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
The seller’s dilemma: Sydney homeowners caught out by market moving too fast to buy in
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Rapidly rising property prices and fierce competition for houses is making it harder to buy and sell in the same market, leaving Sydney homeowners with a difficult choice. Do they sell first, and run the risk of not finding another home before settlement, or of further price rises? Or buy first, and hope they can sell their existing property quickly and for a good price?
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sellers-dilemma-sydney-homeow…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market.NT Government unveils building legislation reforms after Darwin apartment block debacle
Jano Gibson ABC (No paywall)The Northern Territory government has unveiled plans to avoid a repeat of a debacle that saw more than 200 unit owners notified that their buildings had potentially significant structural defects in need of urgent and expensive rectification.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-04/nt-government-unveils-bui…
# Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Housing and housing assistance pathways with pets
Wendy Stone and others AHURI (No paywall)This free webinar will present findings from a forthcoming AHURI research project — Housing and housing assistance pathways with companion animals: risks, costs, benefits and opportunities — led by Prof Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology. This study investigates the policy and regulatory settings that shape housing options available to households that own pets. It considers housing and housing assistance contexts nationally across tenures, sectors (e.g. ownership, private rental housing), emergency/crisis accommodation and for diverse population groups receiving income and housing assistance support.
https://www.bigmarker.com/ahuri/Housing-and-housing-assistance-p…
# Hot topic, Video Australia, Rent, Strata, Home ownership, Housing market.Pets in Strata – the fallout from the Cooper Case and the resulting legislative amendment
Sharon Levy and Emma Boyce (No paywall)On 12 October 2020, the New South Wales Court of Appeal unanimously decided that an owners corporation could not enforce a by-law which imposed a blanket ban on animals.
The ruling means that Angus, the now famous miniature schnauzer, can stay in The Horizon building, but also that blanket bans on animals are no longer permitted in any building anywhere in NSW. (Bartier Perry Lawyers)
https://www.bartier.com.au/insights/articles/pets-in-strata-the-…
# Legal significance NSW, .4 key takeaways from the aged care royal commission’s final report
Stephen Duckett and Anika Stobart The Conversation (No paywall)The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s final report into aged care has laid out an extensive plan to overhaul Australia’s aged-care system. Among the 148 recommendations, the report calls for a new system underpinned by a rights-based Act, funding based on need, and much stronger regulation and transparency.
https://theconversation.com/4-key-takeaways-from-the-aged-care-r…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.NSW tenants in arrears to be protected after moratorium ends
Sue Williams Domain (Paywall)Tenants living in fear of being kicked out of their homes after having their incomes slashed by COVID-19 job losses can breathe again after the NSW government signalled it will protect them beyond March 27. The moratorium on evictions is due to end this month but now there’ll be a six-month transition scheme put into the legislation to make sure no one automatically loses their home before the end of September through rent arrears.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/nsw-eviction-laws-1031870/?utm_ca…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, State Government.Byron Bay's rental crisis enters 'uncharted territory' as professionals, volunteers struggle to secure lease
Leah White ABC (No paywall)After years of supporting others to find secure accommodation, Cherie Bromley never imagined she would find herself on the receiving end of the housing crisis on the far north coast of New South Wales. "I didn't even approach the real estates because I just knew there was nothing out there," she said. For the past decade, Ms Bromley has been working for the Byron Community Centre, which provides a number of services, including support for the town's homeless population.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-01/rental-housing-crisis-in-…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market.US President Joe Biden scores win as House passes $US1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan
ABC (No paywall)US President Joe Biden has scored his first legislative win as the House of Representatives passed his $US1.9 trillion ($2.44 trillion) coronavirus relief package early ... The bill's big ticket items include $1,800 direct payments to individuals, a $520-per-week federal unemployment benefit through August 29, and help for those in difficulty paying rents and home mortgages during the pandemic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-27/us-president-joe-biden-1-…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.