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Welcome to our blog. Tenants' Union staff and occasional guests offer commentary and analysis of our renting system. We hope to inform, educate and debate the legal, political and cultural aspects of this renting life. For an official quote for media use, or questions regarding our research, policy or publications please contact us. For more articles see the Brown Couch archive, the Clearing House, and news. For factsheets see tenancy info.

 

Rathy Srikanthan | 27/10/2023

How housing impacts health and well-being

How does housing status impact wellbeing, and who are the most impacted? How does wellbeing impact housing status? And why is the relationship between housing and wellbeing a pressing issue? In…
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Rathy Srikanthan | 25/10/2023

Access to justice? What the NCAT snapshot tells us

The Tenants' Union NCAT Snapshot and NCAT Evictions Map are interactive resources that share key insights into how landlords and renters have used the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal…
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Jack Moon | 01/09/2023

Rental realities in NSW: New insights from the End of Tenancy Survey

Renters in New South Wales face an increasingly precarious housing situation, grappling with the challenges of avoiding unaffordable rent hikes and eviction notices. To better understand the…
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Riley Brooke | 10/08/2023

What you need to know right now to make renting fair in NSW

We’ve worked hard to get this far, but there’s work still to be done! Along with renters and other supporters in the community, we have been campaigning with Make Renting Fair on our 6 demands…
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Leo Patterson Ross | 02/08/2023

Modernising Consumer Protection in Renting: From Individualised to Systemic Protections

Over the last 50 years, tenancy acts have been directed by the results of the national inquiry conducted by Ron Sackville as part of the Whitlam poverty inquiries. The recommendations of that…
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Rita Wilkinson | 19/07/2023

Own Goal? Thinking about the impact of the FIFA Women’s Cup on rental housing

FIFA Downunder is just a day away as the 2023 Women’s World Cup Finals are played across nine cities in Australia and New Zealand over July and August.  It is truly a mega-event, and a really…
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Riley Brooke | 29/06/2023

Co-operative housing: Interview with co-op renter Amalina Wallace

Amalina Wallace is a founding member of Erskineville’s Eroh Ruo housing co-operative. She spoke with the Tenants’ Union about her experiences establishing and living in housing co-ops over the…
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Charlie Wilde | 21/06/2023

A little gnome fact

The Tenants’ Union and Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Services have a long history with garden gnomes. Several gnomes are scattered throughout our office, honouring their role in a collective act…
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Riley Brooke | 28/05/2023

Renting & transphobia: NSW renting laws that need to change to support transgender renters

Discrimination pervades many areas of trans people’s lives, including in relation to housing. All people need and deserve a safe, secure, affordable place to call home, but all too often trans…
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Jemima Mowbray | 13/04/2023

In case of emergency break glass: rental reforms needed urgently

Almost everyday for the last few months the Tenants’ Union has received calls or emails from journalists asking us to talk about the rental crisis and its impact on people’s lives. They ask, “…
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Leo Patterson Ross | 31/03/2023

Tenants' Union at the Community Sector Blueprint launch

Recently, the Tenants' Union of NSW attended the Community Sector Blueprint launch hosted by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS). The event focused on how the Blueprint is a…
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Jemima Mowbray | 24/03/2023

Privacy, data and discrimination in renting

We recently asked renters to share with us what kinds of information had been requested from them when applying for a rental property. This is what they told us.
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