Escaping an unsafe and insecure rental nightmare

Kellie and her son Elijah
Kellie & her son Elijah, Central Coast tenants
Kellie and her son Elijah are tenants on the Central Coast. At their previous place the landlord failed to abide by the agreement and renting laws in a number of ways. So Kellie got advice from Central Coast Tenants Advice and wrote to the landlord to assert her rights. She also went to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to seek compensation for the landlord’s failure to do repairs and an illegal lockout. Although she was unsuccessful at the Tribunal, Kellie did manage to get rehoused in a better place.
Read more

Home ownership is falling - what needs to happen?

Leo from the Tenants' Union of NSW speak on ABC News 24
Our Advocacy and Research Officer Leo spoke to ABC News 24 about a new report which shows that Australia has one of the lowest rates of home ownership amongst 9 countries analysed by HSBC.
We point out that what people really want are homes they can rely on - watch now!
Read more

CHOICE research reveals renting crisis

Woman holding cat. List of statistics concerning text which reads "Discriminated against when renting? 50% of renters report discrimination when househunting. For having a pet (23%). For receiving government payments (17%). Age (14%). Having young children (10%)
Discrimination is widespread amongst renters
Research finds renters facing insecurity, poor quality housing, and discrimination

CHOICE, the National Association of Tenants’ Organisations and National Shelter are calling for governments to prioritise rental security and quality issues, not just housing affordability, as a national study reveals widespread fear and discrimination faced by thousands of Australians.
Read more

Renters in parliament

Jenny Leong MP, Shayne Mallard MLC, Julie Foreman TU Executive Officer, and Tania Mihailuk MP, cutting the cake at the launch of the TU 40th celebrations
Jenny Leong MP, Shayne Mallard MLC, Julie Foreman TU Executive Officer, and Tania Mihailuk MP
At the launch of the Tenants' Union 40th anniversary celebrations at the Northcott estate in Surry Hills in February 2016, we asked the three Members of Parliament who attended about their experience renting in Sydney. The MPs were Jenny Leong (Member for Newtown), Shayne Mallard (Member of the NSW Legislative Council) and Tania Mihailuk (Member for Bankstown). See what they had to say in this 3 minute video and article.

Read more

Fighting evictions in residential parks

Jill Edmonds
Jill Edmonds, park resident
In 1990 I bought a manufactured home in a residential park (now called a ‘residential community’). I knew there was an element of risk in using my meagre retirement funds to become the owner of an ‘affordable’ house located on land owned by someone else. I did not know it was possible that park owners who had approval for redevelopment were permitted to evict pensioner residents and take ownership of their homes with no legal requirements for compensation. I thought such things could only happen in third-world countries!
Read more

A strong voice for tenants

Charmaine Jones, with TU staff, Patrycja, Jemima, Anne and Julie
Charmaine Jones, with TU staff
Charmaine Jones, social housing tenant and Tenants' Union Treasurer, reflects on her involvement with the TU and the changes in the sphere of social housing.
Read more

RLC submission to the Review of the Residential Tenancies Act

Redfern Legal Centre's logo - a stylised building graphic
It has been five years since the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 came into force and it is now due for its five year statutory review. In October 2015, NSW Fair Trading released a discussion paper and Redfern Legal Centre provided input to the review that focused on the following main areas (as well as comments on other areas).
Read more
RSS feed for stable homes