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
Queensland developing further rental reforms to improve ease of minor modifications and security improvements
Tobias Jurss-Lewis ABC (No paywall)The Queensland government has flagged further changes to the state's rental laws, giving tenants more power to make security modifications and decorative changes to their properties.
The state government is currently developing its second package of rental reforms – targeting laws which currently restrict tenants' abilities to install modifications like security measures, disability access, and personal changes such as hanging pictures.
The government's stage one reforms passed parliament in 2021, putting an end to without-grounds evictions and making it easier for renters to have pets, and easing the burden on tenants fleeing domestic violence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-18/qld-rental-reforms-housin…
# Hot topic, New policy announcement Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, State Government.Groups fear landlords may use loophole to bypass Queensland’s new once-a-year rent-rise law
Eden Gillespie The Guardian (No paywall)A loophole in newly passed Queensland laws could incentivise landlords to end leases after six months, bypassing the yearly limit on rent rises by bringing in new tenants, critics say.
The state government passed last-minute amendments on Tuesday to limit the frequency of rent increases to once a year. The government said the legislation – added to the Palaszczuk government’s electoral reform bill – was passed in a hurry to respond to the state’s housing crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/19/groups-fe…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, State Government.Hobart council powerless as another rental becomes Airbnb, but there may be a solution
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)A year after finding a rental property close to central Hobart, Zac Lewin and his four housemates are dreading having to start looking for somewhere else to live.
Their landlord's application to turn their West Hobart home into an Airbnb was approved by Hobart City Council on Wednesday night – the 42nd entire dwelling to become short-stay accommodation this year, and 129th since July 1.
And while the council has tried, since December 2020, to find a way under Tasmania's planning laws to restrict new short-stay accommodation conversions, it is too late for Mr Lewin.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-20/pressure-grows-hobart-cou…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.Think you're on a 'rental blacklist'? Here's how it may have happened, and what to do about it
Maani Truu ABC (No paywall)Finding a rental is already an uphill battle, but behind the scenes, companies operating massive tenant databases can make it near impossible for renters who have previously stepped out of line.
Each time you submit an application for a rental property, it's likely your details will be checked against so-called rental blacklists, created to flag misbehaving tenants before they've signed another lease.
But as regulation around blacklisting has tightened, tenants' advocates say more informal avenues for landlords and real estate agents to influence their tenant's future rental prospects — whether they've breached their lease or not — are springing up.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-24/rental-blacklists-tenancy…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Privacy and access, Housing market, Renting culture.Renters paying above advertised price for new leases, ABS data shows
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Renters entering into new tenancy agreements are on average having to offer rents above the advertised listing price to secure a home, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
Actual rents paid by new tenants increased by 14% in the 12 months to February, which is 9% higher than the rise in the inflation index that captures rents paid by both new and existing tenants, pointing to a trend in landlords leaping on lapsed leases as an opportunity to earn more from their properties.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/24/renters-p…
# Must read, Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.After decades of neglect a housing accord could be the game-changer Australia needs
Brendan Coates and Joey Moloney The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s housing crisis has been building for a long time. Home ownership rates have been falling among younger, poorer Australians for decades. Half of retirees who rent are living in poverty. And homelessness is on the rise.
The pandemic has made the crisis worse. And it’s low-income renters who are suffering the most.
Rental vacancy rates are at record lows. Rents are rising by as much as 15% a year. Shocking stories abound of Australians sleeping in tents, caravans or even their cars because they can’t find a home they can afford to rent.
The Covid lockdowns and the work-from-home revolution have spurred a new “race for space”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/24/after-deca…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Planning and development.‘Nightmare situation’: Australians turn to youth refuges and camper vans as rental crisis deepens
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)As rents soar and properties are snapped up before even being inspected, those living on the bottom line are hit the hardest.
When Danny opened the letter, he was shattered. The two-bedroom home he was renting in the Melbourne suburb of Preston was about to go up by $30 a week.
He would have to move.
Danny, who does not want his last name used, decided to look for a new place with three friends but – after countless applications followed by countless rejections – the 25-year-old is now living in emergency accommodation.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/21/nightmare…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent, Young people.live in a two-by-four-metre tiny house parked in my friend’s backyard because I can't afford to rent
Ilias Bakalla SBS (No paywall)Rochelle Ryan describes herself as homeless. Since July last year she has been living in a tiny house on a friend's property on the outskirts of Brisbane.
She connects to her friend's house for electricity and water, but has to use her friend’s toilet.
“I am planning to get an incinerator toilet installed in my tiny home,” she told The Feed.
“Most people see tiny homes as a holiday home. This is not a holiday for me. I'm homeless.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/i-live-in-a-two-by-…
# Hot topic Australia, Families, Housing market, Personal stories.