Victorian government to crack down on dodgy landlords 

As a part of the state government’s raft of housing announcements, new renters’ rights reforms that aim to implement measures protecting tenants from dodgy landlords have been declared. 

The reforms will be introduced to the Victorian Parliament in stages during the next 12 months, with the Labor government intending to ensure that landlords will be held accountable for making renters pay costs that aren’t real. 

“No fault” evictions will also be banned under the new reforms. However, tenants will still be able to be evicted for reasons such as damage, not paying rent or if the owner is moving back in. 

State Consumer Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams said that “renters’ rights are all about respect – that’s the principle that we are trying to bring to the rental market through more than 130 reforms.”

The minister also announced a crack-down on the misuse of “rent-tech” apps by prohibiting a rental provider, their agent or a third-party app from passing these costs onto tenants.

“By banning fees and charges on rental payments and applications, and cracking down on unfair bond claims, we’re putting more money back in the pockets of renters,” Ms Williams said. 

As a part of the new reforms, there will also be new measures enforced for tenants who break rental agreements. 

The rental provider will be entitled to some compensation for lost rent, but ways to make this amount more reasonable will be explored over the next year. 

For fixed term rental agreements of five years or less, the government will legislate a cap, for example, targeting one week’s rent based on the proportion of remaining months in the rental agreement, up to a maximum four weeks in total.

This means, if such an agreement is in place and applies to you, then you won’t pay more than four weeks of rent for breaking your lease. 

Additionally, the government will change the law, so that when you request an additional electronic key or security fob for you or someone who lives with you, the agent should provide it and can’t unreasonably deny it.

It will also be an offence under the law for an electronic key or security device to be terminated unless it’s part of the process of terminating a rental agreement.

Tenants Victoria CEO Jennifer Beveridge said, “Tenants Victoria welcomes these measures to better protect the rights of renters – who make up almost 30 per cent of Victorians – in their homes. After all, housing is an essential service and a human right.”

“Extending the ban on no-reason evictions gives renters more security,” she said.

“It puts them on a more even footing to request repairs, for example, in the knowledge that rental providers cannot ask them to leave without a reason under the law.” •