Updates

We’re looking for someone to help us continue our ‘Healthy Homes for Renters’ work for minimum energy efficiency standards for rentals. This role would suit someone with some initial experience of working in an advocacy organisation who is keen to develop and take on more responsibility over time. Initially you’ll help us to deliver key projects but over time there is scope to take more initiative and have ownership around campaigning work. You may have past experience with campaigning, but if not, a knack for project work and an appetite to learn will serve you (and us!) well.

Better Renting is recruiting for a Chair and a General Member to join our Board. 

Below is information about the Chair role. The General Member role is below with some small diferences.

To express interest in joining the Better Renting Board, please provide a short cover letter briefly explaining your interest in the role and relevant experience, along with a copy of your CV, addressed to the Chair: [email protected] The deadline for applications is 11:00 PM AEDT, March 30 2023.

In part three of the rent control series, we’ll be taking a look at how San Francisco regulates rents with a view to informing rental policy reform in Australia. 

We’ve previously discussed the various rent control schemes in place across Australian jurisdictions. In this next series, we will take a look at how some international jurisdictions have implemented rent control. When we broaden our horizons it helps us to understand that there are many paths towards protecting the dignity and security of renters in this country.

This is the first post in a new series looking at rent control. In this post we will look at rent control in Australia. We will give an overview of what rent regulation is, what currently exists in each jurisdiction, and our reflections on what is needed. 

Next year the ACT government will begin implementing a minimum ceiling insulation standard for rental homes. We know that renters are suffering due to rental rate increases and cost of living pressures, including hugely inflated energy prices. Renters live in homes that are generally of a lower standard than owner-occupiers and our research shows that renters are vulnerable to the health effects of an excessively hot or cold property. At the same time, landlords have little incentive to improve the energy efficiency of a rental home, as they don’t pay the bills. Up to 40% of the heat in a home is lost through the roof, so it makes sense that the government has decided to focus first on ceiling insulation by introducing minimum ceiling insulation requirements for rental homes beginning on 1 April 2023.

With the Victorian state election coming up on 26 November 2022, we wrote to representatives from Labor, the Liberals and the Greens to ask their position on a range of key rental issues:

• ending no cause terminations,
• tackling excessive rent increases, and
• expanding energy efficiency minimum standards.

For each question we provided some context about why this issue matters and the response that Better Renting would want to see. We have reproduced this below, along with responses from the relevant party spokespeople. 

We received quite different responses, and we have not scored them or evaluated them against one another. However, we hope that by obtaining and presenting this information we can help you to take the responses into account as election day draws nearer.

I remember going to inspect rentals and being stoked to find a gas cooktop in the kitchen. Like many of us, I've had bad experiences of old electric stovetops that take an age to heat up and cool down. It's also sometimes unclear when they are even on, and I've burnt many a teatowel this way. Gas is what I (and my housemates, unhappy about burnt teatowels) wanted. 

I never want to see one of these again.

But in coming years, this isn't going to be so true. Gas is a fossil fuel and we need to stop burning it in our homes (it's also often more expensive, and it causes indoor air pollution which causes asthma). So it's becoming much more common for homes to be all-electric. Reverse-cycle AC is replacing gas heaters and gas stoves are being replaced by electric induction stoves which, thank heavens, do not have the many disadvantages of old-school electric cookers.

This is an exciting opportunity for people renting. No gas connection fees! Less childhood asthma! Being able to cool your home in summer! But there are also risks. In this little post I want to outline some risks and how Better Renting is thinking about this issue.

This fact sheet will deal with the requirements for a termination notice to be valid under ACT tenancy law. Both tenants and landlords can issue termination notices, but this overview focuses on those issued by landlords. Further, this fact sheet will not deal with terminations that are based on a breach of the agreement by either tenants or landlords. Our focus is on ‘no fault’ terminations. You can read more about how this category of termination functions around Australia here.

A notice is basically a formal communication relating to the tenancy agreement. A landlord may give you notice for a whole number of things, such as a notice to conduct an inspection. This fact sheet will deal with the specific requirements of a notice to increase the rent in the ACT. This information only applies if you are in a periodic tenancy agreement and not if you are starting or renewing a fixed term lease. 

This fact sheet will clarify the idea of "fair wear and tear" and help you to get your bond back. Many tenants can feel anxious near the end of your lease because your landlord may try to make a claim on your bond. Actually, the law in the ACT says that certain damage is okay - as long as it is "fair wear and tear", and your landlord cannot make a bond claim for this sort of damage. But the legislation is not super helpful when trying to figure out what this really means! This is where we come in.

How do you sleep at night?

With rental homes so cold, it's a reasonable question. We're joining with Healthy Homes for Renters to support people who rent to share our stories of what we have to do to cope with our crappy cold homes. 

You can learn more about the project and share your own story on the Healthy Homes for Renters website: https://www.healthyhomes.org.au/howdoyousleepatnight

It seems like every time anyone proposes doing anything to make things the slightest bit for renters, the real estate lobby comes out opposing the proposal — not because it would reduce landlord profits, no, but because it would lead to higher rents. For example:

"So, every time you take away a right that a property owner has...well, then all that will simply mean is fewer investors in the market and rents are going to go up, it's simple maths."

This is an absurd argument. In this post we'll try to take it down once and for all. In turn, we'll discuss:

• Why the fear-mongering about high rents is disguised self-interest,
• Why 'cost pass through' is not a real threat,
• The evidence that rental reform doesn't discourage investment, &
• The evidence that divestment won't reduce housing supply.

We are looking forward to the release of the 2021 Census results, which should be happening next week. In anticipation of those results, we thought we'd take a bit of a look at some data from the most recent census. When the latest census data comes out, it will be interesting to see what changes have happened. Key areas we are interested in are mobility in rental households, and changes in household composition.

We hear from lots of people interested in renting with pets. And it's no surprise: most Australian households have pets, and with more people renting long-term, more of us want the opportunity to have pets in a rental home.

If you rent in Queensland, here are answers to some common questions about renting with pets.

Better Renting was officially registered on 5 April 2018. Over the last three years, we're proud to have worked with renters to take a stand on the issues that affect us and contribute to changing the conversation and the laws around renting, across Australia. Our 2018-2020 Impact Report commemorates and celebrates everything our community has achieved over this time.

A recent national statement by community organisations from across Australia called for urgent action from Australian governments to protect renters during this crisis, proposing five measures for state and territory governments to implement. This report evaluates the ACT Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic against those measures. Despite some positive steps, the ACT Government is failing to provide renters with secure homes during a worldwide pandemic in which housing is a primary defence against the spread of infection.

By Joel Dignam, Executive Director, Better Renting.

Coronavirus has changed everything for renters and landlords. In a matter of weeks, a huge number of people have lost work. Renters were particularly affected, as they were more likely to be in insecure employment. Property investors had to face the possibility that their reliable income stream, derived from the waged labour of renters, might be drying up. 

In a number of blog posts, I hope to consider the immediate government response but also what we need to see in the medium and longer-term. But as context, this post is a foreword of sorts, considering where renters and the property market stood before the onset of coronavirus.