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
Tenancy Tribunal orders landlord to pay Whangārei tenant $30k compensation
Sarah Curtis NZ Herald (No paywall)An overseas landlord has received a sharp warning from the Tenancy Tribunal that charging a low rent for an old property doesn’t cancel her legal duty to ensure the property’s habitability. Shireen Sewgolam, a nursing lecturer at Federation University, Victoria, Australia, was ordered earlier this year to pay $30,721.72 compensation to Lynn Perkins, who rented an old property from her at 569 Cemetery Rd, Maunu, for about six years between October 2017 and September 2023. While the property’s rural setting was picturesque, tribunal adjudicator Nicholas Blake said the tenant had “suffered a significant loss of amenity due to the landlord’s failure to maintain” it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tenancy-tribunal-orders-landlord-t…
# Must read International, Rent, Repairs.More children in damp rental homes, figures show
Harriet Agerholm BBC (No paywall)The proportion of private renters with children who are living in damp homes has almost doubled since the pandemic, BBC analysis suggests. The figure has risen from one in 14 households before the pandemic to one in seven in 2022-23, according to the English Housing Survey. One charity said it had been “deluged” with reports of poor housing since the pandemic, with many private renters too afraid of eviction to complain. The National Residential Landlords Association said there were "many challenges facing the sector", but the "vast majority of renters are satisfied".
# Hot topic International, Rent, Repairs.Singapore’s Public Housing Gets Open-Plan Makeover as Design Tastes Shift
Krystal Chia Bloomberg (No paywall)For six decades, Singapore’s public housing system has delivered standardized, affordable housing to millions of citizens. But in the face of changing social trends and rising affluence, the country is now allowing homebuyers to have more flexibility in their designs. The Housing and Development Board will pilot a new layout in October with 310 units of three- and four-bedrooms apartments in central Singapore’s Kallang-Whampoa district. The homes will have a contiguous living and bedroom space, with structural columns rotated and tucked to the edges. There will also be no internal partition walls.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-22/singapore-s-h…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Rent.More than half of American renters who want to buy a home fear they’ll never afford one
Matt Egan CNN News (No paywall)New York: The dream of homeownership feels out of reach for many American families. The vast majority (86%) of current renters in the United States say they would like to buy a home — but can’t afford one, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS released Monday. Among those same renters who can’t afford to buy a home right now, 54% think it’s unlikely they’ll ever be able to, the poll found. The findings underscore the damage done by the one-two punch of surging home prices and elevated mortgage rates, creating an affordability crisis.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/29/business/millions-of-renters-…
# Hot topic International, Rent.UK tech startup raises £5m to prevent dangerous mould in social housing
Alex Lawson The Guardian (No paywall)A British startup which uses technology to prevent renters from living in cold, damp homes has raised fresh funds to expand as landlords belatedly try to tackle outbreaks of mould in crumbling social housing. Switchee has secured £5m, split equally between an existing investor, Axa IM Alts, and Octopus Ventures, part of the group which includes household gas and electricity supplier Octopus Energy. The company hopes to use the funds – which come on top of a £6.5m investment round led by Axa in May 2023 – to help hit a long-term goal of installing its technology in 1m UK social housing properties.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/10/uk-st…
# International, Public and community housing.Mt Albert, Sandringham, Blockhouse Bay landlord who failed to lodge bonds properly gets $14,000 fine
NZ Herald (No paywall)An Auckland landlord has been ordered to pay $14,720 in damages on behalf of four tenants. The Tenancy Tribunal found Rebecca Jane Allcock failed to lodge bonds, and did not supply the required insulation, healthy homes and insurance statements with tenancy agreements. The properties were at Busby St in Blockhouse Bay, New North Rd in Mt Albert, and Haverstock Rd in Sandringham.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/mt-albert-sandringham-blockh…
# Hot topic International, Bond.Rural development won’t solve Britain’s housing crisis
Dr James Derounian The Guardian (No paywall)I agree with Simon Jenkins’s overall message that England’s rural communities desperately need low-cost and affordable homes to rent and buy (David Cameron failed to foist new houses on rural areas. Why does Keir Starmer think he’ll succeed?, 18 July). But beyond that he seems to dive down a whole string of rabbit holes, such as 80% of British students expecting “the luxury of living away from home” – the implication being that students should not be enabled to make a first move towards independence. And then he rails against onshore wind turbines.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/24/rural-de…
# Hot topic International, .Renters in New York City fight back against real estate broker fees
Adam Gabbatt The Guardian (No paywall)A row is brewing in New York City between renters and real estate brokers, over who pays the thousands of dollars in fees when an apartment is rented. On 12 June, lawmakers in New York met to discuss the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses act (Fare act), which would require the person who hires the broker to pay the broker fee. It prompted an unlikely protest: hundreds of brokers from some of the biggest housing companies in the US taking to the streets to argue against a bill that would mean renters no longer pay thousands of dollars in fees. New York City is one of the few cities in the US where tenants can be forced to pay broker fees – which are typically 15% of annual rent – despite a landlord having hired the broker.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/29/renters-…
# Hot topic International, Rent.