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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Why are Sydney homes so mouldy? One expert unpacks the fungal facts
Huw Bradshaw North Shore Lorikeet (No paywall)According to architectural scientist Dr Tim Law, Australia has created “an entire generation of building stock” without the capacity to manage mould and condensation. And, as Law pointed out to the Lorikeet, it needn’t have been this way, given North America and Europe began addressing the problem in the 1970s. In 2005, changes to the National Construction Code meant new builds had to be more energy efficient, holding heat in winter and becoming insulated from it in summer. Law suggested Australia’s mould problem began to intensify at this time, as the changes didn’t factor in a rise in condensation - one of the key triggers for mould - and how that could be managed.
https://www.northshorelorikeet.com.au/p/why-are-sydney-homes-so-…
# NSW, Rent.Sydney charity tackling the female homelessness crisis
Kaylee Cranley news.com.au (No paywall)A transitional housing project in Sydney’s Hills district is expanding as part of efforts to solve the growing homelessness crisis. Transitional Community Housing Ltd, formerly The Kenthurst Project, was established to source rental accommodation suitable as transitional housing for women. The movement began in Kenthurst in 2016 by local volunteers Dennis van Someren and Jim Visione, the same year ABS data revealed women aged 55 and over were the fastest-growing cohort of homeless Australians. “Myself and Jim Visione – we were both alarmed at the plight of women and children sleeping in the back of their cars in the Hills district and of course beyond,” Mr van Someren said.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/sydney-charity-tackl…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.VIDEO: Sections of Parramatta Road to get rezoned for housing
ABC (No paywall)The NSW government will rezone parts of Sydney’s busy Parramatta Road for housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-13/sections-of-parramatta-ro…
# Video NSW, .Director fined $54k over illegal boarding house for migrant workers
Jack Horsnell 1 News (No paywall)An Auckland property director, who ran an illegal boarding house for migrant workers, has been fined $54,000. Paul Knights, who was acting as director of 4 Corners Investment Ltd, had earlier pleaded guilty to the offending. The court said he "knowingly flouted requirements for financial gain". The fine was part of a wider prosecution over the converted warehouse – owned by Knights – on Maich Road in Manurewa, which predominantly housed workers from the Philippines.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/04/director-fined-54k-over-illeg…
# International, .Egypt scraps decades-old rent caps, fuelling eviction fears
Mariam Rizk and Mohamed Ezz Reuters (No paywall)CAIRO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The rent on Khaddara Ibrahim Ali's cramped apartment in downtown Cairo was just about the only expense she could count on staying stable as waves of soaring inflation and subsidy cuts ate away at her modest income. Thanks to a decades-old rent cap, Ali, 84, pays just under 11 Egyptian pounds ($0.23) per month for the eighth-story home where she has lived for half a century, overlooking a patchwork of ageing buildings and narrow streets in the Azbakeya district.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypt-scraps-decades-old-re…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent.Egypt scraps decades-old rent caps, fuelling eviction fears
Reuters (No paywall)After Egypt approved the biggest rent overhaul in decades, affecting millions of households, some tenants fear eviction in the face of new prices.
# Video International, Eviction.‘No pets, no guests, no music’ – and now ‘no WFH’: why house-share ads are getting ever stricter
Kimi Chaddah The Guardian (No paywall)Last week, I came across a flurry of ads on the house-share site SpareRoom sounding less like they were for cosy, inviting living arrangements than for boarding schools. “Please note – no surprise guests, no music and no use of the living room because it doubles as a bedroom,” wrote one “current flatmate”. Reading it, I wondered if there would be a curfew too.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/06/house-shar…
# Hot topic International, Rent.What happened to Ireland’s plan to make sure renters’ deposits were protected?
The Journal (No paywall)BACK IN 2015, the then-government introduced a law requiring landlords to store deposits with the Residential Tenancies Board – but the measure was never implemented. As part of the 2015 Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act, the scheme aimed to safeguard renters’ deposits and resolve disputes. Similar schemes have worked successfully in other countries, and the Irish law looked set to follow suit. Since then, however, disputes over deposits have become more common, not less. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) logged over 1,800 deposit-related requests in 2024 — a 65% increase on the 2021 figure.
https://www.thejournal.ie/renter-deposit-scheme-where-is-it-6808…
# International, Rent.