Crunch Time for Tenancy Quality Standards

Tasmania is set to be the first state or territory to have minimum tenancy quality standards if agreement between key groups can be found and the legislation can get through both houses of State Parliament.  A recent Tenancy Reference Group meeting, that included the Tenants' Union, was told that an issues paper on Tenancy Quality Standards would be released for public comment around September this year and that the findings would be drafted into legislation for debate in the second half of 2012.

The Tenants' Union, Real Estate Institute of Tasmania (REIT), Shelter Tasmania, Housing Tasmania and Minister for Consumer Protection, Nick McKim, are amongst those to show support for some form of minimum standards for Tasmanian residential tenancies.

During the Tenancy Reference Group meeting it was announced that the standards would be minimal in order to gain consensus among the divergent organisations that were a party to the discussions.  However, in a later discussion between the Tenants' Union and Nick McKim, the Minister in charge of the Review, it was confirmed that the standards would be higher than merely a toilet, hot and cold water and a cooking facility.

Tasmania presently has the worst legislation in regard to the standard of residential tenancy properties, only requiring landlords to maintain a property at the same standard throughout the lease, even if the house was substandard to begin with.  However, the Tenants' Union sees this is an opportunity for Tasmania to leap frog to number one in Australia and be on a par with Ireland and Alberta, Canada.  For the Tenants' Union view on Tenancy Quality Standards click here.

And to keep up with our Tenancy Quality Standards campaign, visit our website.

Residential Tenancy Act Review Process

The review of Tenancy Quality Standards is the third part of a four part review into the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, the primary piece of legislation governing residential tenancies in Tasmania.

The first part includes legislation on tenant databases, requirements that all bonds be placed with the Rental Deposit Authority (Bond Board) and mandatory hard-wired smoke alarms for all rental properties. This is already near drafting stage and hopefully will be debated in Parliament by years end.

Part two will be an Option Paper that discusses changes that have broad agreement from major stakeholder groups.  Items include limiting rent increases to once every 12 months and having a fee-free method of rent payment.

The third part features tenancy quality standards and was discussed in the first story (above).

The final part will be an Options Paper concerning contentious issues.  The Tenants' Union wants discussion on capped rent increases, an end to arbitrary evictions, a new tenancy tribunal and a broadening of the types of residential tenants to be covered by the Act.  For information on the changes that the Tenants' Union recommends see our submission.

Each part of the Review will be open to public consultation, so stay in touch with us on our website or the Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading website for updates.

We're on Facebook

The Tenants' Union got a bit more social last month with the launch of our new Facebook page.  You can keep up-to-date with the latest from the TUT and show your support by liking us.  Thanks to those who have already liked us and tenants who have left a message.  So far we've had some useful suggestions and alerts about transaction fees on rent and bonds and the excessive complexity of condition reports.  In regard to these two queries, it is likely that legislation will require at least one fee-free way to pay rent and bonds and the Tenants' Union supports standardised, easy to use application forms, lease agreements and condition reports.  We will pass on suggestions to Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading. Please note that we do not give legal advice via Facebook.

Back in Business in the North West

We have a new regular service operating fortnightly out of Devonport and that is soon to increase to a weekly service.  For appointments with a solicitor please call our advice line on 1300 652 641 or 6223 2641.  And don't forget our services are free to Tasmanian residential tenants.

Scant Details About MyBond

The Tenants' Union has been asking for some detailed figures about the Rental Deposit Authority (RDA), the body that holds tenant's bonds.  To date we have not been given any data but the Minster was asked several questions about the RDA in Budget Estimates and here is what he had to say:

"Over 22 000 bonds have been lodged with the RDA and almost 9 500 bonds have been paid to tenants and property owners.  There have been 1 700 bond disputes resolved, and that is a significant increase on the number of bond disputes handled prior to the RDA by the Residential Tenancy Commissioner which was around 125.  So that shows there was a need within the community for the Rental Deposit Authority to allow for disputes to be managed in a fair and equitable way.  The volume of dispute resolutions has been significantly more than what was estimated, and that has resulted in some delays. But we are working hard to streamline our processes [and] turn around disputes within a reasonable time frame.    In terms of a timeline for it to be self-funding, we expect that within the next two years the RDA will be fully self-funding from interest on bonds held by the authority."

The TUT will continue to press for information about the performance of the RDA and the interest on tenant's bonds.