Page 3719 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 2011
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minimum rental standards, as houses that have improved energy efficiency will be able to demand higher rents, leaving low income tenants priced out of the market and pushing them into the lowest quality housing.
The bill commences the advertising provision in January 2013, with the minimum energy standard commencing in 2014. So advertising an EER will be against the backdrop of the new standard coming into force. The specific standards are set out for energy efficiency and water efficiency. The energy efficiency standard requires premises to meet an EER of two from January 2014, and an EER of three from January 2016. Water efficiency standards are delivered through fitting low-flow shower heads and taps, and installing a dual-flush toilet.
The bill requires the minister to set standards in relation to a range of other areas, such as ventilation and damp, construction and condition, supply of hot and cold water, heating, laundry and cooking facilities, lighting, hard-wired smoke alarms and electrical safety. We have now included security in this list as well in response to community feedback that more work would be required to determine the kinds of locks and other security devices that should be utilised.
The bill then outlines a process whereby a tenant can raise concerns with their landlord firstly and then the Office of Regulatory Services if no agreement is reached that minimum standards are not being met. The tenant can seek an order from the ORS to ensure that a landlord undertakes work to bring the property up to the minimum standard.
Should an order not be met, the bill also allows for the ORS or the tenant to take the matter to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal and outlines a range of orders that ACAT can take in regard to the matter. The process for a tenant to request that a minimum standard be met is designed primarily to be a process of negotiated outcomes rather than a punitive process.
We did contemplate a suggestion to create an offence for not meeting the minimum standards. However, we ultimately concluded that that would be policy and regulatory overkill that would place high resource demands on the government to implement. In contrast, the process that we have settled on is one that is triggered when there is a problem.
Some have raised concerns that, like other rentals dispute resolution processes, it may leave the tenant in a powerless situation. However, I think we have the balance right and that if tenant disempowerment is a substantial issue, as it seems to be, we need to look at other ways to support tenants, such as better resourcing of tenant advisory and support services.
The other major feature of this bill is the capacity for a landlord to apply for an exemption if they believe that premises cannot meet the minimum standards or where the cost of meeting the minimum standard is considered unreasonable. The clause allows the minister to create exemptions from specific standards for premises or a class of premises. For example, monocrete houses may not easily meet the energy efficiency standards or insulation could be difficult to install in the case of hard-wired smoke alarms in houses with no access to the roof space and wiring.
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