Page 4708 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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landlords and tenants. The result is not a theoretical review of current laws but a package of recommendations to give practical assistance to the many landlords and tenants in our community. I particularly thank both Justice Kelly and Justice Higgins, the two chairs of the Community Law Reform Committee over the some four years that this reference has been running, the members of the Community Law Reform Committee and the members of the secretariat from the Law Reform Unit in the Attorney-General's Department.
The current tenancy law is principally the Landlord and Tenant Act 1949. This Act has not been significantly changed since its introduction in the early postwar years. This is despite a major review of the Act prepared prior to self-government in 1984, under the direction of the then Consumer Affairs Council. The inertia in the ACT contrasts with a great deal of legislative and review activity in other jurisdictions. South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria and, most recently, New South Wales have all benefited from the introduction of modern tenancy laws. The process of change is continuing, with recent reports recommending new laws in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and progress reports on new legislation in New South Wales and other States. The work of the committee has benefited greatly from this development of knowledge and experience across the country.
The committee concludes, as did the 1984 report, that the Landlord and Tenant Act has well and truly passed its use-by date. The committee is critical of the complexity of the current Act, which contains many ambiguities and, in some cases, provides no guidance at all. The report recommends a residential tenancies Bill to establish clear and effective rules for tenancy practice in this jurisdiction. The overall aim of the report is to establish rules which are clear, which protect tenants from unwarranted interference in the use of their homes and which recognise the reasonable interests of landlords.
The report is not about radical change. Much of the report confirms existing principles of tenancy law in the ACT, while making use of developments in other jurisdictions. Each recommendation is informed by what the committee, in consultation with the community, considers is workable and reasonable. During consultation, the committee discovered that many tenants, landlords, real estate agents and, I suspect, some lawyers do not fully understand or are not aware of significant areas of tenancy law. This is particularly so in relation to termination of tenancies. This is not a criticism of the tenancy industry, but of the complexities and uncertainties of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1949.
Many of the recommendations are to assist people to understand, and make use of, the proposed new residential tenancies law. The committee recommends that the new law require people to make use of a standard form tenancy agreement. This standard agreement is to be an easy to understand document, hopefully in plain English, which contains all the legal obligations of landlord and tenant. People will be able to add their own terms and conditions to the agreement to suit their own requirements. The report contains a standard agreement in draft form. The committee proposes to develop the wording and look at the agreement through further consultation.
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