Page 4619 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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above the housing element of CPI, the landlord will have to apply to the ACAT to consider the proposed rent change.
This change will give stronger effect to our existing formula for evaluating changes in rent. It does not mean that a rent increase above the basic formula cannot be justified; what it means is that there will be oversight on the fairness of the decision.
The bill also includes an amendment to more fairly manage the situation where tenants move out early. The Residential Tenancies Act currently provides that the tenant and lessor can agree to include an optional break-lease clause, which requires the tenant to pay a break-lease fee for terminating a fixed term tenancy agreement early.
The amendment retains the option to include a break-lease clause in the residential tenancy agreement, but limits the fee to the loss experienced by the lessor. For example, this will mean that in a share house if a tenant moves out and another moves in on the same day, the landlord cannot charge the full break-lease fee.
As a package these amendments represent yet another step in our work to ensure that everyone in Canberra can make their house a home. We are committed to viewing housing as a human right, and our housing strategy provides us with a framework for considering the bill and for delivering even more protections for Canberrans over the coming term.
We will continue to work with tenants groups and others to deliver even stronger reforms over the rest of this term. We will be looking at measures to ensure that tenants do not face retaliation for exercising their rights. We will be looking at how agents manage and offer places and, importantly, we will be bringing forward legislation to deal with share housing, caravan parks and other living situations currently dealt with through occupancy principles. Our focus in these reforms, as in this bill, will be to contribute to equitable, diverse and sustainable housing for all Canberrans. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Parton) adjourned to the next sitting.
Gaming Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
Mr Ramsay, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (10.48): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
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