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Tenants demand action on ‘no grounds’ evictions – new report released

Lives Turned Upside Down cover image of an upside down couch
The Tenants’ Union of NSW with Marrickville Legal Centre has released the findings of a new report exploring the impacts of no grounds evictions. Just over three quarters (77%) of renters have held back from asserting a right or reporting a problem because they worried about receiving a ‘no grounds’ eviction.
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New domestic violence provisions start today

Domestic Violence Amendments to Residential Tenancies Act
Changes to domestic violence provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 have now come into effect. The changes, passed by NSW Parliament in November last year, improve the protections for tenants experiencing domestic violence.
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Millers Point: through the looking glass

Jane Bennett Lower Fort Street
Robert Mowbray reflects on the forced relocation of public housing tenants from Millers Point. He collects a selection of posts that report and discuss on the events and issues.
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Public Housing Transfers

Public housing transfers
In October 2018, FACS Housing commenced their program of ‘whole of location’ transfers to Community Housing Providers with a group of just under one thousand tenancies in the Shoalhaven District transferred to Southern Cross Housing. These are the first of about 14,000 tenancies marked for whole-of-location management transfer over the coming year.
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Is it over?

Ken and Margaret
On 9 January 2019 the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) handed down the decision regarding electricity usage charges in Reckless v Silva Portfolios Pty Ltd t/as Ballina Waterfront Village and Tourist Park (No. 2) [2018] NSWCATCD 59. In this issue of Outasite Lite we look at the history of the ‘Reckless’ dispute, the latest decision (‘Reckless No. 2’) and the expert witness report that was provided in evidence by the operator.
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NSW Fair Trading information sessions and webinars

Sign reading 'Informaiton'
Throughout the year NSW Fair Trading holds information sessions of various sorts. Coming up soon are webinars about domestic violence law changes and live information sessions in the Northern Rivers about Residential Land Lease Communities.
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Do politicans vote with their property interests?

Politicians
With recent news about Government ministers opposing no grounds reform, we thought it timely to look at whether politicians' votes are affected by their property interests.
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Media Release: Government should commit to action to end unfair 'no grounds' evictions

Nine news CGI of a manila folder and paper reading "outlaw no-fault evictions. opposed"
Revelations that key cabinet ministers who are also landlords failed to excuse themselves from debate on ending unfair 'no grounds' evictions despite having clear conflicts of interest were aired on the 8th of January. The Tenants' Union of NSW calls on the Government to now join with the other parties in committing to end unfair evictions following the state election in March.
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Big numbers and good intentions: Labor's Affordable Housing Plan

ALP announcement
The Federal ALP conference is happening in Adelaide at the moment, and one of the big early announcements was a plan to build a lot of 'affordable' housing. This can probably be treated as the first big housing announcement of the coming election campaign. It has been met with near-rapturous support from community housing providers and their supporters, like the Everybody's Home campaign. Others, like ACOSS have been more circumspect. And some on twitter have raised some concerns. Let's dig in to what the policy is, and what we might expect to deliver.
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Factchecking the fourth estate

When you see a claim about housing in Australian media
Media reporting of housing issues is a mixed bag. It certainly has gotten much better over time, and journalists and readers are becoming more educated. Over the last week there have been three instances we thought it was worth picking up on. It was incredibly disappointing that in the same week that Choice, National Shelter and National Association of Tenants Organisations launched 'Disrupted' with excellent coverage across the nation, both of Sydney's main papers had a crack at our public housing tenants. And then the ABC dropped a clanger on Sunday.
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