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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.

 

A home under the gum trees

House
Everyone loves a big, beautiful, shady tree in the backyard or by the side of the road … except, of course, when that tree’s overhanging branches threaten to fall during a storm and cause personal injury or damage to a home.
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Selling your home

Outasite article
The Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (the Act) introduces some new and necessary rights for home owners in the area of home sales. Selling a home on-site without interference should be a basic and easily enforceable right but this has not always been the case. Hopefully the new provisions will change this.
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Emergency access in your park

Boom gate
It is an operator’s responsibility to ensure that emergency service vehicles can access a park. We spoke to a park resident about the emergency access issues he faced in his park.
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Your site fees and how they can be increased

House
The Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 introduces a new possibility for the setting of site fees in new site agreements. The standard form agreement provides for site fees to be set at a percentage of the Age Pension. This is an interesting inclusion because the percentage will be accurate only for a short time and it therefore appears to be unnecessary. It also has the potential to confuse.
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Renting a home in a residential community

Caravan
From 1 November 2015 people who rent a home in a residential community (residential park) will have rights and responsibilities under both the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013. This applies whether they rent from the operator or someone else.
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You shall not covet your neighbour's house

Millers Point - not for sale photo
On March 19th 2014 the O'Farrell Government announced the proposed sale of 293 public housing properties in Millers Point and the Rocks. Now, just over 18 months later, Dr Robert Mowbray provides a sobering look at the impact on this unique inner-suburban community, and its resident tenants...
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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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