Acknowledgement
Tenants Queensland (TQ) acknowledges the funding received from the federal government and the Queensland Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women, without which the creation and development of this tenancy toolkit for domestic and family violence (DFV) service providers would not have been possible. TQ would also like to acknowledge the support and input into this toolkit the whole of the sector has provided, including those Tenants Queensland staff who provided their frank and fearless advice in the practical applicability of this resource.
We do hope this new resource provides an insight into tenancy law in Queensland and explains as best as can be explained, how this area of law interacts with the legislation around domestic and family violence, the Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal and the Magistrates Courts. The collective aim in the funding and development of this tenancy toolkit is to have these areas of law compliment rather than conflict with each other. Ultimately, the end aim of this toolkit is to enhance the whole of state effort of ensuring women whose tenancies are affected by domestic violence have the opportunity to secure a home within the private rental market, and in doing so, to be nearer to ending their domestic violence experiences.
In conclusion, it is with much appreciation we thank both the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women, and the wider community of domestic and family violence service providers, for their ongoing contribution in making this toolkit as relevant as it can be.
Tenants Queensland
Tenants Queensland Inc is a specialist Community Legal Service for tenants. Established in 1986, Tenants Queensland aims to assist tenants (and their advocates ) to understand their tenancy rights and responsibilities and empower tenants (and advocates) to take action to resolve disputes and maintain secure rental accommodation.
Tenants Queensland, manages the Queensland Statewide Tenants Advice Referral Service (QSTARS) statewide program. QSTARS was established in October 2016 and continues to be funded by the Department of Housing and Public Works.
This integrated features of this tenancy toolkit includes:
- Key tenancy law terms and definitions
- Practical steps tenants can take to resolve tenancy disputes
- Hyperlinks to relevant websites, tenancy forms and fact sheets
- Flow charts for easy reference
- Quick Tips – legal snapshots summarising the tenancy law issues
- information about the RTA, QCAT and Magistrates Courts including relevant forms and applications
- A referral listing for Queensland based domestic and family support services
Relevant legislation referred to in this toolkit includes:
- Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) (the ‘Act’);
- Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2008 (QLD);
- Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld) (‘DFVPA’); and
- Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (‘QCAT Act’).
The use of the letter ‘s’ and ‘ss’ throughout this tenancy toolkit are taken to mean ‘section/s’ of the relevant legislation being relied upon.
Legal disclaimer
This integrated tenancy toolkit is intended to act as an information guide for domestic and family violence sector and is not intended to substitute for specific legal advice for an individual client matter.
In the case of ambiguity or inconsistencies between the information provided within this toolkit and legislation, the relevant legislation prevails.
