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
Sydney has a date with density. I asked a gold medal architect how we get it right
Peter FitzSimons The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Philip Thalis is one of the nation’s leading architects and urban designers, with comprehensive knowledge of Sydney’s architectural history. I spoke with him on Thursday. Fitz: Congratulations on your honour, Philip, essentially a lifetime achievement award in your chosen profession. When did you conceive the passion to be an architect? PT: I grew up in a red-brick, three storey, walk-up block of flats in Maroubra, three boys in 100 square metres, surrounded by similar flats and, as a 10-year-old, I would walk around and think “We must be able to do something better than this”. And as we had Airfix blocks at home – a precursor to Lego – I used to make streets lined with buildings on the floor with my brother. Much later I graduated from Sydney Uni in Architecture by the mid-80s – focusing on public space, city-making and how architecture contributes to it with urban housing, rather than the more typical pathway of private houses – and went from there.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-has-a-date-with-densi…
# NSW, .Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's tenant says he was blindsided by eviction notice from nation's leader
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his record as a landlord after a man renting from Mr Albanese says he was caught out by an eviction notice he says does not match the government's rhetoric on renting. Sydney man Jim Flanagan says he has lived in Mr Albanese's Dulwich Hill property for four years but received a termination letter last week saying the property could soon be sold. Speaking on ABC Radio Melbourne, Mr Flanagan accepted his landlord Mr Albanese had the right to do as he pleased, but questioned whether Mr Albanese had considered his position. He said he was not seeking to ambush the prime minister but had privately sought clarification after receiving the termination letter and not receiving a response. "As renters, ideally I guess we're just looking for a bit more of a considered and considerate approach when it comes to evictions, terminations, issuing notices to vacate," Mr Flanagan said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-16/albanese-tenant-blindisde…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Rent.Tenant issues plea to landlord Anthony Albanese after receiving eviction notice
9 News (No paywall)VIDEO: A tenant living in one of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's investment properties has urged his landlord to reconsider after receiving an eviction notice.
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction.‘Sims-like’ New South Wales rental pic taken down by Ray White
Grace Ellen Macpherson news.com.au (No paywall)Housing justice campaigner Jordan van den Berg, known by his social media moniker ‘purplepingers’, has outed Ray White for posting a digital bed recreation in one of its new listings. In recent weeks, Mr van den Berg has become well known for posting the addresses of vacant houses for people in need and calling out what he calls “s**t rentals” on his TikTok account. On Tuesday, purplepingers posted a picture of a Ray White listing on Erskine Street in Riverwood, New South Wales, which shows a digital recreation of a bed inside a real bedroom.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/simslike-new…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Starting a tenancy.‘Freezing my tits off on Liverpool St’: The unfiltered history of Kings Cross
Helen Pitt The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sex worker Julie Bates moved from Melbourne to Kings Cross not long after NSW became the first jurisdiction in the world to decriminalise prostitution in 1979. The suburb known as “Sin City” was then home to Sydney’s first strip club, the Pink Pussycat, drag cabaret at Les Girls and the Bourbon and Beefsteak, where revellers would party throughout the night. Beyond the neon glow though, police corruption and organised crime were at their peak in the 1980s. Heiress Juanita Nielsen had just disappeared, presumed murdered, and Bates’ friend and fellow sex worker Sallie-Anne Huckstepp was about to meet the same fate. Bates was arrested more times than she’d care to count because a quirk in the reformed laws still made brothels illegal.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/freezing-my-tits-o…
# History NSW, .A suspicious rash led Brenda's rental to be decontaminated - the answer was inside the walls
Matt Gazy SBS (No paywall)Brenda was only five days into living in her new Gold Coast rental with her six dogs (yes, six) when something started to feel off. She said she started feeling itchy, developed a red rash and felt "dopey". She would soon discover her home was exposing her and her dogs to methamphetamine (meth). "I didn't know that meth affected people who never used it, or [about the] damage meth does to a house after [the people] left," Brenda said. Methamphetamine vapours can absorb into walls and furniture of a home — a 2023 Flinders University study found meth residue discovered in Queensland homes was detectable for months, and in some cases years, after production or use had stopped.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/brenda-developed-a-…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Security and safety.A Syd Man Claims He Was Evicted For Asking For A Rent Reduction After His Balcony Collapsed
Lavender Baj Pedestrian (No paywall)
A 35-year-old Sydney man has launched legal action against his landlord, claiming to be the victim of “retaliatory eviction” from his North Bondi apartment after asking for a rent reduction because *checks notes* his balcony collapsed. Pius Binder claims he was living at the North Bondi property for about four years before his balcony started coming away from the wall of their apartment block in October. “Two people were on it the night before and could have been harmed,” Binder said in the documents lodged with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. “Thankfully nothing happened.” After flagging the safety hazard with the real estate company Coastline Agency, he was asked to seek temporary immediate accommodation, which he claims took six weeks to be reimbursed for.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/retaliatory-eviction-north-bondi-…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Repairs, Security and safety.A ‘Fully Renovated’ $750 A Week Syd Rental Is Being Rightfully Torn To Shreds On Reddit
Rebekah Manibog Pedestrian (No paywall)For just $750 a week, you can rent this Auburn home, fitted with a toilet connected to a hose. Unfortunately, no toot paper is included. Ahh yes. Although it is a public holiday, there’s no rest in calling out the wicked. The wicked in this case are the shitty rentals that are continuously being put up on websites for ridiculous amounts of moolah. Our story takes place on r/shitrentals — a subreddit inspired by Jordan van den Berg‘s ‘Shit Rentals’ series — where a Redditor shared a listing that they described as “nightmare fuel”.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/redditors-slam-750-a-week-rental/
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Repairs.