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Tenants' Union news

Also check out our blog, Tenant News archive, media appearances, and Housing News Digest.
For factsheets and sample letters, please see Tenancy info.

 

State Budget 2016: extra duties for foreign purchasers

Announcements on new spending and policy are already finding their way out of Macquarie Street. One matter of some interest to tenants - and more than a few landlords, we bet - concerns changes to stamp duty payable by foreign purchasers.
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NSW Budget: Social Housing funding

The Government will officially hand down the budget today, but much that will be of interest to us on the Brown Couch has already been revealed.
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Park resident advocate announced local woman of the year

Christina
Residential park resident advocate Christina Steel was recently announced as Port Stephens ‘Local Woman of the Year’ by the Port Stephens MP Kate Washington. Christina is the president of the Port Stephens Park Residents Association and a long term and valued member of the Tenants’ Union Residential Parks Forum.
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Recently at NCAT

NCAT
Since the commencement of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 on 1 November 2015 we have been keeping an eye on decisions coming out of NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to see how the various provisions are being interpreted. In this issue of Outasite Lite we report on an unpublished decision concerning assignment.
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Is age just a number?

communities
Julie Lee, Tenants' Union Residential Parks Officer, reflects on the response she gave when recently delivering an information session to park residents about the new Act, when asked a question about a term of the site agreement restricting the sale of homes to people over a certain age.
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A win for park residents in court

Outasite Lite article
Two permanent residents of Homestead Holiday Park (Gennacker Pty Ltd) on the Tweed River have finally won a lengthy court battle against their park owner. The park owner had given them a no-grounds notice of termination in 2012, and claimed the residents were not covered by the Residential Parks Act 1998 (then in force). The park owner argued instead that they were covered by the Holiday Parks (Long Term Casual Occupation) Act 2002. This would have left the residents facing immediate eviction.
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Celebrating women advocates

Janice and Christina
Because 8 March is International Women’s Day we thought that the March issue of Outasite Lite should celebrate some of the amazing women who live in residential parks in NSW. We talked with six women who are active within their own communities and in residential parks more broadly. None of the women moved into a residential park with the intention of becoming a resident representative or advocate but a particular event or situation triggered something in each of them that led to them becoming leaders in their communities.
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Free legal advice for park residents

Outasite Lite article
Following the introduction of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 on 1 November 2015, NSW Fair Trading has provided a small grant to five Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services. Northern Rivers, Mid Coast, Hunter, Illawarra and South Coast and South West NSW Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services all received funding for a part time worker to focus on residential parks in 2016.
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On the road

Community education
Following the Christmas break we are back on the road visiting parks and providing free information sessions for residents. We have just been out and about with Tenant Advocates in South and South West Sydney, the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and on the far South Coast.
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Please can we have a cat?

Renting with pets is risky, you've got to be responsible in ways that others do not. Unlike tenants, home owners can't be evicted for failing to train a dog not to bark at passing traffic, and they don't really have to be concerned about the damage their pets might cause - at least, not as far as it might affect other people. But because home owners are considered bona fide grown-ups, we let them decide for themselves whether or not to keep pets. Tenants, on the other hand, are apparently not to be trusted with such decisions without the blessing of a landlord.
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