2017 Residential Tenancies Act Review
The Victorian Government has been undertaking a review of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, as a part of its platform for housing related initiatives entitled ‘Fairer Safer Housing’ over the past year. The final RTA Options Paper outlines an extensive range of proposed changes which are extremely concerning to the REIV and may have substantial negative impacts on landlords and the practice of property managers.
Buyer Solutions emailed all our landlords earlier this month to make them aware of this review and allow them to make comment.
Buyer Solutions takes an even handed approach to these possible legislation changes as obviously they will affect tenants too. If you are a tenant or landlord, you may like to be aware of proposed changes to the Victorian Residential Tenancies Act.
Some things under review are:
Tenants may be given the right to have pets without landlord approval.
Extending fixed term leases for extra time without approval from landlords.
Introducing minimum standards for vacant premises, or when agreements are renewed.
Urgent repairs – reducing the time for landlords to dispute urgent repairs from 14 to 7 days.
Landlord repairs maintenance bond – landlords may be asked to lodge a maintenance bond so that funds are available for future repairs and maintenance.
Remedies for breach of repairs. Landlords may be prohibited from re-leasing a property that doesn’t meet minimum maintenance standards. This could cause unfair financial impact on the landlord and on property managers.
Modifications – tenants may be able to make non structural modifications to a rental property without the landlords consent.
Removal of “notice to vacate for no specific reason”. This will take away a valuable right of the landlord and it every other major state in Australia, this right exists.
Landlords may be required to disclose their home address going forward, posing a significant safety concern for landlords.
Tenants with special circumstances may be exempt from lease break fees going forward. The Act already has flexibility for hardship cases.
Abandoned or left behind goods – timelines and requirements for landlords and property managers may change and not necessarily for the better.
We will advise of any changes once final decisions are made. No doubt the REIV will be running training updates for property managers once final changes to the Residential Tenancies Act are announced.
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