Features include: Staff and Management Committee Reports, Tenancy Statistics, Financial Reports. It’s must reading for the accountability-curious and those without access to sleeping tablets. Annual report 2013-14

People can now access training and join the Tenants’ Union as a member for free by clicking Log In/Sign Up in the top right hand corner. There are two options: Training Account and Membership. Training Account allows people free access to our training courses which use slides and video to explain the Residential Tenancy Act […]

Minimum standards and a section referring to photographs will no longer start on October 1 following an eleventh hour change to the Residential Tenancy Act amendments by Minister Vanessa Goodwin, following industry lobbying.  The remainder of the amendments are still set to commence on October 1, but the Minister held back two sections indefinitely in […]

The Australian Companion Animal Council has published two small publications about making tenancy in Australia more pet friendly. One is a guide for tenants and the other a guide for landlords and agents.  Reading through their literature, you really start to understand the level of prejudice against pets in tenancies and the lengths some tenants […]

The TUT will hold a Special General Meeting to discuss two changes to the Constitution.  The first changes the Committee Meeting quorum from 4 down to 3, the second, means that General Meeting notices will be published online and sent to members via email, rather than being published in a Tasmanian newspaper.  The meeting will […]

The amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act that were slated to take effect from 1st July this year have been pushed back three months until 1st October 2014.  The reason given for the delay by the Office of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading was the timing of the change of Government.  The Tenants’ Union are […]

The National Welfare Rights Network has released a report recommending that Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) be increased by 30% and that future increases be linked to housing rent inflation rates rather than the general CPI.  It also suggests increasing the rates for Newstart, Youth Allowance and the end to ‘sharers’ rates for CRA.  

Mainstream wisdom has it that the tax break for landlords known as negative gearing is also good for tenants.  After all, lower landlord costs equal lower rents, right?  And if that’s not true, then at least it has expanded the amount of rental housing, resulting in lower rents, yeah?  In 2011, our friends at The […]

The 2nd Edition of our guide to renting in Tasmania is now available for download and is in print.  Don’t Panic is a 36 page summary of residential tenancy in Tasmania and it has updated information on: Applying for Properties Bond Rent Charges Repairs & Maintenance Privacy Ending a Tenancy Boarding Premises plus a new section […]

Many tenants and housing workers have been asking for a summary of the changes to the Residential Tenancy Act that were passed by the Tasmanian Parliament in September, so here they are.  We can’t stress enough that these rules are have not come into effect yet. There has been no announcement about a commencement date […]