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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
We Need Rental Registries Now More Than Ever
Shane Phillips (No paywall)From the United States ... Most communities lack a way of collecting real-time data on whether landlords are complying with rules. A rental registry could change that. (Shelterforce)
https://shelterforce.org/2020/12/18/we-need-a-rental-registry-no…
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Are rent caps the solution for New Zealand tenants?
Miriam Bell (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Calls for rent controls, or government intervention, are growing as rents around the country continue to rise, and one tenant advocate is suggesting commercial-style leases could be a better option. (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/123773294/a…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Landlord who 'controlled' tenant's domestic life must repay bond, tribunal orders
Jasper Lyndell Canberra Times (Paywall)A landlord who closely controlled her tenant's domestic life, preventing him from inviting guests over and ultimately locking him out of the house ... [read more]
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7064916/landlord-who-cont…
# Australia, Bond, Eviction.How to check your holiday rental for hidden surveillance cameras
ABC Science ABC (No paywall)There's something unsettling about the idea of being watched while you and your loved ones kick back on holidays. ... surveillance cameras have been found in rented homes and Airbnb accommodation, without notification or consent of guests.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-12-28/how-to-check-your…
# Australia, Short-term holiday letting.Interest rate collapse saves home buyers thousands but hits savers
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The pandemic recession will end up delivering savings worth tens of thousands of dollars to the nation's home buyers due to a collapse in mortgage interest rates, but will also cruel the savings plans of millions more.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/interest-rate-collapse-s…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Residents escape fire but are left homeless in Sydney's south-west
Nigel Gladestone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A massive fire at an over-55s apartment village in Sydney's south-west was so intense it caused the roof to collapse and had firefighters searching for two residents of a unit where the fire was believed to have begun. ... The fire started at the back of the housing commission block in Bass Hill ... just before midday and stretched across the entire top floor with seven of the 14 units destroyed, leaving elderly residents homeless on Christmas Eve.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/two-missing-manly-left-homel…
# NSW, Public and community housing.Balmoral's Black Summer bushfire victims mark 12 traumatic months as scammer burns those who lost it all
Tim Fernandez and Nick Rheinberger ABC (No paywall)It has been a year since Victoria Herrera lost everything when the Green Wattle Creek fire hit the New South Wales Southern Highlands town of Balmoral. … She never suspected that in the following weeks she would have everything taken from her again. "I did everything right, I was insured and unfortunately for me a man turned up in the village pretending to be a builder and he ripped me off $660,000," Ms Herrera said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-22/black-summer-victims-scam…
# NSW, .Jacinda Ardern is at her best in a crisis. Now she must tackle housing affordability
Clint Smith The Guardian (No paywall)New Zealand united as a team of 5 million to beat Covid – so how come it seems only the 1% are getting rich off it, while more and more Kiwis are finding homeownership out of reach? The combination of lower interest rates, relaxed lending rules to investors, and our successful response to the Covid crisis has seen house prices boom. If you own luxury property or a slew of rentals, you’re sitting pretty as the market buoys your property values. ... The housing crisis is destroying the Kiwi dream. Jacinda Ardern’s government will be punished by the new generation of voters if she doesn’t act to address it. The good news is, it is possible. 2
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/dec/28/jacinda-ardern-is…
# International, Affordable housing, Home ownership.