The NSW government has passed a bill amendment that includes some of the biggest changes to the state’s rental laws in decades.
Most significantly, the amendment makes way for the state to outlaw no-grounds evictions, making good on promises from both Labor and the Coalition during their 2023 election campaigns.
In addition, the legislation also closes a loophole in the state’s law to limit rental increases to once per year, and introduces a new system for approving pets in rental properties, making it easier for tenants to keep a domesticated animal.
The state will also mandate that renters are provided with a fee-free way to pay their rent, and the legislation bans the practice of charging property applicants to conduct a background check.
The restriction on no-grounds evictions and the rules making it easier to have pets in rentals are not yet in effect, as the Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 has yet to be amended to reflect these changes. This is expected to happen in early 2025.
Under the current laws, NSW landlords have been permitted to end a periodic lease at any time, provided they give the tenant 90 days’ notice. For fixed-term agreements of less than six months, landlords must give 30 days’ notice before terminating a lease. Once the laws have been officially amended, landlords will only be able to issue evictions under set circumstances. These include breaches of the lease, the sale of the property, to conduct significant repairs or renovations, change of use, and change of tenant eligibility.
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The alterations allowing pets to be kept in tenancies follows on from similar moves made by states like Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Under the changes, a renter will have to put in an application to keep a pet in a rental property, which a landlord can only reject under certain circumstances which are yet to be fleshed out.
Premier Chris Minns celebrated the passing of the legislation, describing the reforms as “sensible” changes that bring the state’s rental market “into the 21st century”.
He said the state had sought to “get the balance right for renters and owners”.
Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, stressed the state was looking to cultivate a rental market “where landlords have certainty and tenants have security, and these reforms do just that”.
“By limiting rent increases to only one a year, banning no grounds evictions, making it easier to have pets in rentals, and ensuring people can pay their rent without hidden fees, these historic reforms will make it easier for renters in NSW,” he said.
This article first appeared in REB.
