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Royal College of Physicians urges government to introduce new law amid rising damp, mould and leaks in social housing‘I considered putting my kid into care’: one London family’s fight against mouldThe Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has called on Michael Gove to accelerate a promised crackdown on landlords failing to fix tens of thousands of mouldy homes with a warning that unless laws are...

Buyers and renters compete for limited stock as the Western Australian capital favours sellers and landlords, CoreLogic analysts sayThe Australian property boom has shifted from east to west, with buyers and renters tussling for a limited number of Perth homes and creating a housing crisis for those left behind.Perth has become the hottest selling market among state capitals, with homes listed for a median...

Deal suggested by NSW building commissioner comes after residents were forced to evacuate in 2019Owners of apartments in Sydney’s Mascot Towers may reach a potential settlement to clear massive debts for the first time since being forced to evacuate their units due to defects.The New South Wales building commissioner, David Chandler, has offered a lifeline to residents of the buildings, in the city’s inner-south,...

Adam Bandt signals new rent freeze push and criticises ‘tax cuts for billionaires’ as Labor aims to get ‘help to buy’ scheme through parliamentNew year, new housing fight.The Labor government may have started the year keen to talk cost-of-living relief and housing solutions, but the Greens have entered 2024 vowing to push the Albanese government to make actual change. Continue reading...

In latest move by University of California, Berkeley, law enforcement agencies arrested protesters and erected barrierIn a midnight operation, hundreds of police officers descended on People’s Park in Berkeley, California, to clear out the activists and unhoused campers occupying the area, to make way for the construction of a housing complex for students.By dawn, the park that was once the centre of the 1960s...

Residents say ministers have wasted six years and ‘dodged’ making plan for tower since fire claimed 72 livesResidents and bereaved families say they have been left “in limbo” over the future of Grenfell Tower after a decision to award a new maintenance contract for the building until 2027.More than £100m has already been spent on tower maintenance and site management since the fire that...

Exclusive: housing association payouts over failures to fix life-threatening mould and damp average only £445Leading private providers of social housing in Britain have been made to pay out only a few hundred pounds on average in financial penalties for severely mistreating tenants, the Observer can reveal.An analysis of every decision made by the housing ombudsman, the primary regulator of social housing in Britain, shows...