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
Victoria to ban rent bidding outlawed in major crackdown on price hikes
Brendan Kearns, Bridget Clarke and David Bonaddio Herald Sun (No paywall)Victoria’s rental market has become a pressure cooker, and desperate tenants are offering hundreds above asking price just to secure a roof over their heads. Would-be renters are forking out far more than advertised prices and offering months of rent in advance in a bid to beat fierce competition across Melbourne, with inspections drawing dozens of applicants and many being repeatedly knocked back. One man, attending his sixteenth inspection in two weeks, told the Herald Sun rent bidding — where tenants offer more than the listed rent — was “the easiest way” to lock in a lease, especially in the inner suburbs. “It’s been really hard,” he said. “It’s really competitive, especially in these suburbs where people really want flats.”
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/property/victoria-to-ban-rent-biddi…
# Hot topic Australia, .‘There’s faeces everywhere’: Carol’s home regularly floods with sewage. It’s a sign of a ‘neglected’ public housing system
Kate Lyons The Guardian (No paywall)Earlier this month, Carol Edwards woke to find the entire downstairs floor of her inner-Sydney terrace house covered in human excrement. Faeces, urine, and balls of toilet paper from her neighbours’ homes had bubbled up from a drain in her laundry cupboard and spilled across the floor of her kitchen, past her dining table, through to the lounge – almost to the front door of her Alexandria home. That 6 June morning wasn’t the first time sewage has flooded her home. In fact, she says it has happened more times than she can count in the 30 years she has lived in the housing commission property.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/13/theres-fa…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent.‘We’ve been left in this mess’: residents of condemned Merseyside blocks face eviction
Raphael Boyd The Guardian (No paywall)Residents of two Merseyside tower blocks who have been ordered to leave after the buildings were deemed unsafe say they feel “stuck” and “left behind”. Hundreds of people living in Beech Rise and Willow Rise, which stand beside each other in Kirkby, received a letter from the council informing them the building was unsafe and a prohibition notice would be served after an inspection by Merseyside fire and rescue service. It is the latest revelation of the poor conditions of many privately rented dwellings and tenants’ apparent lack of rights.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/12/residents-of-con…
# Hot topic International, Disasters, Eviction.Landlord rented property unfit for human habitation to sister-in-law
Jack Horsnell 1 News (No paywall)A landlord in Northland has agreed to pay his sister-in-law nearly $6000 after renting her a property described as being in a state of disrepair and unfit for human habitation. At the Tenancy Tribunal, the man admitted that the dwelling, which sat empty on his property, was not intended to be a place someone could live in. The woman lived in the dwelling between May 2021 and March 2024, and little maintenance was done over the course of her tenancy. An investigation into the property was launched by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team in 2023 after it received a complaint from a social assistance provider's employee.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/12/landlord-rented-property-unfi…
# Hot topic International, .Welcome for housing pledge - but is it too late for some?
Tarah Welsh Yahoo News (No paywall)Danielle has moved four times in the last nine months with her three children. They became homeless after receiving a section 21 "no fault" eviction order from their landlord, and since then their local council has placed them in a shared house, as well as in hotel rooms. Despite the government's promises to fund more affordable and social housing, Danielle told the BBC she doesn't expect a council house to become available "any time soon". In Wednesday's Spending Review, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her plan to deliver the government's manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes this parliament.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/welcome-housing-pledge-too-195018671.h…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent.I’m a public housing tenant — Labor must learn from the Greens’ common sense
Fiona Ross Crikey (No paywall)As a public housing resident, in Victoria we’ve lost two of the best advocates in Adam Bandt and Samantha Ratnam, who were both narrowly defeated at the federal election. The electorate of Melbourne contains large swaths of public housing, including high-rise towers, which are home to extensive multicultural communities. Bandt, in his 15 years as the member for Melbourne, had a long record of assisting countless individuals and families with an array of complex social problems. He has been an approachable and responsive politician.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/06/13/reader-reply-labor-greens-p…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing.'The homeless have rights': Kully Bay awaits action as government's 'eviction' date arrives
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)There was anxiety but an underlying attitude of defiance among the people who live in the car park at Kully Bay on Friday morning, as the state government's deadline to leave arrived. On May 18, campers at the site received notices informing them that they had to leave the King Street site within 28 days or face potential "compliance and enforcement action".Friday marks the final day.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/8991216/campers-at-kul…
# NSW, Land lease communities.Frustrated tenant builds online tool to help renters understand their rights
Caroline Williams Stuff (No paywall)A software developer has built a free online tool to help tenants, inspired by his experience of being mucked around by a landlord. When Ali Harris was a student, he says he and his flatmates asked their property manager to fix a mouldy floor in one of their Auckland rental’s bedrooms. Three months later, the mould remained. It was only when the flatmates began asking about paying reduced rent that the landlord took action. At the end of the tenancy, the property manager assured the flatmates they wouldn’t need to clean up the back yard, but then wanted to use their bond to pay for the work.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360722601/frustrated-tenan…
# Must read International, Rent, Starting a tenancy.