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
Jordan van den Berg: The 'Robin Hood' TikToker taking on Australian landlords
Tiffanie Turnbull BBC (No paywall)Three years ago, lawyer Jordan van den Berg was an obscure TikTok creator who made videos that mocked real estate agents. But today the 28-year-old is one of the most high-profile activists in Australia. Posting under the moniker Purple Pingers, Mr van den Berg has been taking on the nation's housing crisis by highlighting shocking renting conditions, poor behaviour from landlords, and what he calls government failures. It is his vigilante-style approach - which includes helping people find vacant homes to squat in, and exposing bad rentals in a public database - that has won over a legion of fans. Some have dubbed him the Robin Hood of renters.
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.Is squatting a legitimate response to the housing crisis?
ABC RN ABC (No paywall)Rental vacancies are at record lows, and rents are increasing, on average, far faster than our incomes, particularly in our biggest cities. That's leading to financial stress for many Australians and increasing the likelihood of housing insecurity. One temporary solution that's been proposed is for people without secure housing to move into properties that have been sitting unused for more than 2 years, what is commonly referred to as squatting. But is it legal to enter another person's house? What rights do property owners have? And why are some houses being left empty for years?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/squatting-in-…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent.‘My landlord is selling my place. Should he reduce my rent?’
Alison Barrett and Jillian Barrett news.com.au (No paywall)QUESTION: I’ve lived in my apartment for six years and love it but my landlord recently put it up for sale. I’d love to buy it but there’s no chance I’ll be able to afford it. There are heaps of viewings happening at the moment, which is quite inconvenient for me and I feel like my space is being invaded. My landlord also keeps hassling me to tidy up, which I don’t think is any of his business. How much notice should I get for these viewings? Also, when they sell the apartment how much notice will I get to leave? Everything feels very up in the air at the moment and I don’t feel as though my landlord is being supportive through the process. – Claire, NSW ANSWER: This sounds quite unsettling and frustrating Claire. As a general rule, tenants have the right to privacy when renting.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/my-landlord-is-selling-my-…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Indigenous public housing tenants fight to end no-grounds eviction in WA
Aaron Bunch National Indigenous Times (No paywall)Two Supreme Court legal challenges in Western Australia could end no-grounds evictions for public housing tenants. Lawyers for two Indigenous public housing tenants will argue the Department of Communities' use of no-grounds evictions and fixed-term public housing tenancies denies procedural fairness and is legally unreasonable. The outcome could have ramifications for more than 1000 public housing tenants on fixed-term tenancies, all of whom could be evicted from their home with no-grounds evictions. Lawyer Kate Davis says WA is the only Australian jurisdiction still using no-grounds evictions against public housing tenants. "We've got a real problem in this state of evictions of families from public housing and the consequences are devastating," she told reporters on Friday. Ms Davis said more than half of the public housing tenants on fixed-term tenancies evicted without grounds were Indigenous.
https://nit.com.au/20-04-2024/10940/indigenous-public-housing-te…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Rent.‘Property poetry’? Real estate ads and literature have more in common than you might think
Amelia Dale The Conversation (No paywall)A few years ago, I turned some real estate advertisements into poems by adding line breaks:
Fantastic views of the beach, ocean; headland and hinterland; you can see the Haven; you look straight up; the green grass of the Skillion. I was interested, among other things, in asking what happens when we compare the language of real estate copy with more obvious forms of poetry. If you read a real estate ad with the same attention you might bestow on a poem you can observe how it deploys metre, metaphor, and the tropes of landscape poetry. You can note how some advertisements directly reference the sublime or the picturesque, and how others open with a rhyming couplet.
https://theconversation.com/property-poetry-real-estate-ads-and-…
# Australia, Rent.Renters using Facebook Marketplace to find property risk 'disturbing tactics' and scams
Gemma Ferguson ABC (No paywall)When Sarah* secured a sizeable south-east Queensland property for a bargain price on Facebook Marketplace, she had no idea of the nightmare that would follow. Less than two months after moving in, she was woken by strangers knocking on her door at 11pm. "They looked for multiple entrances to get into the property," she said. "The next day, the people came back again." It all began when a paperwork error led her to renting a four-bedroom house with a study, two patios and a spacious garage for just $115 a week in Springfield Lakes, west of Brisbane. The 30-year-old US national found the vacancy on social media and, after facing Sydney's competitive rental market, was planning to share it with a housemate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-19/qld-facebook-marketplace-…
# Hot topic Australia, Security and safety.As 190,000 households wait for social housing, application numbers are only increasing
Josh Nicholas The Guardian (No paywall)Almost 190,000 households are stuck on social housing waiting lists amid Australia’s housing crisis, according to Guardian Australia analysis of state and territory data. In December there were about 60,000 applications for social housing in Victoria and 57,000 in New South Wales. Queensland had more than 22,000 applications and Western Australia more than 19,000. Smaller states and territories including the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory had more than 5,000, 4,000 and 3,000 applications respectively. In March South Australia had more than 15,000 social housing applications.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2024/apr/18/as-1…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.Bed bugs and cockroaches: the legal battle over conditions in a Melbourne community housing block
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)First, there were cockroaches. Then bed bugs. Then came the anger. After years of battling pest infestations at a once-celebrated community housing block just outside Melbourne’s CBD, resident Jack Kramme says he’s had enough. “Initially, I was so grateful to have a secure place to live so I really didn’t care what was going on,” he tells Guardian Australia. “But, to be frank, I’m getting too old for this shit.” After a four-year battle, the 36-year-old has had a win in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat), where it was found his housing provider, Unison, had breached its obligations to keep the Elizabeth Street apartment building in good repair.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/19/elizabeth…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Repairs.