This month, NSW renters are being given a reprieve as the NSW Government intends to introduce several legislative amendments designed to build a fairer rental market.
The proposed bill, which has been in consultation with private stakeholders, includes requiring landlords to provide free ways for tenants to pay their rent.
While the existing legislation requires that landlords and real estate agents provide at least one free way to pay rent, the loose wording of the Residential Tenancies Act allows for landlords and agents to put that method out of easy reach by making it inconvenient (such as requiring in-person payments). Modernising the requirements for free methods of payment to (for example) a free bank transfer could see renters saving up to 1.5 per cent of their weekly rent in fees.
The bill also makes it easier for tenants to own pets in rentals by making the landlord unable to refuse pets without good reason.
Further to this, the bill will include previously announced measures, such as the removal of no grounds evictions to improve renter certainty and a further crackdown on fees relating to rental applications.
The changes are welcome in the tough rental market, with historically low vacancy rates and ever-increasing median rent prices. They follow a number of initiatives introduced by the government, including the introduction of the free Rent Check tool and further investments to establish a Rental Taskforce within NSW Fair Trading to act on serious breaches of rental laws.
For more information, see here.
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