Tenancy law under view for Queensland

 

RTRA Act under review The RTA is conducting a targeted review of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (the Act) to ensure its meeting its objectives of fairly balancing stakeholder interests as well as removing legislative barriers to improved service delivery. A Discussion Paper outlines a number of issues identified by the RTA during its ongoing monitoring of the Act in the areas of: ·        Balancing stakeholder interests ·        Streamlining service delivery, and ·        Reducing red tape. Options have been developed against each issue to stimulate discussion within the sector and are not necessarily proposals for change. The RTA is calling for submissions on the issues and options raised in the Discussion Paper. How to have your say: Submissions must be made in writing. You can address one issue or a range of issues. It is suggested that: ·        If you are raising additional issues not covered in the Discussion Paper, clearly indicate this in your submission ·        Where appropriate, provide evidence to support your comments, such as practical examples, statistics, Tribunal decisions or case studies. ·        A response of “no change” is always an option. ·        If your submission contains information that you do not wish to be disclosed to others, please mark it “Confidential”. Otherwise, under the Right to Information Act 2009, the RTA is required to grant access to documents in its possession unless an exemption provision applies. You can send your submission by post, email, fax to (you do not need to send your submission if you use the online option): Principal Policy Officer Tenancies Act Review Residential Tenancies Authority Mail: GPO Box 390, Brisbane, QLD 4000 Delivery: Level 23, 179 Turbot Street, Brisbane Email: review@rta.qld.gov.au Fax: (07) 3046 5252 Online: www.rta.qld.gov.au Submissions must be received by close of business 2 January 2013.   Some of the matters that form part of the review include (summary from Real Estate Excellence);   ·        Removal of key and holding deposit provisions currently in the Act ·        Prohibit the taking of fees or deposits before the tenancy agreement is signed ·        Amend section 188 on tenant obligations to provide that the tenant is responsible for negligent and intentional as well as malicious damage to the rental property by themselves or their guests. ·        Allow for an additional amount of bond, proposed as one week’s bond, to be charged for pets, premises that have a pool or which are fully furnished. ·        Extend the timeframe for lodgement of bonds from 10 to 14 calendar days. ·        Increase the penalty units for non-lodgement of bond from a maximum of 40 penalty units (currently $4,400) to 60 penalty units ($6,600). ·        Amend the Act to provide that tenants must be offered the option of a fee-free way of paying rent other than for charges to their own financial institution. ·        Require lessors and agents to disclose as part of the proposed agreement before the tenant is committed to the tenancy, any information about on-supply arrangements for electricity and bulk hot water where use of the supplier is a condition of the tenancy. ·        Allow the lessor to pass on the full cost of water consumption charges for individually metered premises, regardless of whether premises are water efficient. ·        Clarify that water consumption cost can be passed on for part billing periods by apportioning charges on the basis of meter readings. ·         Require the lessor to pass on any water charges to the tenant within 6 months of receiving the bill from the provider. ·        Increase the window of entry for an inspection by the lessor/ agent from two hours to three hours. ·        Change the current provisions for dealing with abandoned goods and documents to: • continue to allow immediate disposal of goods that are dangerous, perishable or where the combined market value is less than $1,500 • otherwise allow the lessor/agent to issue ‘disposal notices’ informing the former tenant/s that goods will be disposed of after 14 days (in the case of goods not subject to immediate disposal or that are not personal documents) or 90 days (in the case of personal documents) after the day on which the notice is given, unless they are first claimed • allow the lessor/agent to dispose of goods (other than personal documents) after the disposal notice period by selling them or in any other lawful manner. Any proceeds from the sale of goods may only be used to offset the costs of removing, storing and selling the goods. The lessor/agent must forward any remaining money from the sale of the goods to the Public Trustee within 10 days. The proceeds cannot be used to offset rent owing or other money that may be owed by the tenant • allow the lessor/agent to dispose of personal documents after 90 days by offering them to the Public Trustee or returning them to the authority that issued the documents and if refused, to dispose of them in any other lawful manner as long as it does not result in personal information about a tenant or other person becoming publicly available. ·        Amend the Act to reduce frequency of inspections and allow longer notice periods to end a tenancy without grounds when the tenant has been in the premises for more than two years. ·        Amend the Act to provide that an application for a bond refund can only be made after the end of the tenancy or if the departing co-tenant’s share of the bond has been paid by a new incoming tenant or the remaining tenants. ·        Extend the grounds for ending a tenancy to include death of a co-tenant. ·        Reduce the notice period required when issuing a Notice to leave without grounds from two months to one month when issued by the lessor while retaining the two weeks’ notice period required by the tenant. ·        Establish the same notice period of one month for both lessors and tenants. ·         Abolish the without grounds provision so that a lessor can only end a tenancy for specific grounds. Extend the current grounds to end a tenancy to include for the lessor to move into the property and the lessor to renovate the property. ·        Amend the Act to require handover of the premises and keys by a set time on the handover day, e.g. 5pm. ·        Establish requirements similar to NSW requiring documents supporting a claim against the bond to be provided to the tenant and the RTA within seven days of a dispute resolution request being submitted to the RTA. ·        Amend the Act to require initial or periodic inspections of rental properties. ·        Amend the Act to require the lessor/agent to provide copies of property inspection reports, for example pest inspections and building certifications, to the tenant or prospective tenant on request. ·        Amend PAMDA to provide the RTA with the power to direct debit trust accounts on the authorisation of the account holder.   Real Estate Excellence will be writing a submission to the RTA. A copy will be provided to Members with the January Member update. Please provide any feedback that you may wish to have included with the Real Estate Excellence submission by 15th December 2012; alternatively please consider making individual submissions to the RTA. To download the discussion paper, visit www.rta.qld.gov.au
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