Law reform

Make a Submission – Senate Enquiry

The Senate’s Community Affairs Legislation Committee is holding an inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2017. According to one of the committee members, Senator Murray Watt,

“In summary, this Bill extends the existing, voluntary, Rent Deduction Scheme so that it can be applied more broadly by States and Territories, as well as community housing providers to withhold a portion of tenants’ income support and/or Family Tax Benefit payments and use these funds to directly pay rent and utilities costs on behalf of those tenants”.

The National Association of Tenants Organisations (NATO) has concerns about some aspects of the Bill and is circulating this DRAFT summary to assist other interested parties to make submissions by the due date of November 10. NATO is an affiliation of Tenants Queensland, Tenants Union of NSW, Tenants Union of ACT, Tenants Union of Tasmania, Tenants Union of Victoria and the Darwin Community Legal Centre.

Submissions can be uploaded here https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/OnlineSubmission

The Bill can be found here:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5974
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MINIMUM HOUSING STANDARDS FOR RENTAL PROPERTIES!

TQ welcomes today’s introduction of the Housing Legislation (Building Better Futures) Bill 2017 into the Queensland parliament by Housing Minister, the Hon Mick de Brenni. The Bill will amend the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 to allow for the introduction of minimum housing standards in rental properties. The standards will be set out in Regulation and developed through a process of consultation.

The poor quality of some properties is an on-going issue for Queensland renters. The changes will help protect the most vulnerable, often pushed into the margins of the market and reluctant to seek repairs for fear of losing their tenure, from living in substandard and unsafe housing.
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The Bill’s introduction is a big step forward but there is still a lot of work to be done. TQ looks forward to participating in the consultation to develop the standards. TQ will also lobby for additional reforms, in particular to address the lack of tenure security.

Act now! Help get rid of Without Ground Evictions

Tenants Queensland is calling for the abolition of without grounds termination of tenancies so that every tenancy is ended with a “JUST CAUSE“. Queensland tenancy law is currently under review. If you agree with us, help our campaign by emailing your views to the Residential Tenancies Authority at enquiries@rta.qld.gov.au or your State MP. Tell them that you want Just Cause evictions in Queensland!

Australian Renters Yell For Change!

Last Thursday CHOICE, the National Association of Tenants’ Organisations (NATO) and National Shelter called for governments to prioritise rental security and quality issues, not just housing affordability. This followed the release of Unsettled, Life in Australia’s Private Rental Market, the results of a national survey by the same groups, in which widespread fear and discrimination was reported by thousands of Australians.

Key findings from Unsettled were:

83% of renters in Australia have no fixed-term lease or are on a lease less than 12 months long
62% of people say they feel like they can’t ask for changes
50% of renters report experiencing discrimination when applying for a rental property
50% of renters worried about being listed on a residential tenancy database
20% renters experiencing leaking, flooding and issues with mould
8% of renters are living in a property in need of urgent repairs

For those who rent, this was no surprise but media across the country picked up the story with coverage on