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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 news, reports and the Brown Couch archive. For factsheets see tenancy info.

 

The Conversation | 24/02/2021

Can I have a pet and be housed, too? It all depends...

Trying to find housing can be a nightmare for pet owners, especially those who need it in a crisis. The inconsistencies from state to state and between different forms of housing demand reform.…
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Leo Patterson Ross | 23/02/2021

Getting your LL plates?

There is currently a petition in NSW Parliament for the creation of a “Landlord non-compliance register”. It speaks to some of the most frustrating aspects of renting in Australia.
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Robert Mowbray | 31/12/2020

Housing people with a hoarding disorder - what should a best practice approach look like?

Robert Mowbray, Older renters' Policy Officer at the Tenants' Union looks at the ways in which hoarding disorder impacts on people's lives and the particular risks renters with a…
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Eloise Parrab | 23/12/2020

Fire safety in your rented home

As we are heading back into the bushfire season in NSW we thought it would be a good time to remind us all on how to ensure our homes are bushfire prepared and general fire safety in the home.…
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Lauren Berends | 14/12/2020

Forced out during a health crisis: Renters' stories #MovingMonday

You might have seen via our social media that the Tenants' Union NSW is moving – because we've been evicted! We're an organisation and it doesn't affect our lives - or the…
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Jemima Mowbray | 18/11/2020

Promise of a big spend on social housing: Did the NSW budget deliver?

In early October NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald suggested social and affordable housing would be a priority in the November NSW budget. In this…
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Jemima Mowbray | 17/11/2020

Tracking NSW Govt Future Direction Commitments

A breakdown of the contracted providers and dwellings under the Communities Plus and Social and Affordable Housing Funds programs.
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Robert Mowbray | 12/11/2020

80 to 55: the case for lowering the age for early allocation of social housing in NSW

In this blog Robert Mowbray puts the argument for lowering the age for early allocation of social housing in NSW from aged 80 years to 55 years. We argue that older people, especially older…
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Riley Brooke | 19/10/2020

What could the NSW Religious Freedoms Bill mean for renters?

Last week, the Tenants’ Union signed on to a joint statement coordinated by Equality Australia opposing NSW One Nation's Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill…
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Jemima Mowbray | 15/10/2020

Pets and strata - a win! But it's only the first step.

On Monday, 12 October 2020 the NSW Court of Appeal found that a strata by-law that places a ban on pets breaches NSW strata scheme legislation and is invalid. A blanket ban on pets, they found,…
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Bronwyn Bate | 17/08/2020

Unlawful and lawful discrimination: how the selection process disadvantages some private renters

In the absence of any legislated right to housing, or rules and guidelines such as waiting lists or criteria determining housing priority (as is the case in public housing), the decision to…
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Leo Patterson Ross | 07/08/2020

We need to talk about the landlord

We don’t only need to talk about the relationship between tenants and landlords – we also need to talk about the landlords themselves. A key flaw exposed through the response to COVID‑19 is the…
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