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
I thought I'd got my dream flat - so did 23 others
Nicky Ford BBC (No paywall)Last summer, 20-year-old Mide Awosika thought she had secured her dream flat ahead of starting a new term at Queen Mary University in London. She and two flatmates together paid a £12,000 deposit to rent a four-bedroom property in Poplar, east London. But when they arrived on moving day, there were no keys – and they found nine other people also trying to move into the same flat. The property had been advertised on major rental websites Zoopla and OpenRent. After a viewing in July, Awosika said the letting agent, who identified himself as Derrick Fringe, told them there was stiff competition and they needed to pay immediately to secure it. She said they handed over three months' rent upfront, plus holding and security deposits.
# Hot topic International, Starting a tenancy.'I thought I'd got my dream flat' - so did 23 others
BBC (No paywall)Last summer, 20-year-old Mide Awosika thought she had secured her dream flat ahead of starting a new term at Queen Mary University in London.
# Video International, .Mould, overcrowding and housing delays affecting families in Wilcannia
Briana Fiore and Bill Ormonde ABC (No paywall)Five mattresses cover much of the living room floor of an outback home where Leetisha Jones is raising her young family.
Ms Jones lives in the outback town of Wilcannia, about 1,000 kilometres north-west of Sydney, and rents a home through the Mid Lachlan Aboriginal Housing Management Cooperative [MLAHMC]. She said mould had made one of the bedrooms unusable and, as a result, five family members had been sleeping on mattresses in the living room. In addition to concerns about mould, Ms Jones said she also feared for her family's safety because the front door had not closed properly for months.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-10/overcrowding-issues-publi…
# Must read NSW, Aboriginal renters.How To Solve The Housing Crisis? Waterloo Public Housing Demolition Looms
Will Thorpe City Hub (No paywall)The imminent demolition of the Waterloo South public housing estate for a $4 billion private development has sparked fierce argument over how the housing affordability crisis should be dealt with. Situated on Crown land, the current buildings contain 750 mostly-vacated units, to be replaced by 3,300 flats in a complex operated by residential developer Stockland. The development will feature a mix of housing types; competing figures have been thrown around on the proportions. Upon completion, approximately 1,050 homes or more than 30 per cent of the total are to be social housing, a broader category than affordable housing that includes dwellings owned by community organisations.
https://cityhub.com.au/how-to-solve-the-housing-crisis-waterloo-…
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing.Real estate agents caught charging NSW renters illegal fees
CHOICE (No paywall)The NSW Government has ordered landlords, agencies and renting platforms to refund almost $180,000 of illegal fees charged to renters.
The state’s Rental Taskforce has found more than 3000 renters were charged dishonour fees (when an automatic payment is declined) or made to pay for background checks, both of which are illegal in the state. According to NSW Fair Trading, which administers the Taskforce, this is the first finalised investigation into illegal fees charged to renters. The Taskforce found that a single real estate agency, which it has not named, issued 2071 illegal dishonour fees to 795 tenants between July 2020 and April 2025.
https://www.choice.com.au/money/property/renting/articles/real-e…
# NSW, Starting a tenancy.‘Deplorable’: Former NSW property manager sentenced after stealing more than $180,000 from renters and landlords
Andrew Hedgman news.com.au (No paywall)A former NSW property manager has been sentenced after admitting to stealing more than $180,000 from renters, landlords and a real estate agency over more than two years. Sarah-Jane Watts, who worked at Ewing Real Estate in Gunnedah, was sentenced in Gunnedah Local Court after pleading guilty to two offences under the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). Investigators found Watts fraudulently obtained more than $151,800 from the agency’s rental trust account, along with about $35,400 in rental bonds.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/deplorable-former-nsw-p…
# Hot topic NSW, Bond.Short-stay accommodation in Sydney City Council firing line as critics lay blame for rental shortage
Freddy Pawle 7 News (No paywall)Having soared to worldwide success alongside Uber during the explosion of the “sharing economy”, short-stay rental accommodation (STRA) websites such as AirBnB and Stayz could soon be banned by some councils. The City of Sydney is one council currently weighing up the drastic measure as locals claim STRAs are having a severe impact on the rental market by shortening supply. The City of Sydney has the second-highest number of STRAs among LGAs in NSW, according to data provided to 7NEWS.com.au by the NSW Planning Department.
https://7news.com.au/news/short-stay-accommodation-in-sydney-cit…
# NSW, .Vacant properties across Sydney used as 'meanwhile use' transitional housing for women in need
Tamsyn Buckle ABC (No paywall)Five years ago, Julie's life was in what she describes as "disarray". Her son had recently died, a serious injury had left her unable to work and her partner of 10 years had gone back to the UK. "We were in the middle of a pandemic and I ended up with no income and I didn't know what I was going to do," she said. But then, Julie, whose last name has been withheld for privacy reasons, moved into a heritage-listed 18-bedroom house in Sydney's lower north shore with views of the harbour.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-02/meanwhile-use-housing-for…
# Hot topic NSW, .