Huge change for state’s struggling renters

NSW Premier Chris Minns says new laws seeking to abolish “no-grounds” evictions will allow the state’s renters “to build a home and life on surer ground”, as historically low vacancy rates continue to worsen.

Announced on Saturday, the laws seek to end the right of rental property owners to choose to end a lease “at any time or (with) no reason at all”, instead having to provide “commonsense or reasonable reasons”.

The Premier said the changes would allow for “bad tenants” to still be evicted and to protect property owners from bad behaviour, but would give the state’s ballooning population of tenants greater peace of mind.

“Anyone who rents in NSW knows just how anxious and challenging renting can be at the moment. We’ve all seen the lines on a Saturday morning with hundreds of people waiting to inspect new properties,” Mr Minns said.

“We believe this reform gets the balance right, but importantly, this will give both homeowners and renters more certainty, more peace of mind, so they can build a home and a life on surer ground.”

The NSW government said about 33 per cent of the population were renting, an increase of a whopping 17.6 per cent since 2016. Worse still, median rent price grew by about 7 per cent in the past 12 months.

Under the proposed changes, those renters would be protected from groundless evictions on periodic or fixed term leases. Owners would instead have to prove the tenant was in breach of a lease or had damaged property.

Other reasons included where there was a non-payment on rent, if the property was being sold or significantly renovated or repaired, change of use, and if the renter is no longer eligible for an affordable housing program.

Housing and Homelessness Minister for Youth Rose Jackson said the proposed changes, an election promise of current Labor government, would help create a fairer rental system which was “crucial to rebuilding our housing system.”

“For too long renters have faced an unprecedented amount of uncertainty – making it harder to secure jobs, start families and develop community links,” Ms Jackson said

“Renters who do the right thing – pay their rent, look after the house – should not have to be in a constant limbo with the possibility of an eviction for no reason just around the corner. They deserve more security and ending no grounds evictions is an important first step.”

The NSW government said the changes helped bring the state “into line with other states” including the ACT, South Australia and Victoria where state governments have already legislated their own models to end no grounds evictions.