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Looking to rent a home? 6 things that will help or hinder you

Tue, 08/10/2019 - 14:57
Two women talking. One is a real estate agent, the other is a prospective tenant.
Two-thirds of tenants in Australia rent through a real estate agent. A national shortage of private rental housing forces these tenants to impress the real estate agent to secure a property. The ability to make a good impression on the agent, however, is largely based on a variety of factors that place some tenants at a disadvantage.
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NEWTAAS 2019 Annual Report

Mon, 07/10/2019 - 11:01
NEWTAAS team
It has once again been an incredibly busy year for the New England and Western Tenants' Advice and Advocacy Service. This year we have had a few changes in staff, as well as significant casework and law reform challenges to deal with. In this Annual Report you'll also find short case studies and learn about cases where we’ve felt that we’ve been able to assist a client who really needed us.
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Productivity Commission recognises need to end unfair No Grounds evictions

Wed, 25/09/2019 - 10:50
Productivity Commission graphic
The Productivity Commission today released a report on vulnerable renters in the private market, concluding that removing unfair no grounds evictions from our renting laws is needed to better protect low income and other vulnerable renters.
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Electricity win – a real circuit breaker

Mon, 02/09/2019 - 13:48
Parklea land lease community residents
A few weeks ago the Tenants' Union of NSW successfully represented 93 residents from Parklea residential land lease community in Tribunal applications regarding unfair electricity charges. Residents will now receive a refund totalling approximately $80,000 for incorrect charges in their embedded electricity network dating from November 2015. This important case will assist residents across NSW to challenge overcharging for their electricity.
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No Bang for your Bond!

Thu, 29/08/2019 - 09:28
Tenant Advocates at the Network Meeting
This is the initial response from Tenants' Union of NSW, resourcing body for 19 NSW-based Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Services, to the release of funding agreements from 2019-2022 for NSW Government funding for the Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program. We welcome the continued funding of tenancy services. Renters in NSW need and appreciate the services they receive from TAASs. However, we estimate 1 in 3 seeking assistance are missing out. It makes no sense that funding isn’t increased when we know there is interest available from renters' own money in the Rental Bond Board and Property Services account.
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Reflections of a Blue Mountains Tenant Advocate

Tue, 27/08/2019 - 10:31
Jo Hibbert
Jo Hibbert has been a Tenant Advocate at the Blue Mountains Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service for seven years. Now she’s retiring for a well-earned break, so we took the opportunity to ask her for some reflections about her time in the world of tenancy. She talks about some of her experiences at the Tribunal, and the way the workload for Advocates has increased, but the funding hasn't. She also tells the story of a tenant who she defended from eviction six times!
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17 years of advocacy in Regional NSW

Tue, 27/08/2019 - 09:16
Chris Maybin
Chris Maybin has been a Tenant Advocate with VERTO South West Tenants’ Advice Service for 17 years. Now she's moving on, but in this interview she gives some of her thoughts and reflections on her experiences. She talks about having to tell a family they were going to be homeless, and being "cursed" by a landlord! She also explains some of the particular challenges faced by tenants and Tenant Advocates in regional New South Wales.
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No homes on a dead planet

Thu, 22/08/2019 - 16:00
Desert for lease
The evidence has been in for some time that our climate is changing. As the Tenants' Union of NSW this concerns us because we know that renters live in housing that is the least suitable for a changing climate and with weak rights to make changes. We believe all people deserve safe, stable homes to live in and this aim only becomes harder to achieve the longer we wait to start. So what can we do?
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Assignment of site agreements

Wed, 07/08/2019 - 14:41
Outasite article
The assignment of site agreements has been an ongoing issue since the commencement of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 on 1 November 2015. The problem lies with a drafting error in section 45(3) and relates to whether an operator can unreasonably refuse a request for assignment of a site agreement.
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Who is the operator?

Wed, 07/08/2019 - 14:34
Outasite article
This may sound like a silly question but the answer is not always as obvious as you may think. The Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 defines an operator as being ‘the person who manages, controls or otherwise operates the community, including by granting rights of occupancy under site agreements or tenancy agreements whether or not the person is an owner of the community’. An owner is ‘the owner of the land on which the community is located’. Sometimes the owner and operator are one and the same and sometimes they are different.
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