Page 621 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 2019

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95 from the standard tenancy terms. These terms relate to termination of a tenancy by a lessor without cause. They currently provide for a notice period of 26 weeks. Removing these two clauses together will end no-cause evictions. Lessors will instead have to provide a reason for terminating a tenancy.

The Greens believe that there is a huge range of perfectly reasonable situations in which a landlord may wish to terminate a tenancy. Not paying rent is probably one of the most obvious; having a genuine need to move back into the property is another.

Once a tenancy shifts from fixed term to a periodic tenancy, landlords are currently able to give tenants 26 weeks notice to vacate without having to provide any sort of reason whatsoever for this. The problem with this is that we know what this leads to. It leads to unfair evictions.

We have heard many stories of tenants who have been given 26 weeks notice to vacate after they have complained about a maintenance issue or raised some other type of issue. More often than not, however, the mere possibility of retaliatory eviction means that tenants do not assert what rights they currently have when they would otherwise, and instead put up with substandard conditions. Basically, tenants in the very tight rental market that all members have remarked on know that if they complain about anything there is the possibility that this is going to make them homeless. This is not an outcome which we want to see happen.

This is the idea of amendment No 5: to end no-cause evictions. It would be a substantial step forward for tenants in Canberra and make little difference to any of the decent landlords in Canberra.

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) (4.02): As indicated in my earlier comments, the government is continuing to look at this matter, but we will not be supporting this amendment today.

Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

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