THE PRACTITIONER'S COMPANION
Wednesday 6 November 2024

Pets welcome and fewer rent hikes for NSW

End in sight for rules that allow landlords to increase rent more than once a year - as long-awaited rules come before parliament.

2 min read
Impero Conveyancing founder Fiona Eastwood

LANDLORDS in NSW will not be allowed to kick out tenants without good reason or increase rent more than once per year as part of long-awaited reforms to be introduced to parliament.

The NSW government’s rental reforms package will hit the chamber floors on Tuesday, after years of consultation and stalled election promises.

Tenants in NSW currently can have their rent increased more than once per year if they are on a fixed-term lease of less than two years or a periodic month-to-month lease.

They can also be evicted without reason, with a 2022 tenancy survey showing one NSW renter is issued a no-grounds eviction every 18 minutes.

The reforms will bring the state into line with other jurisdictions and close loopholes.

More than two million tenants in NSW have been waiting years for the reforms after Labor and the coalition went into the 2023 state election promising to ban no-grounds evictions.

After being stuck in consultation and inquiry periods for more than a year and a half, NSW Better Regulation and Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the changes would finally be introduced.

“Ensuring renters can only be hit with one rent increase a year will provide greater certainty and protection for renters regardless of whether their lease type changes,” he said.

“This bill is the result of the government’s extensive consultation on how to best modernise the market with renters, owners, industry groups, experts and advocates.”

The reforms will also make it easier for tenants to own pets, with fewer grounds for refusal, including that it would contravene other laws, the property is unsuitable, or the landlord lives at the same property.

Rental property application platforms will also be banned from asking tenants to pay for their own background checks and tenants will be able to pay their rent without a fee.

The government hopes the reforms pass parliament and come into effect in 2025.

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