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
Why Jeff Speck is a “Zoning Abolitionist”
Christine McLaren Planetizen (No paywall)What are you thinking about these days in terms of walkability? What's top of mind for you? Jeff: I came into walkability as a framework not because I'm in love with walking. But rather, it became clear to me that walkability was the best measure of successful planning and more importantly, perhaps the best way to communicate good planning. Being more walkable is the equivalent of being more successful, more social, healthier, more economically resilient, more equitable — all the things that we understand come with getting people out of the car.
https://www.planetizen.com/features/135618-why-jeff-speck-zoning…
# Hot topic International, .Buyers of B.C. rental property not on the hook for $65K payment to evicted tenants: judge
Lisa Steacy CTV News (No paywall)A B.C. landlord who sold a rental property failed to convince a judge the buyers – who never moved into the home – should be on the hook for compensating wrongfully evicted tenants, according to a recent decision. Justice Anita Chan ruled on the dispute Friday, upholding a decision of B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Branch awarding $65,000 in compensation to the former renters. In 2022, Mohan Sull, the landlord, was renting the North Vancouver home to Thomas and Rozette Trevitt for $5,650 a month, the court heard.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/buyers-of-bc-rental-pro…
# International, Eviction.Toronto tenants win fight over rental increase they argue was for redevelopment costs
Farrah Merali CBC (No paywall)Some tenants living in three Toronto rental buildings are claiming victory after the province's Landlord and Tenant Board ruled that environmental work done on the site in 2021 didn't meet the criteria for a full above-guideline rental increase, or AGI. The landlord had applied for the increase citing paving, roof and boiler replacement and something called "site remediation." The board's decision, issued in early July, found that the first two claims were valid, but that the last one did not qualify as a capital expenditure. That remediation work had accounted for nearly half the claimed expenses. "I was ecstatic," said Amy Nyp, of the decision. Nyp has lived in one of the buildings on Greentree Court in northwest Toronto since 2015. "The site remediation is where we were like, 'This doesn't make sense.'"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-tenants-win-fight…
# International, .Actual Abundance w/ Isabella Weber, Malcolm Harris, Paul Williams
Isabella Weber, Malcolm Harris, and Paul Williams The Dig (No paywall)A debate and discussion of: the book; the discourse; the underlying economic and political questions of how we make the affordable housing, green energy, and fast trains we need; and how actual capitalist social relations appear to us in mystified form as “supply” and “demand.”
https://thedigradio.com/podcast/actual-abundance-w-isabella-webe…
# Audio International, .I’m 91 and have cancer but a London council let me live in a soaking, mouldy flat for a year
Anna Tims The Guardian (No paywall)I am a 91-year-old leaseholder in a block of flats owned by Wandsworth council. I’m living with saturated walls, dripping water and falling plaster because the council has failed to address a leak that began elsewhere in the block a year ago. When I first reported it, contractors made a large opening in my kitchen wall to inspect a service duct that contains plumbing for 10 flats. The hole has never been made good and is now crawling with insects.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jul/21/london-council-mou…
# Hot topic International, .RealPage goes from setting rent to collecting it
Emma Roth The Verge (No paywall)RealPage, the algorithmic rent-setting software company, has announced plans to acquire Livble, a service that lets people pay their monthly rent in installments. Livble describes itself as a “flexible” rent payment solution. Renters can split payments into up to four installments throughout the month. The service bills itself as helping tenants “avoid late fees and credit card fees” as well as “build credit through rent,” but it charges $30 to $40 per loan. RealPage didn’t disclose the terms of the deal.
https://www.theverge.com/news/710036/realpage-livble-acquisition…
# International, Rent.Fears as rent rises and 'not a shoebox' to live in
Federica Bedendo and Hannah Mitchell BBC (No paywall)A tenant living in a tourist hotspot said he was left in shock when his landlord told him his rent would rise by 40%. Tim Greaves lives in a one bedroom flat on Compston Road in Ambleside, Cumbria, and this week he received an email from lettings agent Matthews Benjamin notifying him of a £225 monthly rise. He claimed others living in the flat-block had also been hit with rises and were concerned about their options, saying: "There's nowhere to move, not a shoebox - nothing." Matthews Benjamin said it had invited tenants to contact them with any concerns and that it would discuss its findings with the landlords before any further steps were taken.
# International, Rent.Rental fraud: the Facebook and Gumtree scam targeting desperate tenants
Zahra Onsori The Guardian (No paywall)You’re desperately hunting for somewhere to live and scouring rental sites. The odds are stacked against you. Rents are high everywhere – in London tenants are paying almost £1,000 for a shoe cupboard with a bed – and living rooms have gone from a regular commodity to a luxury. But matters are made worse by scammers. Young people now account for three-quarters of rental fraud, according to data from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). Last year alone almost £9m was lost across about 5,000 reported cases.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jul/20/rental-fraud-faceb…
# Hot topic International, Starting a tenancy.