Holiday spoilers - who to call for tenancy advice during the break?

That's it from us for another year - we'll be back in 2016 with more on the review of the Residential Tenancies Act and the inquiry into the management of public housing repairs and maintenance contracts. We'll also be keeping an eye on developments concerning the social housing portfolio over on our other blog the Clearing House.

The Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services will also be taking a break, with the majority of services closing between December 21st 2015 and January 4th 2016. Some services will be closed for longer, pushing out until as late as January 11th in some areas.

Battling the dark side on your own - how does Finn make it look so easy?

But because the forces of darkness don't always take a break, we'll be running our annual Christmas Hotline until Wednesday January 6th. An experienced advocate will be available each weekday, excluding public holidays, between 10:00am & 1:00pm and 2:00pm & 5:00pm.

If you need advice about a tenancy dispute during this time, give us a call.

Tenants' Union of NSW Xmas Hotline

 phone (02) 8117 3750 

or 

1800 251 101

Tenancy advice over the Christmas-New Year period

That's it for another year. The TU and the TAASs are taking a break over the Christmas-New Year period, but a couple of elves will be answering our hotline.

Tenants' Union of NSW Christmas – New Year Hotline

 8117 3750

or

 1800 251 101

The hotline is open 22 December – 2 January (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day), from 10 am – 5 pm (except 1 pm – 2 pm, for the elves' lunch).

There's also our Tenants Rights Factsheets, and our Tenants Rights Manual, available 24/7. 

If you're spending Christmas with relatives, you might like to bone up on some topics of conversation for the dinner table – say:

• why we should have a broad-based land tax: or 
• how speculator landlords and their tax perks make rental housing more expensive, not less; or
• how Australian Government taxes don't actually pay for anything; or
• how Budget deficits are more sustainable than surpluses; or 
• how government debt is not a burden on future generations; or
• how the NSW State Government has got it wrong with its sell-off of social housing at Millers Point and The Rocks.

Seasons greetings, thanks for reading, and see you next year.

Tenancy advice over the Xmas break

We're taking a break over the Xmas-New Year period; so are the TAASs, and we hope you get a break too.

From 19 December to 8 January the TU's Xmas Hotline will be in operation each weekday (except Xmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day), from 9:30am-1pm, and 2pm-5pm, staffed by experienced tenant advocates from the TAASs. We hope you don't need it.

Tenants' Union of NSW Xmas Hotline

 phone (02) 8117 3750 

or 

1800 251 101

Thanks for reading us this year – in terms of numbers of posts, and numbers of people reading them, it was our biggest year yet. We wish you the best of the season, and we'll see you in the New Year.

Tenants' advice over the holidays

As we count down to the end of the year on the Brown Couch, many of our friends and colleagues from the Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services (TAAS) have already loaded up the caravan and are on their way to a well earned break.

But don't worry - they'll all be back in early 2013, refreshed and ready to lend their expertise to tenants in need of a tip.

If you run into trouble in the meantime, and you need to know your rights, there will still be a couple of options available.

First, there's the Tenants' Rights Factsheets on the TAAS website.

Or, for more detailed information, you can access the Tenants Rights Manual online.

Then there's a limited Christmas Hotline, for urgent matters that just can't wait -

8117 3750

or

1800 251 101

We sincerely hope you don't need to make use of any of these services.

****

That's it from the Brown Couch for 2012 – a year to remember. It was, of course, the centenary of the New South Wales public housing system. We commemorated this with a series of posts that presented a potted history of the system, occasionally reflected in the goings-on of the day. And what, you may ask, did Housing NSW have to say on this most significant of anniversaries?

(Crickets!)

Nothing. Not a word. It should have. Many workers and tenants over the last hundred years have put a lot into public housing, and a centenary is an appropriate point at which to acknowledge it. And to forget the history of the system is to fail to understand all the dimensions of our present housing problems, and how things may be done differently and better in the future. (By the way, see how Victoria is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the public housing system there.)

This year we also had news that the NSW State Government proposes to repeal the 1948 Act, so upwards of 600 elderly tenants might worry if this is the last Christmas they'll spend in what have been their homes of many years. More happily, this year also saw long overdue law reform for boarding houses, and boarding house residents can look forward to having decent occupancy agreements and access to dispute resolution early in 2013. Hopefully other marginal renters won't have to wait much longer to be extended such a reasonable measure of justice too.

See you next year. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

****

TAAS closure dates
Blue Mountains	24 December - 1 January
Central Coast	19 December - 4 January
Eastern Sydney	20 December - 7 January
Hunter Valley	21 December - 1 January
Illawarra & South Coast	24 December - 4 January
Inner Sydney	24 December - 4 January
Inner Western Sydney	24 December - 9 January
Mid Coast	24 December - 1 January
New England & Western NSW	24 December - 4 January
Northern Rivers	21 December - 9 January
Northern Sydney	24 December - 2 January
Southern Sydney	21 December - 4 January
South Western NSW	24 December - 1 January
South Western Sydney	24 December - 2 January
Western Sydney	24 December - 1 January
Koori TAAS closure dates
Greater Sydney	21 December - 4 January
North & North Western NSW	21 December - 9 January
Southern NSW	21 December - 4 January
Western NSW	21 December - 4 January
Resourcing body closure dates
Dtarrawarra	21 December - 2 January
Parks & Village Service	24 December - 1 January
Older Persons’ Tenants’ Service	24 December - 1 January
Tenants’ Union	24 December - 2 January