The rights of tennants and landlords have always been in conflict and laws have been necessary to protect each from the bad behaviours of the some of the others.
The last major reform of tennancy laws in NSW was in 1988 when the Residential Tennancies Act 1987 was introduced.
But more than 20 years later the Minister for Fair Trading, Virginia Judge, believes that we need ‘progressive reforms which reflect the way people live and make investment decisions now – not 20 years ago’.
So, last week the Minister introduced the Residential Tenancies Bill 2010 into NSW Parliament.
Key elements of the Bill include:
- ensuring tenants have at least one free way of paying rent
- speeding up the eviction process for non-payment of rent by up to three weeks
- making it easier for private tenants to take up an offer of a place in a nursing home or social housing
- restoring certainty for landlords seeking to regain vacant possession of their premises and longer notice periods for tenants
- greater protections for domestic violence victims.
And, although the Minister says ‘I have worked hard to strike a balance which recognises that residential rental properties are both tenants’ homes and in many cases, an owner’s major investment nest egg’ there is some controversy over the reforms.
More than 300 people lodged written submissions on the draft Bill and some key groups (like the Real Estate Institute of NSW, Property Owners Association and the Tenants’ Union) disagree with some of the reforms. Owner representatives believing the reforms are too limiting on landlords and resident groups complaining that the reforms have not gone far enough. What a surprise ???
You can see some of the submissions made by key groups here -
- Submission by the Real Estate Institute
- Comments by the Property Owners Association
- Submissions by the Tennants Union
And, thanks to Charlie Monti for giving me a lead on this story.
Francesco ….
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