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.
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Archive
NSW Govt Has Launched A Survey Asking Whether Renters Should Be Allowed Pets And Let’s Fkn Goooo
Isabella Corbett Pedestrian (No paywall)I don’t want to get my fellow pet-owners too riled up but the NSW Government has launched a survey asking folks whether landlords should allow renters to keep a pet. Bit of a bloody no brainer, if you ask me.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/nsw-government-pet-friendly-renta…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Pets.Gold Coast single mum who left abusive partner forced to lie to get rental after 50 rejected applications
Matthew Quagliotto 7 News (No paywall)For new mum Maggie, it must have seemed like the end of two unimaginable ordeals.
The 28-year-old had just been approved for a rental after spending the second and third trimesters of her pregnancy desperately hunting for a home on the Gold Coast.
https://7news.com.au/business/housing/gold-coast-single-mum-who-…
# Australia, Discrimination, Homelessness.Mould, ripped carpets, rent hikes, then eviction: WA renters’ darkest times
Holly Thompson WA Today (No paywall)A Perth woman has been given a handwritten note telling her that, after seven years in her home, her lease will be terminated because the owner is “taking a different direction” with the property.
But Norelle Robinson believes the eviction is a retaliation after she spoke out about issues with the rental on Nine News Perth in October.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/mould-ripp…
# Australia, Eviction, Homelessness, No-grounds evictions, Personal stories.Landlords v renters: Who’s on the hook for flood damage costs?
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)Many homes around Australia have been drenched by floods this year, and sorting out who’s paying for the flood damage can be confusing.
Insurance Council of Australia data released in September shows that in 2021-22, insurers paid out $6.41 billion from more than 380,000 claims, which was $3.9 billion more than the previous 12 months.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/11/04/flood-damage-rente…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, .‘Portable bonds’, stricter eviction laws promised for NSW renters
Mary Ward The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)enters will be able to directly transfer their bond over to a new property and eviction rules will be tightened, the state opposition has promised if they win office at next year’s NSW election. NSW Labor said it would move to reduce the number of renters facing “double bond” – needing to pay bond to secure a new rental before receiving the bond refunded from their previous home – by having the bond board directly transfer from one property to another. The opposition is also promising reform that would require landlords to identify a reason from a set list of reasonable grounds to end a lease, amid reports of tenants being evicted from properties for trying to enforce their contractual rights or dispute exorbitant rent rises. ... Leo Patterson Ross, CEO of the NSW Tenants Union, said his organisation supported the introduction of rental bond transfers, with a similar scheme already implemented in Queensland. “The issue of ‘double bonds’ is encouraging people to take out very high-interest loans to pay their bond,” he said, adding he was very concerned by this growing personal loan market, which largely preyed on people already facing financial hardship. Patterson Ross said the organisation was also in strong support of clearly outlined grounds on which a landlord can end a lease, with such requirements in place in Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT. Without a list of set reasons why a person can be evicted – including the landlord wanting to move back into or renovate the property – he said eviction was being too often used as retaliation for complaints about excessive or unlawful rent increases. Also read the article entitled: 'Renters in NSW would be able to transfer bond between properties under Labor election proposal' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/06/renters-in-nsw-would-be-able-to-transfer-bond-between-properties-under-labor-election-proposal]. Read Farid Farid's article entitled: 'Labor promises 'fairer' NSW rental market' in 'St George & Sutherland Shire Leader' at: [https://www.theleader.com.au/story/7970680/labor-promises-fairer-nsw-rental-market/?cs=2265]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/portable-bonds-stricter-evic…
# NSW, Bond, Rent, No-grounds evictions.‘It’s going to get worse’: Larger rental crisis looms as vacancies hit record lows
Melissa Heagney The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Tenants are facing the toughest rental market ever in Australia with rental vacancy rates falling to another low in October, new data shows. The market, already in crisis across the country, is expected to worsen as the new academic year begins in a few months, experts say. ... In Sydney, it fell to a record 1 per cent, while Melbourne dropped to a record 1.1 per cent. A balanced market is considered to be about 3 per cent. Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said conditions were worsening. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said renters were making up to 100 applications for a home unsuccessfully, sometimes after receiving a no-grounds eviction with a set end date. “It pushes people into quite unsafe environments,” Patterson Ross said. “They have to compromise on location but also on the quality and the size, and that can mean people are placing themselves in harm’s way in order to keep a roof over their head because there just aren’t the options available to them. “This is really a very risky way to run an essential service.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/it-s-going-to-get-worse-lar…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Families, Housing affordability, Housing market.‘Only if the return stacks up’: Super funds will demand sweeteners to back Labor housing plan
Simone Fox Koob The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government will have to put “something in the tin” to make social and affordable housing an attractive investment for superannuation funds, with experts warning of a raft of complications in making its new housing accord a success. Last month the federal government released the National Housing Accord, a key plank of this year’s budget, which will explore ways to facilitate superannuation and institutional capital investment in social and affordable housing. It aims to build 1 million new homes over five years from 2024. The super industry broadly welcomed the accord, but funds are expected to be cautious given laws require that members’ financial interests come first in investment decisions. Super funds have historically shied away from residential housing due to low returns. Grattan Institute economic policy program director Brendan Coates said super funds could be attracted to the idea of acquiring another asset class to which they can allocate some of the more than $3 trillion of superannuation savings they manage, but “they’re only going to do it if the return stacks up, and that means government would have to subsidise it”.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/only-if-the-re…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market, Landlords and agents.As housing prices surge, rent control is back on the ballot
Janie Har and Michael Casey (No paywall)From the United States ... Liberty McCoy was out Saturday urging voters to pass a Nov. 8 ballot measure to limit rent increases in Pasadena because she’s afraid she’ll be priced out of the city where she grew up and where her aging parents live. The librarian and her husband, a freelance consultant, received notice of a $100 monthly rent increase last year and another for $150 this year, bringing the rent on their home outside Los Angeles to $2,350 a month. They can absorb the increases for now — but not forever. ... With rental prices skyrocketing and affordable housing in short supply, inflation-weary tenants in cities and counties across the country are turning to the ballot box for relief. Supporters say rent control policies on the Nov. 8 ballot are the best short-term option to dampen rising rents and ensure vulnerable residents remain housed. (AP News)
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-florida-san-fr…
# International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, History, Housing market.