If you’re interested in our brief thoughts on the government’s Housing Legislation Amendment Bill 2021. Read them here.
Editorial
Email the Premier to Extend the Evictions Moratorium.
ACT NOW!
Last week, the Queensland government decided to end the moratorium on evictions for residential renters. The moratorium is targeted to renters who are COVID affected, and it’s removal will leave many people vulnerable to eviction before Christmas.
The evictions moratorium, what it means and our thoughts
Last week, Queensland put into law the National Cabinet’s six-month moratorium on residential evictions
resulting from COVID-19. Here’s summary information on how that’ll work for renters across our state. If you’re directly affected though, seek advice by calling us or check out our website.
The new rules cover the management of rent arrears and evictions, how entries can be made, requirements for dispute resolution, and changes to reasons and processes for ending tenancies. Most changes apply to residents in rooming accommodation as well as general tenancies like houses, units, caravan tenancies and flats.
These new rules will apply to all residential tenancies entered before or during the emergency period (March 29 – September 29, 2020). Some changes will apply to all tenancies while others, like the evictions moratorium, apply only to tenants and residents who meet a specific criterion set out in the new regulations. For this article, we’ll call those criteria ‘COVID hardship’ – they’re explained below.
Let’s focus on the evictions moratorium first.