Striking the right balance on evictions in NSW

On the day of debate around the proposed amendments to Residential Tenancies Act 2010 the Hon. Matt Kean, Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation, made a number of statements that formed the basis of an article in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Domain.

In this article, titled, ‘Better Regulation minister Matt Kean hits back at rental law critics’ by Tawar Razaghi the Minister made two statements we'd like to correct.

1. “The data suggests that over 95 per cent of people were not concerned about no-grounds terminations.”
The data the Minister is referring to is the Unsettled report, published by Choice, National Shelter and the National Association of Tenants' Organisations (of which TUNSW is a member). We say it suggests no such thing.

There is very little data on the broader question and this is a big part of the problem for public policy debate. The government also has a proposal we put forward to implement a way to measure eviction rates and the reasons for evictions through the bond claims system, using a simple 3-question survey on the claim form, and we encourage them to take it up.

While the primary fear of renters who took part in the Choice research was rent increases (which is hardly a surprise given the number of tenants currently in rental stress), the secondary fear is not specifically identified in the data but it is there, if you look hard enough:

“Worryingly, we found that renters with more experience in the market were less likely to complain when something goes wrong which illustrates the entrenched culture of fear among renters. This is all the more of a concern when you consider the rising number of long-term renters across Australia,” said Ned Cutcher, then the National Association of Tenants’ Organisations spokesperson.

There is new research from our evictions survey which we have distributed to parliamentarians today that show that the rate of concern is much higher. Here's a sneak peek:



This now sits alongside the lived experience of tenants and academic expertise recommending a course of action to replace no grounds evictions with a reasonable grounds system. Minister Kean and the Government should accept this evidence.

It is clear that the single most important reform to ensure that the renting system is fair and that the right balance has been achieved is by ending no grounds evictions. The parliament should do that now.

2. “I respect the sacrifice that mum and dad investors have made to purchase an investment property, and we’re not going to make it impossible for them to move into their home if they wish to do that.”


Firstly, if a mum and dad investor has purchased an investment property then this is not their home. They already have a home or principal place residence. The concept of private property rights is a bundle - one of which is the right to occupy and use the premises as a home. That right was transferred to the tenant through the lease. So their investment property is somebody else’s home, and removing that person from their home shouldn't be done lightly.

Nonetheless, if an property investor ceases to have another home and needs to make use of their investment property as a home, then the proposed amendments will allow them to do this. One of the Tenants’ Union’s proposed expanded list of grounds for termination includes ‘premises to be used by the landlord or a family member as principal place of residence’. This is a feature in the ACT and Victorian reasonable grounds lists and appears in many international rules as well.

Secondly, respectfully, Minister Kean, mum and dad investors can also be mum and dad renters. The two are not mutually exclusive. But even those mum and dad investors who are not simultaneously mum and dad renters are not necessarily opposed to the removal of no grounds terminations.

Another sneak peek in the evictions survey - 55% of landlords who took part in the survey agree that there should be a reason given when ending a tenancy. As Russell told our recent NSW Parliamentary event:

So the Hon. Minister Matt Kean we implore you to, in your own words, “go back to the drawing board on no-grounds evictions” as the data and evidence is most certainly there to support removing it. Work with Parliament to strike the right balance and make renting fair!