Page 5554 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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(20) These requirements are not ‘enforced’ by an independent body. Instead, a party to the agreement could choose to bring the matter to the ACAT for resolution.
Housing—rental
(Question No 809)
Ms Le Couteur asked the Minister for Regulatory Services, upon notice, on 27 October 2017 (redirected to the Attorney-General):
(1) In relation to endorsed terms under the Residential Tenancies Act, are Endorsed Terms publicly accessible.
(2) What deliberations are made on each set of endorsed terms by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT).
(3) Who are parties to or have standing to be parties to those deliberations.
(4) Do ACAT members undertake their own inquiries into the legality or suitability of each set of endorsed terms.
(5) Are there any fees associated with having a set of terms endorsed by ACAT.
(6) Has ACAT provided blanket endorsement of no pets terms, no smoking terms or professional carpet cleaning terms.
Mr Ramsay: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The endorsed terms are not publicly accessible.
(2) The process for seeking endorsement of additional terms for a residential tenancy agreement is set out in section 10 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. The parties to a residential tenancy agreement apply in writing to the ACAT for endorsement of a term of the agreement that is inconsistent with a standard residential tenancy term.
When making a decision on endorsement, the ACAT must consider whether the inclusion of the inconsistent term was obtained by fraud or undue influence (s10(3)(b)). ACAT must not endorse a term that is inconsistent with the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (other than a standard residential tenancy term). The Minister has power under the Act to determine criteria for the ACAT to consider when making a decision on endorsement, but no criteria has been made to date.
(3) The parties to the endorsement application are the parties to the residential tenancy agreement (i.e. the tenant/s and lessor/lessor’s agent).
(4) See (2) above. The ACAT uses the process in section 10 of the Act when considering each individual endorsement application.
(5) There are no fees for an application for endorsement. More information about the endorsement process is available on the ACAT website http://acat.act.gov.au/application type/residential_tenancy/residential_tenancies_endorsements.
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