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
Tenants kept awake by cockroaches ‘scuttling across ceiling’ awarded $12,000
Tracy Neal NZ Herald (No paywall)Tenants lived with a cockroach infestation so bad they were kept awake at night by the bugs “scuttling across the ceiling”. The insects also destroyed the original and then the replacement dishwasher in the $1300 weekly rental where the six tenants were blamed for the bug outbreak. They were also threatened with eviction if they did not pay more than $700 to replace a toilet they were blamed for breaking, and were left without a stove top for months before being asked to buy a replacement for $250. Their rent increased to $1400 per week on January 1 this year, and they moved out the following month.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tenants-kept-awake-by-cockroaches-…
# Must read International, Repairs, You want to leave.Marlborough’s rental market ‘still quite tight’
Freddie Wilkie Stuff (No paywall)Marlborough’s rental market is still a “difficult market for tenants” with people “desperately looking for houses”, real estate agents say. Renters needing a place to stay were having a tough time, with low stock availability and difficulties getting long-term rentals. Harcourts Blenheim business manager Jack Feavers said there was a disconnect between supply and demand. “It's a difficult one, because we get people that are so prepared, and reach out months in advance, but often we only find out something is available four to five weeks before it is ready to rent.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350379738/marlboroughs-rental-ma…
# Hot topic International, Rent.San Francisco landlord sued by city, accused of renting out unsafe, unpermitted units
CBS News (No paywall)A San Francisco property owner is being accused of operating as a slumlord in a lawsuit filed by the city alleging unsanitary and unpermitted residences at a property in the Bayview District. Rafael Garcia Sanchez is accused of neglecting to correct a litany of violations dating back to when he acquired the property at 1465 Oakdale Ave. in 2015, including infestations of rodents and cockroaches, unsafe conditions, unpermitted residences and other violations.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/sf-landlord-sued-by-ci…
# Hot topic International, .Inflation cooled in July but housing prices and rent costs remain high
CBS News (No paywall)New data shows inflation continuing to cool in July, but sticking right below 3% as housing costs and rental prices continue to affect monthly budgets. CBS News senior business and technology correspondent Jo Ling Kent reports.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/inflation-cooled-in-july-but-high-…
# Video International, Rent.Australians are in chronic housing stress. Can Clare O’Neil fix it?
Intifar Chowdhury The Guardian (No paywall)Following Anthony Albanese’s recent cabinet shake-up, the new housing and homelessness minister, Clare O’Neil, was quick to express empathy for troubled renters, touting Labor’s $32bn housing investment and describing the ambitious target of constructing 1.2m homes as “genuinely radical”. But does O’Neil bring anything new to the table? Not necessarily – at least not on the policy front. Housing has become a major focal point for the next federal election. But the government has been described as “fairly flat-footed” in communicating its efforts to voters so far. The perception is that the incumbent is not faring well in this space.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/17/au…
# Must read, Legal significance Australia, Rent.Free legal service Regional Alliance West flooded by new clients hit by cost of living crisis
Brianna Melville ABC (No paywall)More than 150 people across Western Australia's Midwest region have been turned away from free legal help, as unprecedented numbers of people seek assistance. Not-for-profit organisation Regional Alliance West (RAW) has accepted 458 cases of people and families in need in the six months to July this year, but has been forced to turn away 146 others. Operations manager Chris Gabelish said many of the cases turned away were families, so the actual number of people going without help was higher. RAW is based in Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-19/regional-alliance-west-le…
# Must read Australia, .Residents of tiny NT community of Santa Teresa living in uninhabitable homes could wait years for compensation, court hears
Roxanne Fitzgerald ABC (No paywall)Despite a landmark legal win, residents of the tiny remote community of Santa Teresa who have had to live in uninhabitable homes without electricity, hot water or functioning toilets may have to wait years before they're awarded compensation, a court has heard. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died. The Eastern Arrernte community of Ltyentye Apurte, also known as Santa Teresa, in Central Australia has been fighting their landlord – the Northern Territory government — for safe and legal housing since 2015.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-15/nt-court-of-appeal-remote…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing.Landlord superprofits: Rent spikes to $131k a year
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)Short term landlords are raking in super profits in 13 key local councils, with median rent hitting a shock high of $131k – more than the majority of Aussie wages. New independent research by Australian-based Grounded Community Land Trust Advocacy found that was the short term rental gross median rent in the Whitsundays – with net rent coming to $85,475 – the highest of 13 key tourism suburbs it analysed. It found short term landlords were earning super profits across Noosa Heads, Hepburn Shire, Mornington Peninsula, Byron Bay, Fremantle, Victor Harbor, Hobart, Coolum Beach, Port Douglas, the Whitsundays, Warburton, and Apollo Bay, charging 80.9 per cent more than long term rentals there.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/airbnb-superprofits-rent-spik…
# Must read Australia, Rent.