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
English and Welsh councils to have greater powers to seize land for affordable housing
Eleni Courea The Guardian (No paywall)Councils and mayors will be granted greater powers to seize land to build affordable housing under the Labour government’s shake-up of planning rules this week. Local authorities in England and Wales will no longer need permission from central government to make compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), in a change that ministers hope will unlock vacant and derelict land. The change will be made as part of the planning and infrastructure bill, which is expected to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday. It follows the closure last month of a public consultation on the mooted changes to the planning system.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/10/english-welsh-c…
# Hot topic International, .London ebike fire: landlords of ‘grossly overcrowded’ flat fined almost £100,000
Diane Taylor The Guardian (No paywall)The landlords of a “grossly overcrowded” east London flat where a man died after an ebike battery started a fire have been fined almost £100,000 after pleading guilty to nine housing law breaches. The judge, the recorder Emma Smith, said the landlords showed “blatant disregard for the law and for the occupants” of the property, when she sentenced them at Snaresbrook crown court on Thursday. The two-bedroomed flat was licensed as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) for three people but up to 23 were living there.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/06/london-ebike-fir…
# Must read International, Disasters.London councils buy £140m of property to move homeless people out of city
Sammy Gecsoyler The Guardian (No paywall)London councils and housing companies they own have spent more than £140m buying up homes to relocate homeless people out of the city. More than a dozen councils in the capital have collectively spent millions buying up more than 850 properties in towns and cities across England since 2017, Guardian analysis of property ownership data found. The homes are either owned directly by councils or by companies they partly or wholly own. They are used to house homeless individuals and families, either temporarily in emergency accommodation or permanently in privately rented homes.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/08/london-councils-…
# Hot topic International, Rent.The Guardian view on the planning bill: new towns must be for people who need them
The Guardian (No paywall)The planning and infrastructure bill published on Tuesday is both a declaration of intent and a show of strength by the government. Rightly recognising how much is at stake politically, particularly with regard to younger voters frustrated by high housing costs, ministers have made up their minds to help them. Decision-making will be streamlined and development corporations empowered. Once the law is changed, councils and landowners will find it harder to stand in the way of what ministers regard as progress.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/11/the-guardi…
# International, .Robots build full-scale 3D-printed homes in 24 hours
CBS News (No paywall)California company "Azure Printed Homes" wants its 3D printing technology to help speed up the wildfire recovery efforts in the Los Angeles area. Its robots can print full-scale homes in 24 hours. Danya Bacchus reports.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/robots-build-full-scale-3d-printed…
# Video International, Disasters.‘A huge win’: Victoria passes ban on no-grounds evictions for renters
Orana Durney-Benson Domain (No paywall)Landlords in Victoria will no longer be able to evict tenants without good cause, after state parliament passed new rental reforms. The raft of changes passed in Victoria’s Upper House today, spelling the end of no-grounds evictions and rental bidding in the state. Under the new legislation, landlords in Victoria cannot end a fixed-term or periodic lease without sufficient grounds. Landlords are also banned from soliciting or accepting higher rents than the amount publicly listed – a practice known as rental bidding.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/a-huge-win-victoria-passes-ban-on…
# Must read, Legal significance, New policy announcement Australia, Eviction, Rent.Harvey has serious health conditions and needs surgery. His landlord has served him a 'no-grounds' eviction
Rudi Maxwell SBS (No paywall)When Noongar man Harvey Coyne, 66, finally found a home after years of experiencing homelessness he was overjoyed. Harvey, who has a range of serious health issues including heart problems, emphysema and vision impairment, was given a placement with social housing provider Housing Choices Australia in Perth, where he has lived for the past four years. However, Housing Choices now wants Harvey to vacate the premises - and have served him with a 'no-grounds' eviction notice, which the not-for-profit is prepared to contest in court. Denise Belotti said her friend Harvey is vulnerable. "He's frail, he takes daily medication, maybe about 15 tablets daily," she said. "He's got a broken hip at the moment and he's coming up for a triple [heart] bypass.
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/harvey-has-a-serious-heart-c…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Rent.‘Vulture’: Property investor eyeing cyclone Alfred hit zone trolled
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)Cyclone Alfred hasn’t made landfall on the Aussie coast yet but that hasn’t stopped property investors asking where they can cash in – and getting trolled for it. It’s no secret that despite record prices since the pandemic and a history-making once-in-a-generation cyclone set to hit South East Queensland, investors continue to see the entire region as one of the hottest prospects to get the best return on their dollar. But even investors, it seems, have limits on what they will tolerate when communities are in trouble.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/vulture-property-investor-eye…
# Hot topic Australia, Disasters.