Government opposes tenancy bill to protect ACT renters

The ACT Legislative Assembly has today voted down a Green's bill that would have increased costs for lessors and tenants, and potentially squeezed the supply of rental accommodation in the ACT, Attorney General, Simon Corbell, said today.

"Although I support moves to improve the standard of rental accommodation for renters, this bill is a blunt instrument that would increase rents and reduce the supply of rental homes," Mr Corbell said.

"It would have imposed a direct cost burden on lessors, who would need to meet the new requirements or risk action being taken against them by the Office of Regulatory Services or the ACAT."

Mr Corbell said this direct cost would inevitably have been met by tenants, who would have been charged higher rents to meet the costs of the necessary improvements.

"These increases would have caused an increase in the CPI for rents, which would have caused a general rise in rents throughout the ACT rental market," he said.

"There is also a real risk that these changes would have reduced the vacancy rate in the Territory, at a time when there is already a very low vacancy rate.

"This is because many lessors would have simply been unable to afford the raft of required improvements and taken their rental properties off the market, while potential investors would have been deterred from investing in older rental properties.

"An operational review of the Residential Tenancies Act that considers a range of tenancy issues, including the likely effects of mandating or providing incentives to lessors to improve rental properties would be a more appropriate place to tackle this issue.

"My directorate will be conducting a review of the Act which will include consideration of ways in which the standard of ACT rental stock may be improved with less cost impact."