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
Social landlords in England now forced to fix emergencies within 24 hours
Chris Osuh The Guardian (No paywall)The first phase of Awaab’s law, which promises to protect tenants from dangerous social housing conditions, comes into force in England on Monday, in memory of a two-year-old boy who died after exposure to mould in his home. The new legal duties compel landlords to fix emergency health and safety hazards within 24 hours of reporting, investigate significant damp and mould within 10 working days of being notified, make properties safe in five working days after inspection and write the findings to tenants within three working days of inspection completing.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/27/social-landlords…
# International, Disasters, Public and community housing.Zohran Mamdani ran on a promise to freeze rent. Here's how NYC's mayor can control the rates.
Renee Anderson and Jeff Capellini CBS News (No paywall)New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani earned a decisive election victory with a campaign built on affordability, notably a promise to freeze rent for the city's 2 million residents living in rent-stabilized apartments. From the rent freeze, to other promises, including free buses, city-owned grocery stores and universal child care, time will tell whether his proposals will become reality. So what is rent stabilization, and how can the mayor influence the rates?
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/zohran-mamdani-new-york-cit…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Bay Area mobile home park residents worried about unintended effects of new housing law
John Ramos CBS News (No paywall)One of California's new housing laws, Senate Bill 79, is carrying unintended consequences that have Sunnyvale mobile home park residents worried they could lose their homes. Gail Rubino is a mobile home activist who has been fighting to keep rents affordable, and when she heard about the passage of SB 79, which would allow new large-scale developments within half a mile of a passenger rail station, she knew she had to act.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/bay-area-mobile-home-p…
# International, Land lease communities.Private rent in Britain now swallows 44% of the average wage
Rupert Jones The Guardian (No paywall)Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, with the amount tenants are being asked to pay in some hotspots rising more than 25% in a year, data shows. The typical advertised private rent outside London for properties coming on to the market rose to a record £1,385 a calendar month in the third quarter of this year, according to the property website Rightmove. The average London rent reached a new high of £2,736.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/oct/27/private-rent-brita…
# International, Rent.Affordable housing plan for vulnerable women
Andrew Spence BBC (No paywall)According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the single-storey former Preston Road family community centre, which is on the site, will be demolished. Background information included in the proposal said in 1999, a group of women came together to put a funding bid forward for the women of Preston Road Estate. This project became known as Winner, which stands for Women Improving Now Not Ever Retreating. It said the bid was successful and delivered evidence-based research to prove the need for a women-only space on Preston Road.
# International, .No 10 refuses to say if ethics adviser saw proof Reeves’s rental breach was ‘inadvertent’
Peter Walker and Frances Mao The Guardian (No paywall)Downing Street has refused to say whether Keir Starmer’s adviser on ministerial conduct has seen any evidence to support Rachel Reeves’s claim she made an “inadvertent” mistake in failing to get a licence to rent out her south London home. As pressure mounted on the chancellor, despite the prime minister saying an apology should end the matter, No 10 also declined to say whether Reeves contravened the ministerial code or had broken the law in breaching Southwark council rules.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/30/reeves-should-b…
# International, .Crisis charity to become a landlord in attempt to rectify ‘catastrophic’ housing in UK
Jessica Murray The Guardian (No paywall)The homelessness charity Crisis is going to become a landlord for the first time in its 60-year history, saying the housing crisis in the UK has reached a “catastrophic scenario”. Matt Downie, the charity’s chief executive, said it was preparing to launch a fundraising appeal to buy its own housing stock as it can longer get access to social housing to help homeless people. “We don’t want to do this, but if nobody else is going to provide housing, we’ll do it ourselves,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/10/crisis-charity-t…
# International, .I went to a rental inspection. There was a surprise
Ricky Blank The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Several weeks ago, curled up on the couch and recovering from a music festival a day earlier, my landlord (a relative whose house I was renting) informed me that they were selling their home and I needed to find new accommodation. I’m 25 and have had the privilege of living at home my entire life in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Grappling with the news and a bout of anxiety, I got to work: downloading property apps, creating any number of profiles to obscure services and joining Facebook groups.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-went-to-a-rental-inspectio…
# NSW, .