Within the last few weeks, the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Tenant Protections and Flood Response) 2022 Bill was released. The Bill seeks to amend the Residential Tenancies Act, 2010 to provide increased protection for tenants in NSW as well as protection in flood impacted areas. The Bill also addresses issues such as the rental standards for a property to be "fit for habitation' and the requirements that protects the tenant's health from the impacts of mould.
Some key points of the reformed legislation.
- The Bill has been amended so that rent increases will be restricted to once every 12 months for all residential tenancy agreements.
- The new changes to the Residential Tenancy Law now require the landlord to ensure their residential premise is free of mould and has satisfactory waterproofing, plumbing and drainage. It is important that property investors that suspect inadequate waterproofing, plumbing and drainage should ensure that their property complies with the reformed legislation.
- The removal of the no grounds termination- This means that to terminate a tenancy agreement and have vacant possession of the property you can only issue this notice for the following reasons:
- You are planning on selling the property
- The tenant is in breach of the responsibilities under the tenancy agreement
- the landlord or a family member must be moving into the property
- The property is undergoing significant renovation.
If the landlord's reasons do not align with these requirements, the landlord cannot terminate the agreement. If this legislation is breached, fines up to 100 penalty points ($11,000) may be charged to the property owner.
- The Bill has also been consolidated by including flood response measures for the next 12 months. As northern New South Wales and parts of Queensland have experienced extreme and destructive flooding, this has created a massive property demand, resulting in significant rental shortages. Measures such as putting a suspension on evictions and capping rent to prevent raising the rental prices has been established to protect flood affected renters.
REINSW is in the process of preparing a submission in response to the proposed changes, but given the gravity and magnitude of the proposals, we urge all landlords to write to their local or state members of Parliament immediately to voice any concerns you have with the proposed changes.
To read the full Bill in further details see the below link:
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bill/files/3952/First%20Print.pdf
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