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Outasite - land lease communities magazine

Outasite logo
The Tenants' Union has just published issue 9 of Outasite – our print publication for land lease communities! It has been delivered to mailboxes in communities all over NSW.
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Lessons from USA Mobile Home Parks

People visiting Terrigal Sands land lease community
In the USA, the equivalent of residential land lease communities (RLLCs) are called mobile home parks. In 2022 the number of residents living in mobile home parks in the USA was more than twenty million. As is the case in NSW the majority of residents in these mobile home parks are home owners.
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Sustainable Energy should be an option for all residents

A home with solar panels on the roof
At the Tenants’ Union we are increasingly receiving calls from home owners who are finding roadblocks in the way of switching their homes to renewable energy in the form of rooftop solar panels. There are government programs available in NSW at the moment that make switching to solar energy an affordable option for many home owners in land lease communities. Unfortunately it’s not always an easy path if you want to have solar panels installed on your home.
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Crown Land not an excuse to evade rights of home owners

Caravan home with awning
In NSW more than half of the land in the state is Crown Land. It is owned by the NSW State Government. In NSW there are many residential land lease communities which are located on Crown Land. These communities are usually managed by the operator of the land lease community as Crown Land manager under a lease, license or permit. Crown Land managers are mostly local councils or non council trustees.
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Buyer Beware: home ownership in land lease communities

homes in a land lease community
When someone is buying into a residential land lease community (RLLC) the home purchased is either from the current home owner (vendor/ seller) or from the operator of the community selling a home. Over the past few months the Tenants’ Union has received a number of queries from residents and from advocates (acting on behalf of prospective residents or for current home owners).
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Holding operators to account when on fixed method site fee increases

Outasite logo
In our last edition of Outasite we discussed the trend toward fixed method site fee increases. One of the downsides to this method that we highlighted is there is less incentive for operators to spend money maintaining the community. The fixed method site fee increase cannot be challenged at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) in the same way as the by notice site fee increase. There is no way to dispute the amount of a fixed method increase even if the operator has clearly not been spending money maintaining the community.
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Heart Award recognises the work of Sandy Gilbert

Sandy
Our last edition of Outasite featured an article co-authored by Sandy Gilbert about the impact of the floods on land lease community residents in Tweed Heads and Chinderah. Sandy had set up a community Hub in the area with the help of volunteers, local Council and community organisations to provide support to residents impacted by the floods.
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Tenants' Union supports event Homes for People, Not Profits: End the Housing Crisis

A woman holds a sign saying no evictions no demolitions with other protestors outside Sydney Town Hall
The Tenants' Union of NSW expresses its support for the Homes for People, Not Profits: End the Housing Crisis event on 17th June organised by Action for Public Housing and the Anti-Poverty Centre.
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Renting and Housing Advocates: ‘NSW Government is Listening'

Tenants' Union logo
Renting and housing advocates say the NSW Government is listening and committed to improving the rental system as the government announces the Rental Commissioner will explore further how best to address rent bidding.
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Concerns planned reforms to 'end secret rent bidding' will introduce rent auctions

TUNSW along with sector colleagues attended the Inquiry hearings on the Rental Fairness Bill 2023, photo of 3 white men, 2 white women in Domain (next to NSW Parliament)
On Friday the Tenants Union of NSW attended hearings for the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on the Rental Fairness Bill 2023. Along with sector colleagues we raised concerns that planned reforms to 'end secret rent bidding' could unintentially introduce and possibly entrench 'rent auctions'.
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