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
A body corporate has been slammed for cutting a tenants power as punishment for breaking bylaws
Darren Cartwright (No paywall)A body corporate has been slammed for cutting a tenant’s electricity supply and demanding a $3000 bond because their “sons” drove inappropriately on common property. Experts have labelled the body corporate’s actions “absurd” and a Body Corporate and Community Management (BCCM) adjudicator says there is “no legal basis” for the decision, cutting off electricity supply is “reprehensible” and has ordered the power be restored. The dispute reached the BCCM after the body corporate for Pinnacle village at Battle Creek, Mt Garnett, in north Queensland, cut the electricity supply of a longstanding tenant.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/a-body-corporate-has-been-sla…
# Australia, Strata, Utilities electricity water gas.Melbourne’s hot January nights smash record
Cassandra Morgan The Age (Paywall)If you thought this past January was hotter than previous years, the statistics prove you right, with the month smashing decades-old weather records. ... “As the climate continues to warm, we’re going to see more heat records, we will see more days over 35 [degrees] and more days over 40 as well – that will happen – and also the possibility of days over 45 or even 50 in Melbourne.”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/city-sweltered-in-ja…
# Australia, Climate change.Interest rates are tipped to rise later this year. So, is it time to fix your home loan?
Emily Stewart ABC (No paywall)It's fair to say money has been cheap in recent years, with home owners having access to the lowest fixed rates on record. And while the Reserve Bank may have kept the official cash rate on hold this week, economists are predicting rates to rise before the end of the year. So, is it time I fixed my home loan rate? It depends.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-02/is-it-time-i-fixed-my-hom…
# Australia, Home ownership.Australia’s median house price is above $1 million. Here’s what that buys in different cities
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Home hunters are forking out more than $1 million for the median Australian house, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than a year ago, but what they can buy varies widely. The national median house price, for the capital cities combined, hit a record high of $1,066,133 last quarter, Domain figures show, after lifting almost $215,000 over the year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/australia-s-median-house-pr…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Helps take pressure off’: Why house prices could slow down
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Property prices across Australia could face downward pressure later this year if earlier than expected rate hikes reduce home buyers’ borrowing capacity.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/helps-take-pressure-off-why…
# Australia, Housing market.I live with 28 other men — and my wife. The power of connection changed everything for me
Jayden Battey ABC (No paywall)Living through six Melbourne lockdowns alongside 28 people at risk of homelessness has taught my wife Mikyla and I a thing or two about what true community looks like ... t was June 2020 when Mikyla and I moved in to manage a property with Servants Community Housing. It's a community rooming house in Melbourne – a form of communal accommodation with private rooms and shared facilities. Housing like this exists all across Australia, supporting thousands of people on low incomes and those at risk of homelessness.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-30/5050-project-the-power-of…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Families, Homelessness, Personal stories.Housing Ombudsman: how social landlords should handle damp and mould complaints
Jack Simpson Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The Housing Ombudsman’s recent Spotlight report into damp and mould found inadequate complaint handling by social landlords. ... “There is sometimes a bit of inevitability from social landlords that damp and mould will happen,” says Richard Blakeway, head of the Housing Ombudsman. “That shouldn’t be the case, we want the sector to shift that mindset so landlords have a strategic response [to the issues] and there shouldn’t be that inevitability.” ... While naming and shaming is a key part of the ombudsman’s new approach to driving up standards, sharing best practice is equally as critical. ... The heart of the ombudsman’s message is for landlords to take a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould. What Mr Blakeway and his colleagues have come across is a culture where landlords expect damp and mould issues to happen and respond, often inadequately, when they come up. He wants this to change, and feels landlords can be a lot more proactive in their approach. This includes regular inspections and using data from complaints to get ahead of any issues.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/housing-ombudsman-how-so…
# International, Public and community housing, Mould.Nearly 400 households made homeless every day after eviction ban lifted
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)An average of 400 households became homeless every day in the first three full months after the eviction ban ended in England, new government homelessness figures show. ... The data published today shows that 397 households became homeless every day between July and September last year, with a total of 36,510 households becoming homeless over the three months. The figure is down 4.6% from the same quarter last year. Since the start of the pandemic, 222,360 households have been tipped into homelessness. Homelessness charity Shelter said it is “bracing itself to help people with nowhere else to turn” after the removal of other COVID-19 protections, such as the £20-a-week boost to Universal Credit and furlough, and as energy and fuel bills surge.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/nearly-400-households-…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.