Page 4709 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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The report also recommends that every tenant receive an information booklet at the start of the tenancy. The booklet is to complement the standard agreement and to provide practical information on tenants' rights, and what to do and where to go in case of difficulty or dispute with the landlord. A third of the report is devoted to establishing clear rules and procedures for termination of tenancies. The central question is: In what circumstances, and on what grounds, should a landlord be able to terminate a tenancy and evict the tenant? The report recommends that the proposed Act protect the security of tenure of the tenant and restrict the circumstances in which a landlord can seek termination when the agreed term of a tenancy expires. This is not new. The existing Landlord and Tenant Act and legislation in other jurisdictions already do so.
What is new is the recommendations on the particular grounds on which the landlord can seek termination. The existing legislation basically prohibits the landlord evicting a tenant unless the landlord needs the accommodation to live in or wishes to reconstruct the premises. Other grounds of limited application exist. The report recommends the relaxation of these restrictions to allow the landlord to seek termination in order to sell the premises and to make major renovations or major repairs. After recognising the divisions in the community and within the committee itself on this issue, the report also recommends that the landlord be able to terminate the tenancy without any ground, that is, in the absence of any ground prescribed in the legislation. The landlord is to be able to do this, provided the tenant receives some six months' warning of the coming termination. This effort to reach a workable compromise on this difficult issue is indicative of the practical, reasoned thinking of the committee throughout.
The committee emphasises that people must be able to take immediate, effective action to resolve disputes and, if necessary, to protect their rights under the proposed Act. If people cannot, or feel unable to, go to a court or tribunal to enforce their rights, then those rights are largely illusory. The report recommends establishment of a specialist residential tenancies tribunal to hear all applications under the proposed Act. The report also recommends that the large number of criminal offences in the current Act be greatly reduced, as they are largely ineffective. In their place, there are to be a few core criminal offences; and the proposed tribunal is to have limited powers to impose a civil penalty. An appendix to the report containing draft legislation reflecting the recommendations of the committee will be tabled on completion. This draft will assist consultation on the committee's recommendations, as will the consultation on the draft standard agreement. This report will be the basis of major law reform in the next session of the Assembly; and a further report, looking at public tenancies and linking them to the proposed Bill, will be presented.
MR CORNWELL (3.58): I wish to respond briefly to Mr Connolly's comments on this matter. It is a very important report. I note that, originally, the terms of reference were laid down by a previous Minister in the First Assembly, in September 1990. The report has been some time coming. I also rise to comment because I see that my submission to this inquiry went forward. I shall read the report with great interest. Again, as it is obviously impossible at this point to make a comment in any depth, I look forward to having the opportunity of saying more words on this very important report in the next Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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