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
Independent inquiry launched as Australia grapples with worst housing crisis on record
SBS (No paywall)AUDIO: Couch surfing for months at a time, moving back in with the parents and stuck in share housing well into your mid forties. These are just some of the scenarios thousands are facing as Australia grapples with its worst housing crisis on record. Everybody's Home - a national campaign seeking to fix the crisis - is launching a new independent inquiry, called the People's Commission into the Housing Crisis, which is set to hear from community members - including renters, people with crippling mortgages and homelessness services.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/independent-inquiry-…
# Hot topic, Legal significance, Audio Australia, .What can a landlord get away with? In the court of public opinion, it’s changing
Tawar Razaghi Brisbane Times (No paywall)Single mum Gemma Toogood paid $875 a week in rent for a mould-riddled, rat-infested cottage that had no insulation and was missing internal doors. The 40-year-old had little recourse that would see real and timely change to her living conditions. Her landlord has so far been more or less allowed to get away with it as the current laws stand and in the current market where Sydney rents just hit another record high of $700 a week for the typical unit and $750 for the typical house.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/property/news/what-can-a-landlo…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, .‘Scope for exploitation’: investors eye rooming house conversions amid Melbourne rental crisis
Stephanie Convery and Nino Bucci The Guardian (No paywall)Late last year, outside a house in Melbourne’s inner-west, an auctioneer tried to drum up some interest. The suburb is sought-after by families looking for a home within easy access of the CBD, but the agent had other investors in mind. The house, a run-down three-bedroom property with a price range of between $1.25m and $1.35m, represented a wonderful investment, he said, for someone wanting to set up a rooming house. “I hear you can get $200 a week for a room,” he told the small crowd gathered outside. “This has three bedrooms. You do the maths.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/08/scope-for…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Share houses.Daniel's landlord had CCTV cameras installed in his house. A legal grey area allowed it
Nabila Clarke SBS (No paywall)When Nathan Thomas and Daniel Delaney moved into a Brisbane share house in 2022, they never expected that their every move could be watched. Along with six other housemates, they each rented rooms in the house. "We were there for six months and then they sent us an email mentioning that the kitchen was going to be renovated," Nathan told Insight. The property manager notified all eight tenants that an electrician would be coming by as part of the renovations. But when the roommates returned home that day, eight CCTV cameras had been installed around the common areas. Two outside, and six inside.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/article/daniels-landlord-had…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Security and safety.Housing in Australia is a bin fire – and desperate people will buy anything
Peter Lewis The Guardian (No paywall)Housing in Australia is a bin fire stoked by shysters pumping up their assets for short-term advantage to the detriment of those they claim to serve. And that’s just the policy auction. Political shiny suits carry on like BMW-driving real estate agents who know it’s a seller’s market, pumping up expectations on all sides in pursuit of the sale. Liberal braggarts nudge us to dig into our retirement savings to make deposit; Greens roll out shiny new display units and implore us to buy off the plan; while Labor tries to convince us the structure is fundamentally sound and just needs a fresh lick of paint.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2024/ap…
# Hot topic Australia, .Sydney landlord’s greedy move to raise rent by $280 a week
Sarah Sharples news.com.au (No paywall)The cold, template letter from our property managers declaring that the rent was rising by $250 a week made me burst into tears. My husband had picked up the innocent looking envelope from our mailbox on a Saturday morning but little did we know the horror it contained. In the middle of a rental crisis, we were going to have to either move from our Sydney apartment we had lived in for two years or cough up more than $1000 a month to stay. A place we had made our home and where we had always paid our rent on time, kept the place in excellent condition and rarely raised issues – but none of that mattered. The previous year we had agreed to a $20 a week increase, which we thought was fair.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/sydney-landl…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Sydney’s dire rental crisis uncovered
7 News (No paywall)VIDEO: New figures have highlighted our state's dire rental crisis. Almost half a million families have now been forced onto rental assistance, with those in Sydney's southwest suffering the most.
# TUNSW in the media, Research alert NSW, .Bondi listing: $1,250 a week for flat with construction noise and works spilling into living area
Tamsin Rose The Guardian (No paywall)Renters are being asked to shell out $1,250 a week to live in a three-bedroom Bondi apartment where scaffolding and boards block almost every window – and there’s construction noise from 7am weekdays and 8am Saturdays. When Oliver came across the Bondi listing at the weekend – six months into his “gutting” search for a rental for his young family – he was shocked. “Initially, when you see a property come up, you’re excited,” he said. “There’s actually a property that’s a bit above our budget and maybe, just maybe, there’s an opportunity there but then … it’s a construction site.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/03/bondi-lis…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Starting a tenancy.