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
Big news for renters affected by floods in New South Wales
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)If your rental home was made uninhabitable by the severe storms and flooding on the NSW East Coast in May, you could be eligible for a new grant. The Renters Bond and Advanced Rent Grant is a one-time payment of $5,500 to help renters who need a new place to live because their old rental home became uninhabitable in this disaster.
https://www.tenants.org.au/news/big-news-renters-affected-floods
# NSW, Disasters, Rent.When Ziggy’s bond was withheld after eviction without cause from his Sydney rental, he challenged it – and wonWhen Ziggy’s bond was withheld after eviction without cause from his Sydney rental, he challenged it – and won
Luca Ittimani The Guardian (No paywall)Ziggy Tow and his housemates thought they had had enough trouble after their property manager evicted them without grounds and listed their inner-Sydney home for an extra $300 a week. Then the property manager claimed back all of the $3,400 they paid in bond to cover cleaning and repair fees. It took three months of disputes before New South Wales’ rent tribunal ruled the claim was nearly triple a justified amount, awarding $2,100 to the housemates, who Tow said live “paycheck to paycheck”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/18/sydney-re…
# Must read NSW, Bond, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT.Why are Sydney homes so mouldy? One expert unpacks the fungal facts
Huw Bradshaw North Shore Lorikeet (No paywall)According to architectural scientist Dr Tim Law, Australia has created “an entire generation of building stock” without the capacity to manage mould and condensation. And, as Law pointed out to the Lorikeet, it needn’t have been this way, given North America and Europe began addressing the problem in the 1970s. In 2005, changes to the National Construction Code meant new builds had to be more energy efficient, holding heat in winter and becoming insulated from it in summer. Law suggested Australia’s mould problem began to intensify at this time, as the changes didn’t factor in a rise in condensation - one of the key triggers for mould - and how that could be managed.
https://www.northshorelorikeet.com.au/p/why-are-sydney-homes-so-…
# NSW, Rent.Sydney charity tackling the female homelessness crisis
Kaylee Cranley news.com.au (No paywall)A transitional housing project in Sydney’s Hills district is expanding as part of efforts to solve the growing homelessness crisis. Transitional Community Housing Ltd, formerly The Kenthurst Project, was established to source rental accommodation suitable as transitional housing for women. The movement began in Kenthurst in 2016 by local volunteers Dennis van Someren and Jim Visione, the same year ABS data revealed women aged 55 and over were the fastest-growing cohort of homeless Australians. “Myself and Jim Visione – we were both alarmed at the plight of women and children sleeping in the back of their cars in the Hills district and of course beyond,” Mr van Someren said.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/sydney-charity-tackl…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.VIDEO: Sections of Parramatta Road to get rezoned for housing
ABC (No paywall)The NSW government will rezone parts of Sydney’s busy Parramatta Road for housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-13/sections-of-parramatta-ro…
# Video NSW, .Director fined $54k over illegal boarding house for migrant workers
Jack Horsnell 1 News (No paywall)An Auckland property director, who ran an illegal boarding house for migrant workers, has been fined $54,000. Paul Knights, who was acting as director of 4 Corners Investment Ltd, had earlier pleaded guilty to the offending. The court said he "knowingly flouted requirements for financial gain". The fine was part of a wider prosecution over the converted warehouse – owned by Knights – on Maich Road in Manurewa, which predominantly housed workers from the Philippines.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/04/director-fined-54k-over-illeg…
# International, .Egypt scraps decades-old rent caps, fuelling eviction fears
Mariam Rizk and Mohamed Ezz Reuters (No paywall)CAIRO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The rent on Khaddara Ibrahim Ali's cramped apartment in downtown Cairo was just about the only expense she could count on staying stable as waves of soaring inflation and subsidy cuts ate away at her modest income. Thanks to a decades-old rent cap, Ali, 84, pays just under 11 Egyptian pounds ($0.23) per month for the eighth-story home where she has lived for half a century, overlooking a patchwork of ageing buildings and narrow streets in the Azbakeya district.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypt-scraps-decades-old-re…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent.Egypt scraps decades-old rent caps, fuelling eviction fears
Reuters (No paywall)After Egypt approved the biggest rent overhaul in decades, affecting millions of households, some tenants fear eviction in the face of new prices.
# Video International, Eviction.