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
Pod village residents to be charged rent
Aslan Stand Echo (No paywall)There is no doubt that finding affordable accommodation throughout the northern rivers is a challenge and the recent notice given to the 2022 flood impacted residents in the Wollongbar pod village caused significant distress. For the last two years, accommodation across the 11 villages throughout the Northern Rivers has been provided free of charge, however, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSW RA) announced yesterday that they would now start charging rent to those living in the pod villages.
https://www.echo.net.au/2024/09/pod-village-residents-to-be-char…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Rent.Tourist magnet Byron Bay launches 60-day limit on short-term holiday rentals
Richard Wood 9 News (No paywall)A major change to how visitors spend their time in the holiday hotspot of Byron Bay in New South Wales has come into effect today. Owners of short-term rental accommodation in large parts of the local government area will only be allowed to lease their properties for 60 days every year. There are exemptions in areas of Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads - identified by the council as holding high tourism appeal - which do not have a cap, allowing for year-round letting.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/byron-bay-starts-60-day-limit-…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Rent.New rules will make it easier for tenants to have pets in NSW
Sarah Swain 9 News (No paywall)New rules will make it easier for tenants to have pets in rentals, the NSW Government says. Landlords will no longer be able to refuse pets without any reason, but they will still be able to decline in certain specific situations, the NSW Government said. Around a third of the state's population rents, the government says, with the number of homes on offer at historic lows. But according to the government, one in five pets are surrendered to the RSPCA due to rental worries. Plus domestic violence organisations say victims face a barrier leaving dangerous homes because of fears about getting a rental with their pet.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/rental-rules-for-pets-change-n…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.More than 2500 days after Labor’s promise, can NSW ban no-grounds evictions?
Max Maddison The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The pitch was compelling, if not a little familiar. Standing surrounded by three small dogs, two ministers and a rental commissioner at the Domain in Sydney CBD on Monday, Premier Chris Minns trumpeted a raft of renter-friendly policies, signalling the next stage of his government’s housing reforms. Pets would be allowed in rentals, tenants would have to be offered a fee-free means of paying rent, and no-grounds evictions – barring landlords from punting renters during their leases without reasonable cause – would proceed to parliament.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/more-than-2500-days-after-la…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Rent.How the most affluent Australians disproportionately benefit from negative gearing
Cait Kelly and Josh Nicholas The Guardian (No paywall)Negative gearing helps high-earning Australians the most, with those with income of more than $180,000 annually snaring almost one-quarter of the benefits, despite numbering just 5% of taxpayers. Data from the Australian Taxation Office showed people who earn more than $180,000 were able to lower their collective tax bill by $1.3bn in 2021-2022 through negative gearing. The $1.3bn was roughly 25% of all the losses on rental properties claimed by taxpayers in that financial year.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/27/how-the-m…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.More than 430,000 Australians could have owned their own home today – if not for negative gearing inaction from seven PMs
Peter Martin ABC (No paywall)Thirteen years ago at the tax summit called to discuss the Henry Tax Review, David Koch stopped discussion of negative gearing dead in its tracks.
Better known by many as "Kochie", he was the long-running host of Channel Seven's Sunrise, TV's favourite "daggy dad", a finance journalist and a community representative at the summit. Property manager Eddie Kutner had just finished putting the case for negative gearing. He argued allowing landlords who lost money to deduct the losses from their other income to cut tax was "a responsible part of providing accommodation".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-02/negative-gearing-what-wil…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.A landlord wanted April out to move in a family member. VCAT said no
Jim Malo The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ruled that a landlord could not evict her tenant to move her father into the home because it could have left the tenant worse off. The case shows how a change to Victorian tenancy law in 2018 works in practice. A clause inserted in the Residential Tenancies Act states that possession orders – just one step in forcibly evicting tenants from their homes – must be reasonable and proportionate. It means an eviction is no longer a given if a valid notice to vacate is served.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/a-landlord-wanted-april-out…
# Must read Australia, Eviction, Rent.Tenant evicted from 'sinking' rental home with hours' notice awarded $5,000 by Queensland tribunal
Jessica Black ABC (No paywall)A Queensland tenant who complained for years that his rental was "sinking" was given 16 hours to vacate after the house was declared unliveable, despite passing an inspection just months before. The Moreton Bay home was propped up in places with bricks and rocks where the stumps had rotted away, according to submissions made to the state's civil tribunal last month. The same agent who rented out the house put it up for sale within weeks of the eviction notice, describing it as needing "some TLC (or a bulldozer)". It sold a few weeks later for $590,000.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-28/housing-standards-evictio…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.