Tenants Queensland (TQ) welcomes the Miles Government’s package of reforms that will improve the experiences of renters, with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
TQ CEO, Ms Penny Carr, said, “banning rent bidding, requiring a fee free way of paying rent, limiting what can be asked when signing up applying for a tenancy and controlling how and for how long information can be kept, will very much improve the experiences of renters across the state. We welcome these changes”.
Requiring evidence when the landlord wants to claim against the bond, the portable bond scheme and a rental code of conduct are changes also strongly supported by TQ.
Despite welcoming the package TQ CEO, Ms Penny Carr, stated that there is more to be done. “The package is a good start but more needs to be done to support struggling renters”.
TQ is calling for a limit to the amount that tenancy rents can rise to no greater than the level of the consumer price index. A similar change was announced to by the Miles government yesterday, limiting site rent increases in parks and villages for owner occupiers of manufactured homes. This change needs to be extended to general tenancies, to help renters manage cost-of-living pressures.
“To stabilise rents we need to put limits to how much rents can rise,” Ms Carr said.
Ms Carr also stressed the need for the Government to remove ‘end of a fixed term’ as a ground to end a tenancy. Allowing these arbitrary evictions leave renters too scared to pursue their rights for fear of retaliatory action.
“TQ receives inquiries from Queenslanders affected by this issue every day. The ending of tenancies with no reasonable ground is severely impacting on renters’ ability to provide a stable roof over their heads and that of their families,” Ms Carr said.
TQ calls upon all political parties to support the reforms and their passage into law as quickly as possible.
Find the Bill here