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
Growing number of Australian renters too scared to call out landlords, report finds
ABC (No paywall)A new survey from the National Association of Renters Organisations has found a growing number of renters are too scared to call out their landlords when something's wrong, fearing they risk rent hikes or even eviction.
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Research alert, Video Australia, Rent, Repairs.Seven in 10 renters worried about asking for repairs: report
Dr Chris Martin UNSW (No paywall)Almost seven in 10 people who rent privately are concerned requesting repairs could result in a rent increase, according to research by the ACOSS-UNSW Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, National Shelter and the National Association of Renter Organisations (NARO). The study, which surveyed 1019 people who rent in the private sector across Australia, also found a third of renters would find a 5% rent increase difficult to afford. The report, titled Rights at risk: Rising rents and repercussions, opens in a new window, found half of renters (50%) live in homes that need repairs and one in 10 homes needs urgent repairs.
https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2025/06/seven-in-ten-rente…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Rent, Repairs.7 In 10 Aussies Are Scared To Hit Up Landlord About Repairs For Fear Of Rent Increase
Rhea Nath Pedestrian (No paywall)With most of us already bracing for bad news every time an email from the real estate agency hits our inbox, a new survey has revealed just how much renters are scared to contact their landlords when something’s wrong with the property, for fear of copping another rent hike. According to a survey of more than a thousand renters across Australia, a considerable seven in 10 renters are hesitant to reach out regarding repairs. It found nearly half (50 per cent) of tenants live in homes that need repairs and a grim one in 10 need pretty urgent repairs.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/tenant-repairs-rent-increase/
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Repairs.Volunteers stretched thin as rough sleepers left hopeless amid 'undersupply' of Queensland homes
Lucy Loram ABC (No paywall)It's six o'clock on a Tuesday morning and Josie Street is loading her car, its bags overflowing with an assortment of biscuits wedged between eskies filled with sandwiches and cold water. Not an inch of space in her station wagon is wasted. "If I've got extra room I will put extra things like backpacks and mats that they sleep on, and I'll always have two or three tents with me," she explains.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-17/lack-of-housing-forcing-m…
# Must read Australia, .Australian winters shouldn't feel this unbelievably cold
Virginia Trioli ABC (No paywall)The coldest I've ever been was the four winters I lived in Sydney. And I come from Melbourne. We were renting a 1960s apartment that came with aircon but no heating. That's OK, we thought: we're now in Sydney! Who needs heating in the most temperate climate in the most beautiful city on earth? That first morning in June, when I woke to see my shocked shout of cold hanging in the air as a little ball of mist, I thought I was hallucinating that I was back in Melbourne. I went to turn on the… heater? Nothing there. Just a row of windows looking onto a lovely view that was seeping into our home in the form of an 11-degree overnight low.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-21/australia-winter-cold-ins…
# Hot topic Australia, .Victorian build-to-rent landlords dodge new minimum lease terms
Nathan Mawby realestate.com.au (No paywall)The Victorian government has quietly backed away from a plan to set minimum 12-month lease terms for thousands of Melbourne rentals. A proposed change to the Land Tax Act 2005 would have removed a deduction offered to build-to-rent operators from January 1 next year, unless they set the minimum lease term. Industry groups challenged the plan, citing research showing that between 10 and 30 per cent of tenants signing on for leases in the city’s tenants-only complexes had specifically sought shorter terms.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/victorian-buildtorent-landlor…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Uniting Church wanted secrecy around move to evict ex-homeless couple
Josh Robertson ABC (No paywall)The Uniting Church tried to keep secret the details of its move to evict a formerly homeless couple from a Brisbane property, arguing media coverage could thwart its development plans and ruin a local real estate agent. The church has obtained a warrant in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) to force its tenants to leave the Mitchelton property, where it plans to develop a new 92-lot subdivision "so that the current housing crisis can be further alleviated".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-24/uniting-church-wanted-sec…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent.Renters afraid to report defects
ABC (No paywall)A new report from the Australian Council of Social Service has found about 70 per cent of renters are frightened to ask their landlords for repairs in case the request prompts a rent hike. Pests, mould and leaking roofs are just some of the problems people renting homes can face.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/pm/renters-afraid-to-repo…
# TUNSW in the media, Research alert, Audio Australia, Repairs.