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Tenants' Union news

Also check out our blog, Tenant News archive, media appearances, and Housing News Digest.
For factsheets and sample letters, please see Tenancy info.

 

This is my park: Sea Winds Village

Janice
In our new feature ‘This is my park’ Janice Edstein of Sea Winds Village shares her experiences of park living. "My husband John had to retire in his 50s because of heart problems and as we were previously renting we only had a limited amount of money to spend on buying a house. We moved into Sea Winds 22 years ago. We considered village life was the most affordable way to go. I can’t say the same for affordability now."
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A win for Wallacia residents

Tom
You may remember we reported on emergency access issues at Wallacia Caravan Park in our May issue of Outasite Lite. Residents considered the emergency access arrangements in the park to be complicated and inadequate – putting them at risk. Tom Mortimer, a Tenant Advocate from the Western Sydney Tenants’ Service who assisted residents, tells us more about how a great outcome was achieved…
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New Act to commence 1 November 2015

Road
On 7 August the final regulation for the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 was released by Minister Dominello, the Minister responsible for Fair Trading. Mr Dominello announced that the new Act will commence on 1 November 2015.
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The tenant who knew too much

Gemma
"I wear many hats: mother, friend, student, teacher, researcher, tenant, wife, country music enthusiast… Each of these, compartmentalised, functions as a well-oiled machine. However, as hundreds of self-help books and blogs seem to indicate, these hats tend to influence each other from time to time. Turns out it was inevitable that children who draw on walls and require bedrooms, would influence my previously smooth-running operation as a tenant."
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Electricity: changes on the horizon

Electricity
There are changes afoot to the financial assistance available for NSW park residents who need help paying their energy bills.
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Million Dollar Homes

Million dollar homes
Manufactured home estates (MHEs) and caravan parks (collectively called residential parks) provide long-term accommodation to around 34,000 people in NSW, according to Fair Trading. Parks have for a long time provided an affordable home ownership option and today 87% of residents own their homes.
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Emergency! Access issues for parks

Wallacia
Access arrangements for residential parks are often an area of discussion and dispute, not only between park owners and residents, but also sometimes between residents. On the one hand is the desire or need for security and on the other is the necessity to enable vehicle access for service providers.
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Land tax is the fairest tax on earth

From the Brown Couch archives: an explanation of why the TU supports a land tax
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Reprieve for residents of Hastings Point Holiday Park

Hastings Point residents
Hastings Point Holiday Park has been in the process of closing for some time and a seniors living development is being built in its’ place. During 2012 the remaining approximately 30 residents of the park were served with Notices of Termination of their site agreements for change of use. Read more about their story in this issue of Outasite Lite.
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Affordability biggest concern

Letters
The Tenants’ Union recently wrote to all park residents on the Outasite mailing list to check that it is accurate. We had a great response with 563 people from 163 different parks requesting copies of Outasite. Because we were writing to people, we also undertook a quick survey. We asked residents to nominate what they consider to be the top three issues in residential parks. Read about the results in this issue of Outasite Lite.
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