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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Caravan park owners 'stunned' by torrent of abuse over vaccination stance
Richard Crabtree ABC (No paywall)The owners of the Curlwaa Caravan Park did not think they were being controversial when they announced they would soon only be accepting patrons fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-23/curlwaa-caravan-park-owns…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Coronavirus COVID-19.Concerns 57,000 travel permits to inspect real estate pose COVID threat to NSW regions
Miranda Saunders, Bruce Mackenzie, and Leah White ABC (No paywall)Since August 20, Service New South Wales has approved more than 57,000 travel registrations that will allow people from Greater Sydney to go into the regions and look at real estate. ... Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon said the figure was "outrageous" and putting regions at risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. ... Northern NSW MPs have joined forces to ask the state to better safeguard the region against a predicted influx of double-vaccinated city visitors.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-24/service-nsw-approves-5700…
# NSW, Privacy and access, Housing market.‘Put your man pants on’: Building watchdog tells ASIC to do its job
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has launched a blistering attack on the nation’s corporate regulator, telling it to “put your man pants on” and do more to help crack down on misconduct in the construction industry. Mr Chandler took aim at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission due to few signs of progress in its investigation into Ralan Group, two years after administrators raised serious concerns about the circumstances behind the Sydney property developer’s collapse.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/put-your-man-pants-on-buildi…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market.NSW off-the-plan apartment buyers soon able to claim on insurance defects arising within first 10 years
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Buyers of off-the-plan high-rise apartments in NSW might soon be able to claim on insurance for any defects arising within the first 10 years in a massive game-changer for the apartments sector. Unlike for all other new homes, there’s been no home warranty insurance available for apartment developments over three storeys in height anywhere in Australia for the past 18 years. But now, after the NSW government appointed a building commissioner and gave him unprecedented legal powers to check up on buildings as well as introducing a new digital tool to rate risks on new projects, insurers are now queuing up to offer insurance.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/nsw-off-the-plan-apartment-buyers…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market.International students to return to NSW by the end of the year
Anna Patty and Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Hundreds of international students will start returning to NSW by the end of this year, although vaccine restrictions will mean students from key markets in China and Nepal are not likely to be among them. ... NSW universities have discussed quotas based on their 2019 enrolment numbers and all international students will be required to quarantine in purpose-built student accommodation.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/international-students-to-re…
# Australia, Students.That howl of despair is the sound of housing dreams being dashed
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)Australian government policies are designed to ensure property owners’ wealth. Affordability be damned ... Oh yes, hear the cry of anguish made from those born after 1980 when they read the headline of the Australian Bureau of Statistics media release announcing the latest household wealth figures: “Record house prices continue to drive household wealth.” ... Well, isn’t that nice.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/commentisfree/2021/sep/26/t…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.‘Better ugly than boring’: book celebrates bizarre Belgian houses
Jennifer Rankin The Guardian (No paywall)Ever since he was a child, Hannes Coudenys had been annoyed by the “visual chaos” around him. On the road from home to his school in Bruges, he found a mishmash of architectural styles – haciendas, villas, farm-style houses, all mixed up with boxy malls and carpet shops. One day, as an adult, still exasperated, he took a photo of a house that was split into two jarringly different styles: a grey urban semi whose other half was a jaunty brick cottage. He put the photo online with the title “ugly Belgian houses” and an internet trend was born. Ugly Belgian Houses became a blog, then a book. Last month, a decade since posting that first photo, a second edition came out: More Ugly Belgian Houses.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/ugly-belgian-house…
# History International, Housing market.Castles for sale – in pictures
Anna White The Guardian (No paywall)From a 40-room baronial-style fortress in Scotland to a castellated gatehouse in Gloucestershire
https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2021/sep/24/homes-for-…
# International, Housing market.