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Welcome to our blog. Tenants' Union staff and occasional guests offer commentary and analysis of our renting system. We hope to inform, educate and debate the legal, political and cultural aspects of this renting life. For an official quote for media use, or questions regarding our research, policy or publications please contact us. For more articles see news, reports and the Brown Couch archive. For factsheets see tenancy info.

 

Zuzia Buszewicz |

Renoviction but no renovation?

What if you got 'renovicted' and then there was no renovation? That's just what happened to Natalie...
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Zuzia Buszewicz |

Tuesday Nights’ Chats - a month of watching, listening and discussing all things renting and more!

Renters’ rights advocates, renters and the Tenants’ Union staff have kept busy over four weeks with a line-up of events taking place across Sydney over consecutive Tuesday nights, and that’s not…
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Eloise Parrab |

Homes NSW: From “Worst Landlord to Best”?

Homes for NSW Strategy for the next 10 years has been released and we take a close look at what the priorities and actions outlined in the Strategy could mean for social housing tenants.
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Nicole Grgas |

Share Housing: A Case for Certainty and Stronger Protections

Recent reforms to NSW renting laws — including the end of “no grounds” evictions and better rights for tenants with pets — have been widely welcomed, but for the growing number of people who…
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Jack Moon |

The Changing Face of Renting: Trends from the End of Tenancy Survey

Analysing trends from the latest end-of-tenancy survey data.
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Zuzia Buszewicz |

What to expect when attending the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Although the official NCAT website states that “[m]ost people represent themselves at NCAT. You can conduct your own case without a lawyer or other representative”, the Law and Justice…
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Eloise Parrab |

Renovictions – what can we learn from the Canadian experience? 

Amidst growing concern about "renovictions" we can look to jurisdictions in Canada to understand and protect against this unfair practice.
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Leo Patterson Ross |

Rental scams are making renting even harder. What should NSW do?

Recently we published a new resource to help renters avoid rental scams. In this blog post, we explore what the state government needs to do to prevent scams happening in the first place.
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Eloise Parrab |

Renting and solar power in NSW

Over the last decade we have seen a dramatic uptake in solar panels on Australian homes, but a large portion of the population has been excluded from the benefits: renters. These benefits…
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Leo Patterson Ross |

What did we learn about Rent Bidding?

NSW Fair Trading have released their report Bidding in the NSW Rental Market - Analysis and Regulatory Insights where they investigated rental market bidding behaviour in the past 10 years. Our…
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The Conversation |

‘It’s disgusting that they can get away with this’: here’s how eviction can affect tenants’ lives

For people relying on rental properties to keep a roof over their heads, there are few things more scary than the possibility of being evicted from their home. This research examines the…
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Leo Patterson Ross |

A closer look at Rent Assistance increases

The Federal Budget's most notable announcement for renters was an increase in rent assistance, but a closer look reveals it may not be as generous as it seems. Starting in September, the…
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