The NSW Government has announced that it will be banning “no-grounds” evictions across the state from next year, finally making good on its commitment to ban the practise in last year’s election. The changes announced by NSW Premier Chris Minns are some of the biggest reforms to rental laws in NSW in a decade.
No-grounds or no-fault evictions occur when a landlord decides to evict a tenant from their property in the 30 days prior to a fixed-lease ending, or with 90 days warning for ongoing lease, for no reason. Under current laws, this type of eviction happens to someone in NSW every 18 minutes.
By following through with the promise to ban the practise of no-grounds evictions, the NSW Labor Government aims to make housing fairer for the 33 per cent of people in the state who rent.
“We believe this reform gets the balance right, but importantly, this will give both homeowners and renters more certainty, more peace of mind, so they can build a home and a life on surer ground,” said Premier Minns.
These reforms will bring NSW up to speed with other states such as Victoria, South Australia, and the ACT. So what are the exact changes being made, and when will no-grounds evictions be banned in NSW?
What are the changes being made?
The current rental laws in NSW allow a property owner to choose to end a residential lease for no reason at all. Under the reforms proposed by the Minns Government, a homeowner will need to provide their tenant with “commonsense” reasons for eviction.
What’s more is that the government outlined that there will be punishments in place for landlords who don’t want to comply with these changes.
Evictions must follow ‘commonsense’ reasons
Though renters will no longer be able to get booted from their home without any reason, there are still plenty of reasons that a landlord can kick out a tenant.
Some of these “commonsense” reasons outlined by the government include:
- When the property is being sold with vacant possession.
- When the owner or owner’s family member intend on moving in.
- When the property will no longer be used as a rental home.
- When significant repairs or renovations are taking place that make the property uninhabitable.
- And all the existing rules for when the tenants are at fault — e.g. failure to pay rent, damage to property, breach of lease, etc.
Additionally, specific instances can occur that allow the owner to have a tenant evicted, such as the property being specifically for housing students and the tenant no longer studying.
“Bad tenants will still be able to be evicted. We don’t want homeowners to have to put up with bad behaviour,” Minns said in a statement.
So really, there’s still a tonne of reasons that a landlord could have a tenant evicted — however these are all arguably pretty reasonable. What matters is that landlords are no longer able to decide to boot out a renter on a whim.
Punishments to landlords who don’t comply
And to ensure that landlords don’t try and bend the rules, the Minns Government promised that there would be penalties in place for landlords who terminate a lease for “non-genuine reasons”.
Though the exact penalties and punishments have not been clarified yet, Minns told the ABC that they will be “broadly in line with other jurisdictions”, but will determine the exact details in the legislation after further consultation.
“We’ve got a mind’s eye as to what they’ll be, broadly in line with what the penalties currently applying in Queensland and Victoria are, but we haven’t released them just yet,” he told RN Breakfast.
“Obviously enough to make sure that people don’t routinely or brazenly break the law, or as a cost of business [they] excise their tenant from their place in order to pay a nominal fine.”
Changes to eviction notice times
Included in the sweeping reforms are increases to the amount of warning that a landlord must give their tenants before they are evicted.
Those on fixed-term leases that are six months or less will have the notice of eviction increased from 30 days to 60 days. Meanwhile those on fixed-term leases of more than six months will have the notice period increased from 60 days to 90 days.
Unfortunately for those on ongoing/rolling leases, the notice period for evictions will remain at 90 days.
When will ‘No-Grounds’ evictions be banned in NSW?
Unfortunately, despite the grand announcement to commit to their election promise, the NSW Labor Government did not provide an exact date on when the ban on no-grounds evictions would be implemented.
The Minns Government said in a statement that it aims to introduce the new legislation to state Parliament in September, and would have the reforms begin “early next year”, however this is subject to the consultation period.
[Image: Getty]
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