Tenants' Union of Tasmania

December 2011: The Residential Tenancy Act Review's Final Report and Consultation Paper was released and has 17 key recommendations including:

• Allowing rent increases to occur only every 12 months instead of the present 6 months,
• The introduction of limited minimum standards of accommodation.  These include hot and cold running water, cooking facilities, adequate ventilation and adequate heating in the main living area.  Further standards would be examined by a working party,
• Removing provisions that allow tenants to undertake repairs when the landlord/agent won't do them, and
• Allowing landlords to let properties to family members after giving 90 days notice to a tenant on a non-fixed lease.

As you can see there are some improvements for tenants and some potential victories for landlords/agents.

The Tenants' Union will be responding to the Report with a detailed submission.  If you wish to make a comment, either contact us or make your own submission.  The closing date is 24th February 2012.

May 2011: The Tenants' Union attended a roundtable discussion with major organisations associated with tenancy, hosted by Minister Nick McKim and Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading. We were told the next stage of the Review will proceed in three parts:

1. Amendments that are agreed upon by most stakeholders would be discussed in an options paper to be published in June/July 2011 for public comment,
2. Tenancy Quality Standards would be discussed in a  second options paper, and
3. Contested issues arising from the submissions to the Review would be discussed in a third round.

It is envisaged that the first round of legislation will be brought to Parliament early in 2012.

November 2010:  The Tenants' Union made a presentation on our vision for a reformed Residential Tenancy Act at the Renting in Tasmania conference.  Here are the powerpoint slides that were shown during the presentation.

February 2010: The Tenants' Union completed its initial submission.

Our key recommendations are:

1. To create minimum residential tenancy standards to guarantee that all tenants live in adequate housing.
2. That landlords need valid reason(s) to evict tenants.
3. To limit mid-lease rent increases to the inflation rate.

There are also recommendations on tribunals, paying rent, caravan parks, student accommodation and more.

Click here for the full submission.

Late 2009: The Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection (at the time), Lisa Singh, released a discussion paper on the Residential Tenancy Act and issues in the residential tenancy market. The discussion paper explored issues such as security of tenure, rent increases, accommodation standards and dispute resolution and sought comments and submissions from the public. The purpose of this paper was to give broad direction to the scope of a discussion about issues relating to the Residential Tenancy Act and the role of the Act in the residential tenancy market.