A third of people rent their home across the State and the NSW Government committed to changing rental laws to give more stability to renters and certainty to owners on matters of lease termination, pets in rentals, personal information, and bonds.
The record number of responses to the Government’s ‘Have Your Say’ survey on rental laws revealed most renters are in favour of change, while most owners and real estate agents oppose reforms.
The Government’s received feedback on important reforms including the Portable bonds scheme, ending no grounds eviction, and making it easier for renters to have pets.
Currently in NSW, a pet can be rejected by an owner without a reason unless it is an assistance animal. When asked if laws should be changed to require a landlord to give a good reason to reject a pet or go to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to refuse an animal, 93 per cent of renters supported the idea compared with 28 per cent of owners.
The three most supported reasons a pet could be refused included it being a restricted, dangerous, or menacing animal, keeping the animal would break other laws and if the property wasn’t suitable for the pet.
Owners, renters, and agents were generally supportive of rules for how the personal information of renters is used, shared, stored, and accessed.
The ‘Have Your Say’ survey received 16,032 responses including 405 written submissions. Of these 57 per cent of respondents were renters, 34 per cent owners and the survey was available in seven languages ensuring voices across the community were heard.
In addition to the extensive public consultation on the rental reforms, NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones also held in-depth roundtables and one-on-one engagements with more than 60 organisations including renters, property providers, industry bodies, academics, legal services, advocates, and animal welfare organisations.
This feedback will inform proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act including to the termination of a lease, pets in rentals, the protection of renter information and a portable bond scheme.
The results of the ‘Improving NSW Rental laws’ public consultation survey is available on the Have Your Say website.
Submissions will be published online soon.
Quotes to be attributed to Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong:
“The response to this consultation was the biggest ever. There are strong views about the future of our rental market because today it impacts more people than ever before.
“While there was strong engagement, there were different views on key issues, such as ways to
implement a ban on no-grounds evictions.
“These reforms will be some of the biggest changes to the market in decades, and there hasn’t
been a consistent approach across jurisdictions in Australia.
“We’ll take the time needed to make sure we forge a path forward that gets the balance right,
without unduly slowing these important reforms."
Quotes to be attributed to NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones:
“We had a record number of responses to the survey which proves how important a fair rental market is to the renters, owners, advocates, organisations, and industry groups across the State.
“A third of people rent in NSW so hearing from renters and owners is critical to shaping change.
“We have consulted widely and have a very strong network of stakeholders to inform our policy positions.
"This feedback will help us improve the rental market providing certainty and security to both renters and owners.
“We are also learning from the experience of other States and Territories and their respective rental reforms as we tailor a model for our unique rental market circumstances in NSW.
“We are progressing the reforms with a focus on getting the detail right and we will continue to work with our stakeholders to achieve this.”
