ABOUT

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.

 

Ron McLachlan: Resident Advocate

Ron and colleagues
Ron McLachlan is a former park resident and long time advocate for residents’ rights. He is a member of the Residential Parks Forum and Port Stephens Park Residents Association. We asked Ron to tell us about his life as a park resident and advocate.
Read more

Community rules clarified

Advertisement from a Land Lease Community owner’s website
The Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (the Act) brought many changes to land lease communities (residential parks) and one of the biggest was in the area of community rules. How rules are made and what they can be about has not changed significantly but who they apply to and how they are enforced has.
Read more

Site maintenance: Who's responsible?

Outasite article
We never thought we would have to explore the question of responsibility for site maintenance because the answer seems so obvious – the operator owns the land so they have to maintain it. But that assumption is being challenged by some operators who are attempting to pass on significant repair and maintenance costs to home owners, exploiting what appears to be poor drafting in the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (the Act).
Read more

Tales from the Tribunal

NCAT
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) hears disputes between land lease community operators and residents. Decisions that NCAT makes about disputes are not binding on other NCAT Members who hear similar disputes but they can provide guidance so it is useful to know what NCAT has decided about a particular issue.
Read more

What is the Residential Parks Forum?

Rod and Margaret Nicoll – members of the Residential Parks Forum 
The Residential Parks Forum brings together advocates and lawyers from across NSW to share information and advocate for improvements to the rights of land lease community residents.
Read more

Tara Steers: Tenant Advocate in South West NSW

Tara
Tara Steers is a Tenant Advocate in Albury. Up until the commencement of the Act in 2015 Tara had limited experience with land lease community residents but after accompanying the Tenants’ Union on a road trip, visiting communities along the Murray River, she developed a passion for the work. Tara is now highly regarded by land lease community residents in the area and her services are constantly in demand.
Read more

Hastings Point Holiday Park: Closure

Beryl Anderson, Paul Smyth, and Judy Tucker at the final Tribunal hearing 
Hastings Point Holiday Park was once a thriving residential park nestled between the Tweed Coast Road and Cudgera Creek. That changed in 2006 when the park owner discussed gradual closure and redevelopment of the park to a luxury retirement living complex. The park owner held meetings with the residents and made promises about their future in return for their support for the development application. None of these eventuated. Instead, home owners had their agreements terminated and, in order to win reasonable compensation, they would have to fight seven lots of proceedings in six courts and tribunals over a period of five years. Here is their story.
Read more

Community legal centres support marriage equality

Rainbow house - yes!
The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC), the peak body for Community Legal Centres across Australia, today reiterated its support for marriage equality.
Read more

Energy and climate – Tenant News special edition

Tenant News 114
Energy bills. Most of us don’t look forward to getting them. They're often difficult to understand, but the worst part is looking to the spot in the bill where the dollars owed sit in heavy black numbers. This special edition of our magazine Tenant News focuses on energy and climate issues, from a renter's perspective. Many renters want to take action to reduce their energy use – for the climate as well as for the household budget – but are limited by the laws and structures of renting.
Read more

Unfairly evicted for challenging electricity misuse & excessive rent

Jeremy and Mari
“We stood up to the landlord. That’s the real reason we were evicted.” Jeremy tells how he received a 'no-grounds' eviction after he challenged the landlord over excessive rent and a requirement to pay for electricity used in a communal area.
Read more