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
'High rents could push us out of town'
Louise Graham and Elliot Deady BBC (No paywall)Tenants in the least affordable place to rent in Essex said rising costs were making them consider moving as far away as the Isle of Wight. Epping Forest was the only area in Essex where private rents exceeded more than a third of tenants' gross monthly income in the past financial year, the Office for National Statistics said. Kordian Lück, a shop manager from Epping, told BBC News he spent half of his salary on rent for his one-bedroom flat. "I feel like every year [rent] is getting more and more, and that's on top of the bills," he said.
# Hot topic International, Rent.Allotment rent increases lowered after backlash
Alex Seabrook BBC (No paywall)A city's allotment rents will increase next year but by less than was previously planned. Bristol City Council wanted to more than double the charge for a plot, to help pay for a growing backlog of repairs. But tenants opposed the plans, claiming there was "no logic to the increases". Charges will now go up from £50 to either £66 without water or £76 with water. Chair of the public health committee Stephen Williams said: "We’ve tried to make the process as open as possible and to listen to all the viewpoints."
# International, Rent, Repairs.Breaking down California's Proposition 33, which could expand rent control
CBS News (No paywall)California voters are weighing whether to approve Proposition 33, which would greatly expand the control local government has over residential rents, allowing cities to cap prices for tenants.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/video/breaking-down-californi…
# Video International, Rent.Britain’s broken housing system means living inside a sick joke
Eloise Hendy The Independent (No paywall)A fortnight ago, my partner and I asked to renew our tenancy. In reply, the property manager prompted us to “confirm” how much more rent we could “comfortably afford” – because, of course, tenants must be responsible for fluctuations in the housing market, and costs must be passed on to them. We said that there was no increase we could “comfortably afford”, and now we’re waiting – to see if we can stay, or if we’ll be priced out. Anyone whose home life touches the sharp edges of the housing crisis is probably intimately familiar with this kind of waiting, because the experience of dealing with both precarious labour and insecure housing is so unsteady. Unable to plan for the future, you become trapped in the present. You feel a bit like a duck moving its legs underwater, staying still but only through constant effort.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/britain-housing-rent-la…
# Must read International, Rent.The worrying trend of landlords banning tenants from working from home
Emma Guinness The Independent (Soft Paywall)Landlords have come under fire for banning prospective tenants from working from home, resulting in calls for new legislation to protect renters. In what appears to be a new trend, adverts for shared homes have been appearing, specifying that the potential new occupant must not work from home.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/landlord-housing…
# Hot topic, Video International, Rent.No-grounds eviction banned in NSW and rent increases capped at once a year
Tamsin Rose and Catie McLeod The Guardian (No paywall)No-grounds evictions have been outlawed in New South Wales with the passing of new laws designed to rebalance power between the state’s 2.2 million renters and their landlords. While the changes, promised before the 2023 election, did not go as far as some had hoped, advocates described the reforms as some of the biggest in the state’s history. They make it harder for renters to be evicted, easier to rent with a pet and cap rent increases to once yearly. The premier, Chris Minns, said renters had been “the forgotten people in NSW for too long and that ends now”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/25/nsw-renta…
# Must read, New policy announcement NSW, Rent.Tenants’ group reacts to rental reforms: “The fight isn’t over”
Orana Durney-Benson Domain (No paywall)The group representing New South Wales tenants has praised the government’s ban on no-grounds evictions, but warn there is more to do. The Tenants’ Union of NSW have raised loopholes that still exist and could lead to discrimination and exploitation. “Millions of renters have felt the impact of no grounds evictions in their lives – whether it was hesitating to ask for repairs or negotiate a rent increase, or having to find a new home without justification,” CEO Leo Patterson Ross says. He praised the ban on no grounds evictions as “the single most significant change we can make to residential tenancies law”.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/tenants-group-reacts-to-rental-re…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, New policy announcement NSW, .Sweeping rental reforms for NSW tenants and landlords
7 News (No paywall)Sweeping rental reforms in NSW include the banning of no grounds evictions and rent increases capped to one per year. A suite of rental reforms have passed NSW Parliament, which are promised to give 'peace of mind' to the 2.2 million tenants across the state.
# Video NSW, Eviction, Rent.