Minister for Fair Trading Virginia Judge today moved to secure a balanced and certain future for residential property investors and tenants in New South Wales with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Bill 2010.

Ms Judge said the Bill was the biggest reform to the State’s residential tenancy law since the Residential Tenancies Act 1987.

“These are progressive reforms which reflect the way people live and make investment decisions now – not 20 years ago,” Ms Judge said.

Key elements of the Bill include:

• ensuring tenants have at least one free way of paying rent
• speeding up the eviction process for non-payment of rent by up to three weeks
• making it easier for private tenants to take up an offer of a place in a nursing home or social housing
• restoring certainty for landlords seeking to regain vacant possession of their premises and longer notice periods for tenants
• greater protections for domestic violence victims.

Ms Judge said the community had directly helped shape the Bill brought before the Parliament.

“Around one-third of NSW households currently live in approximately 800,000 rental properties,” she said.

“That is why I have worked hard to strike a balance which recognises that residential rental properties are both tenants’ homes and in many cases, an owner’s major investment nest egg.”

“More than 300 people lodged written submissions on the draft Bill which I put out for public consultation in November last year.

“I have also met the peak organisations, including the Real Estate Institute of NSW, Property Owners Association and the Tenants’ Union a number of times to work through their views in detail.

Ms Judge said the Bill now before State Parliament clarified a number of issues raised with her during the consultation period.

“Some property investors were worried about the idea that these proposed reforms will allow a tenant to make major changes to the property or allow anyone they like to move in without asking the owner. This is simply not the case,” she said.

“The Bill contains specific provisions that state that tenants must seek the owner’s permission before making any alterations to a property, however minor, or sub-letting a bedroom - just as they must do now.

“The Government’s aim is to also get rid of some of the more outdated provisions of the current law, such as the requirement for landlords and agents to advertise the auction of any goods left behind by a former tenant in a state-wide newspaper.”

The Residential Tenancies Bill 2010 follows the NSW Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment (Mortgagee Repossessions) Act 2009, which protects tenants if their homes are repossessed because the landlord defaulted on loan repayments.

“These are vital reforms to residential tenancy law, which almost certainly touches the lives of every adult in the State, either as a tenant or landlord,” Ms Judge said.

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