Page 2346 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2022
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At the end of the tenancy, the tenant will be required to restore the garden to substantially the same condition as at the start of the tenancy, taking into account fair wear and tear. This approach strikes an appropriate balance between the tenant’s ability to use the property as a home, growing food to nourish themselves and their family, whilst also ensuring landlords retain some say in the modifications made to the property.
Finally, the bill will make changes to support the introduction of minimum housing standards for rental properties in the ACT. It will do this by ensuring landlords have a right of access to the property to undertake any changes required to ensure the property complies with minimum standards, by creating mandatory disclosure requirements so that prospective tenants are aware of the property’s compliance with minimum standards before deciding whether to rent the property, and giving tenants remedies where the property does not meet required minimum standards. These remedies include allowing tenants to apply to the ACAT for a rent reduction or other compensation or to end the tenancy.
Creating this framework for the implementation of minimum housing standards in the ACT will help to ensure that all properties for rent in the ACT are able to meet minimum standards as they are introduced. More work is required to be undertaken to determine which minimum standards are introduced as a priority and will form a further tranche of reforms.
Tenancy reforms can have very direct impacts on people’s lives. For tenants, these laws affect their rights in relation to the property they call home. For landlords, these laws affect the ways in which they can manage their investment. While tenancy reforms are important, they can at times be technical, and the specific way in which a provision is worded can impact on how the changes operate in practice.
In acknowledgement of the widespread impact of these changes, as well as the desire expressed by many stakeholders to see the specific details of proposed changes, the government has released a public exposure draft of the bill to allow the community to provide further feedback.
For Canberrans interested in participating in this important conversation, the bill that I am tabling today is also available on the Your Say website, along with details on how feedback can be provided. The consultation period on these reforms will close on 26 August this year.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have provided input so far and those who will provide a submission in response to the public exposure draft of the bill. Your feedback is vital in ensuring that these important changes operate fairly and effectively in practice.
I would also like to take this opportunity to address an issue separate to the reforms in the bill being tabled today. As members may recall, as a result of a motion moved by Mr Pettersson, this Assembly passed a resolution on 23 March this year which called on the ACT government to review the information imbalance that exists between tenants and landlords, and consider whether prospective tenants should have the right
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