‘No grounds’ evictions to come to an end in NSW
No matter the result of the upcoming NSW election, “no grounds” evictions will no longer feature in periodic tenancies across the state.
The Tenants’ Union of NSW (TUNSW) has shared that the NSW Liberals and Nationals have committed to replacing “no grounds” evictions with a set of “reasonable grounds”, meaning there is now consensus between the state’s major political parties “that stable homes need to be a feature of our modern renting systems”.
While calling the achievement of cross-party support for the ending of the eviction type during periodic agreements “a huge step forward”, the union also argued that the announcement “does not go far enough.”
That’s because the majority of renters (71 per cent) experiencing “no grounds” evictions are actually receiving such notices at the end of a fixed-term tenancy, it reported.
According to TUNSW, that’s because they have “seen landlords and their agents in other jurisdictions take advantage of this omission, shifting renters onto shorter fixed-term tenancies to ensure they can continue evicting for no reason.”
Instead of ending “no grounds” evictions at the end of fixed-term agreements, the TUNSW noted that the NSW Liberals and Nationals had announced notice periods would be extended for the end of fixed-term tenancies from 30 to 45 days.
“Extra time to find a new rental home can be helpful for renters evicted at the end of a fixed-term agreement. However, within fixed-term tenancies, renters can’t leave early without facing a break fee, so extra notice won’t necessarily help renters. This will need to be addressed at the point of implementation to ensure renters can leave once notice is given to make sure it has the intended impact,” the advocacy group argued.
If re-elected, the Liberals and Nationals have said they would also honour a number of other commitments, including “a focus on compliance and enforcement of the recently introduced rules against solicited rent bidding and a re-commitment to implement a rental bond rollover scheme.”
All in all, TUNSW said the latest announcement “makes clear that decision makers are listening to renters.”
“In the face of rent increases racing ahead of inflation and household wages, there needs to be a focus from all parties on how to address rental affordability,” they flagged.
“Alongside ensuring we have available stock at a range of price points, this needs to include considering solutions that reflect renting as an essential service. This includes putting in place fair and appropriate limits around rent setting, including much better protections of unfair rent increases, just as we have seen bipartisan support for in relation to energy prices,” the TUNSW concluded.
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