss a June deadline to complete applications for £5bn of funding to remove flammable cladding in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. ... The ongoing dispute is delaying work to make dangerous buildings safe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57314681
# International, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.