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
Surge in legal action against landlords over repairs
Henrietta Cook The Age (Paywall)Tenants fed up with faults in their homes are pursuing legal action against landlords at record levels, with applications for urgent repairs almost doubling over the past three years. New minimum rental standards and working from home are fuelling a rise in applications to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal as renters seek legal solutions to disputes with their landlords. ... Katie Valenta, a lawyer at Tenants Victoria, said tenants’ most common complaint was about repairs. “Renters frequently tell us that they have been waiting for repairs to be completed for weeks, months, or even on occasion delays of years,” she said.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/surge-in-legal-actio…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.Summer reading
Housing for the Aged Action Group (No paywall)Here you will find links to our newsletter and Federal Election Advocacy Toolkit. Wishing everyone a safe summer and festive season, please enjoy this holiday reading at your leisure.
https://mailchi.mp/651e0debc25e/older-tenants-voice-summer-editi…
# Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Older people.How rapid rehousing is preventing homeless people being stuck in temporary accommodation
Eve Livingston Inside Housing (Paywall)Scotland and Wales have implemented a policy called ‘rapid rehousing’, with the aim of cutting the amount of time homeless people are stuck in temporary accommodation. ... “It’s really about saying homelessness doesn’t necessitate a large-scale industry of special provision or temporary accommodation,” says Dr Beth Watts, senior research fellow at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) at Heriot-Watt University. “People experiencing homelessness want ordinary mainstream homes like the rest of us and by getting them into housing and giving support where it’s needed, experiences of homelessness can be brief and minimally damaging.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/how-rapid-rehous…
# International, Homelessness, Housing market.Homeless Perth couple living in their car for Christmas as rental shortage hits hard
Amber Johnston (No paywall)There’ll be no festive cheer for the thousands of families hoping for an end to Perth’s rental crisis. The vacancy rate has dropped to a record low, meaning it’s harder than ever for tenants to put a roof over their heads. And it means some people, like Elaine and Rob, will spend Christmas living in their car. “We’re doing our best in our little car,” Rob told 7NEWS. “We are grateful for our car, because otherwise we’d be in a tent.” The couple’s rental home was sold more than a year ago and they have been homeless ever since. (7News)
https://7news.com.au/news/wa/homeless-perth-couple-living-in-the…
# Australia, Homelessness, Personal stories.Watchdog slams government’s ‘piecemeal’ attempts to improve conditions for private renters
Alex Turner Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The National Audit Office (NAO) has told the government it needs to do much more to improve conditions for renters, in a sharply critical analysis of its attempts to regulate the private rented sector (PRS). In the report, issued today, the public-spending watchdog highlighted the fact that more than one in eight (13%) privately rented homes have serious health hazards, compared with 5% of social housing and 10% of owner-occupied homes. Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said the statistic was “concerning” and that the government relied on tenants being able to enforce their own rights when, in fact, many faced significant barriers to doing so. ... [Also] a white paper setting out the government’s reform plans for private renters, which includes a ban on no-fault evictions, will not be published until next year, it was confirmed last month.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/watchdog-slams-governm…
# International, Rent, Health, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, No-grounds evictions.NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet reveals major cabinet reshuffle with eye on 2023 state election
Ashleigh Raper ABC (No paywall)The New South Wales Premier ... establishes his team to take to the 2023 state election. ... Upper House MP Natasha Maclaren-Jones becomes the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, Miranda MP Eleni Petinos will be the Minister for Small Business and Fair Trading ... The Premier has also created new ministries including a cities portfolio, to implement the six cities strategy across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and Wollongong, which will be taken on by former planning minister Rob Stokes. Anthony Roberts will make a return to the planning portfolio [but also takes on 'Minister for Homes'] ... Read the same story in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/major-reshuffle-as-new-blood-enter-perrottet-s-cabinet-20211219-p59iuk.html]. You will find the full NSW cabinet list in the report in 'The Australian Financial Review' at: [https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/perrottet-stamps-authority-with-sweeping-cabinet-reshuffle-20211219-p59iu3]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-19/dominic-perrottet-announc…
# NSW, State Government.Owners blocked from moving into landmark Sydney apartment building
Matt O'Sullivan and Sue Williams The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Owners of a landmark apartment block in Sydney’s eastern suburbs face a long wait before they can move in after the NSW building watchdog ordered an immediate halt to their $50 million redevelopment which was almost complete. The watchdog has handed the owners of the Skye, which overlooks Tamarama Beach, a stop-work notice and an order preventing them from shifting in because fire sprinklers were not installed in seven of the building’s nine floors, which was deemed a “serious defect”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/owners-blocked-from-moving-i…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.How leaseholds bought at cost, with mortgages, are still tenancies – and why that should change
Derek Whayman The Conversation (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Long leasehold is a prominent feature of the property market in England and in Wales. Homes owned under leasehold in each country number around 4.6m and 235,000 respectively. (Scotland has a completely different law of property, while in Northern Ireland, the law of leasehold is regulated very differently.) Owners of even long leases – what you get when you purchase a leasehold house or flat – are, technically speaking, tenants. This is so even though leasehold is a form of property ownership and the terms of long leases are typically 99 or even 999 years. Long leaseholders may be obliged to pay rent (labelled “ground rent”) and when the lease expires it reverts to the landlord.
https://theconversation.com/how-leaseholds-bought-at-cost-with-m…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Housing market.