Tenants' Rights Manual Launch

The beautiful Mitchell building of the State Library played host to the launch of the Tenants' Rights Manual 4th Edition yesterday morning. The event went brilliantly!

The author with the fruits of his labour

Guests from a range of places including: tenants from Newcastle to Surry Hills; tenant advocates from all over the place; the author of the original Tenants' Rights Manual, Dr. Robert Mowbray; community organisations, legal centres and law firms; government departments Fair Trading NSW and Legal Aid NSW; and politicans from all sides of politics, including the Hon. Minister for Fair Trading, Anthony Roberts who launched the Manual.

The Hon. Anthony Roberts during his launch speech

The event was part of Anti-Poverty Week and we took the opportunity to reflect that 65% of low income renters in NSW are in housing stress, paying an unsustainable amount of rent. We also heard that it is estimated that by 2020 the number of renters aged over 65 will have increased by 115%. The importance of access to knowledge of the rights and responsibilites in tenancy agreements will only become more important over time.

The speechgivers and the author: from l-r, Dr Chris Martin, Senior Policy Officer of the Tenants' Union of NSW; Julie Foreman, Executive Officer of the Tenants' Union of NSW; the Hon. Anthony Roberts MP, NSW Minister of Fair Trading; Geoff Mulherin, Director of the NSW Law & Justice Foundation; Dr Alex Byrne, Chief Executive of the NSW State Library.

Thanks to all our guests, speakers, contributors and supporters!

Finally, you can now purchase the Tenants' Rights Manual from Federation Press. Very soon, you will also be able to find a physical copy of the Manual in every public library in NSW through the Legal Information Access Centre's (LIAC) Legal Toolkit. You'll also be able to access the Manual through LIAC's page on the State Library website here. That page will contain the most up to date version of the Manual as occasional updates are published.

My 3 Cents Tenancy Trivia

You may remember we mentioned the good value TAAS's represent- a cost of just 3 cents a day to renters in NSW, paid by renters in NSW.

We'll be talking more about your 3 cents in coming weeks but to celebrate the imminent launch of the Tenants' Rights Manual (4th Ed.) on Monday we're having a trivia competition. The winner will receive their very own copy of the Tenants' Rights Manual to take pride of place on their bookshelf, their bedside table, or under a wobbly piece of furniture.

 

Not just any copy- THIS copy

The Tenants' Rights Manual is one of the many results of the more than 30 years of experience and insight from dedicated tenants advice workers which has culminated in the TAAS network today.

At noon we're going to send out the question on Twitter and Facebook, first person to answer correctly on either site will win. (A clue, the answer will be found somewhere on the TAAS website at www.tenants.org.au)

If you're the winner, we'll direct message you to get postal/delivery details.

The Rules

1. Winning answers must come from personal accounts (sorry NGOs, we still love you!)

2. Delivery will be to NSW addresses only (because this only covers NSW tenancy law)

3. Current workers in the TAAP network are excluded

Good luck, and if you miss out this time don't worry, we'll be doing more trivia competitions in the future!

Update: The question was "What is the maximum flow rate your shower can have before you don't have to pay for water usage?"

Congratulations to Troy Walker from the Hunter region who was the first correct answer on our Facebook page with "9 litres per minute"

Well played Troy!

Tenants' Rights Manual - 4th edition

For more than 30 years, the Tenants' Union's Tenants' Rights Manual has been pored over by tenants, community workers and tenant advocates (and landlords, agents, lawyers and Tribunal Members) as the best practical guide to renting in New South Wales.

The 4th edition of the Manual is to be launched next month, on 15 October – it's an Anti-Poverty Week event.

The new edition is completely revised to cover all the changes introduced by the Residential Tenancies Act 2010. It also includes an expanded chapter on social housing, and a new chapter on marginal renting, with information for boarders and lodgers on the new Australian Consumer Law.

You can order your copy through the publisher, Federation Press, or ask for it at your local library. If they don't have it, suggest that they get one (or several)!