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Tenants' Union news

Also check out our blog, Tenant News archive, media appearances, and Housing News Digest.
For factsheets and sample letters, please see Tenancy info.

 

40 organisations publish open letter calling for stronger protections during COVID transition

Text reads Regional NSW in rental crisis - Extend the eviction moratorium
40 community organisations sign on today to Open Letter calling for stronger protections and additional financial support for COVID impacted renters through transition 
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Open Justice and the Tribunal (NCAT)

Court doors, door open with light streaming through
The Tenants' Union NSW recently provided a short submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission's Open Justice Review currently underway. We focused on two key issues. First, the importance of publishing reasons for decisions in tenancy law matters. Second, the need to make available more statistical data about tenancy law matters heard by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
We recommended NCAT increase the number of decisions with reasons being published, and the quantity, range and regularity of the statistical data it currently shares about tenancy matters heard at NCAT.
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Can I have a pet and be housed, too? It all depends...

cartoon image excerpts from the visual article
Trying to find housing can be a nightmare for pet owners, especially those who need it in a crisis. The inconsistencies from state to state and between different forms of housing demand reform. A recent report is presented in beautiful visual form.
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Getting your LL plates?

Hands signing a contract and offering L plates
There is currently a petition in NSW Parliament for the creation of a “Landlord non-compliance register”. It speaks to some of the most frustrating aspects of renting in Australia.
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Responses to Homelessness, January 2021

Line drawing of a blue house
Check out our submission to the NSW Audit Office's Audit of the NSW Government's responses to homelessness. Everyone deserves a safe, secure, affordable home, and the NSW Government is failing to meet its commitments to ensure our communities' well-being.
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New housing news service launched

News Icon Image by Memed_Nurrohmad from Pixabay
Read all about it! Check out our Housing News Digest … starting 4 January 2021, the Housing News Digest has an exciting new look and you can subscribe now! 
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Housing people with a hoarding disorder - what should a best practice approach look like?

Signing a lease
Robert Mowbray, Older renters' Policy Officer at the Tenants' Union looks at the ways in which hoarding disorder impacts on people's lives and the particular risks renters with a hoarding disorder face. What does a 'best practice' approach to supporting renters with this mental health condition look like? And who can and should be meeting this challenge directly?
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Fire safety in your rented home

Pic setting out smoke alarm requirements
As we are heading back into the bushfire season in NSW we thought it would be a good time to remind us all on how to ensure our homes are bushfire prepared and general fire safety in the home. Olivia and Eloise at the Tenants' Union NSW set out how to reduce fire risks, and the responsibility landlords have to ensure working smoke alarms in rented homes.
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Practical advocacy for social housing tenants

Text reads social housing clinic
Marrickville Legal Centre is home to two tenancy services – the Inner West Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service (IWTAAS) and Northern Sydney Area Tenants Service (NSATS). The services provide free, confidential legal information, advice and advocacy to renters living in social and private residential housing.  The services have recently introduced a Social Housing Clinic for residents of Sydney’s inner west and Northern Sydney area.
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Forced out during a health crisis: Renters' stories #MovingMonday

Charlie, TUNSW' Community Education Officer in front of a large stack of moving boxes.
You might have seen via our social media that the Tenants' Union NSW is moving – because we've been evicted! We're an organisation and it doesn't affect our lives - or the smooth running of the TU - too much. But for residential renters eviction is a massive upheaval.
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