Boarding House Residents Stories: Ronald

Welcome to our series of Boarding House Residents Stories exploring a range of residents experiences in boarding houses. The stories have been collected and written by Sally Chalmers, Resources & Development, Boarding House Services, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

When he was a young man, Ronald Bell moved with family to Sydney where they lived in a boarding house in Pyrmont for five years. The place had eight rooms, board was $2 per week and included a furnished room with a laundry service.

It was close to the railways where Ronald and the boys worked doing mail runs across NSW. He laughs as he tells a story about catching (and occasionally missing) the mail bag with a giant hook!
At that time, boarding houses were for men only and mostly housed people from country areas, who needed somewhere affordable to stay while they visited or worked in the city.

When his father passed away, Ronald moved to another boarding house in Glebe where he lived for 10 years. Again this place had eight rooms, all the residents worked, and there were never any problems living there. You got good cheap accommodation for a good price.

Visitors were allowed, and sometimes stayed over. Ronald talks about sleeping on the floor in his room or another resident’s room when someone came to stay with him. There was no curfew or visiting hours, but all residents tended to respect one another’s privacy. There were furnished communal areas inside and out where residents got together and socialised. As there were a number of bathrooms and a good-sized kitchen with working appliances, there were seldom issues with sharing facilities. The house was well kept by the owner.

Ronald has been living in a Newtown boarding house since 1983. His only remaining family connection lives outside of Sydney.

The boarding house has 10 rooms and he says that he loves living there. He knows all of the residents – even the 18 year old! He feels as though there is a sense of community in the house.

Sometimes the other guys check in on him and see if he wants help with washing or chores. Although the house is old and could do with some repairs, it doesn’t bother him.

Ronald’s room is small but homely and hundreds of his drawings and DVDs cover every available space, with a big TV in the middle. He loves his Meals on Wheels, which he heats up in his microwave. He is very content with his private space in a communal house. He doesn’t have to be social all the time but can join other residents when he feels like it. Ronald is spending a lot more time in his room of late. He used to get out regularly for shopping and social outings but he is due for a hip replacement in coming months.

Although he lives on the ground floor, the steep steps up to the front door are more and more difficult as time goes by. He’s hoping the boarding house manager will invest in a rail soon.

Ronald's story originally appeared in the Tenant News #107. For more information on boarding houses, why not subscribe to Onboard, our new e-bulletin all about Boarding Houses? For individual advice about issues in a boarding house, or any tenancy issues, contact your local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service.

Boarding House Residents Stories: Nina

Welcome to our series of Boarding House Residents Stories exploring a range of residents experiences in boarding houses. The stories have been collected and written by Sally Chalmers, Resources & Development, Boarding House Services, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

For the past 3 years Nina, aged 64, has been living in a large boarding house in Marrickville. The property has about 100 rooms (single and shared) filled with men and women of all ages and walks of life seeking affordable accommodation ($150-$180/week) in Sydney’s Inner West. There is only one manager for the complex and they don’t live on site.

Prior to living here she had been staying at an inner-city crisis accommodation for women and families. When Nina needed to move out, her options were extremely limited as her low income and lack of rental history made it very difficult to find affordable and accessible accommodation. Getting on the waiting list for Housing NSW was possible, but the wait would be more than 3 years. Even if she had the required bond money, the necessary paperwork and references required for private rental were non-existent.

So she moved, with her daughter, into a single room at the boarding house. It was convenient as she didn’t need to pay bond, and they could share the rent. One slept in the bed and the other on the floor until eventually her daughter found alternative lodgings.

The condition of the premises is poor, quite unhygienic and the manager only calls in to collect rent from the residents. Nina cooks in her room to avoid using the communal areas; which in itself is a safety hazard. She says that ‘keeping busy is her saviour’ and spends her days out and about, volunteering and taking part in community activities, such as those on offer at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

It is evident that her current living situation puts her safety at risk. Police are called to the boarding house so often to solve disputes between residents or to address antisocial behaviour, often fuelled by drugs and alcohol, that locals refer to it as ‘the other Marrickville Police Station’. Nina has learned to avoid areas where difficult residents gather, and to not engage with them, as it only leads to confrontations.

When asked about her future accommodation options, she says that it’s too much hassle and too expensive to move. Nina feels that having a roof over her head is a blessing, and she feels bad for rough sleepers. She knows she is in a better position than many people so is happy with her lot.

Nina's story originally appeared in the Tenant News #107. For more information on boarding houses, why not subscribe to Onboard, our new e-bulletin all about Boarding Houses? For individual advice about issues in a boarding house, or any tenancy issues, contact your local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service.

Boarding House Residents Stories: Gretta

Welcome to our series of Boarding House Residents Stories exploring a range of residents experiences in boarding houses. The stories have been collected and written by Sally Chalmers, Resources & Development, Boarding House Services, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

Gretta moved to Sydney from the Central Coast for a few important reasons. Firstly, to be in a better place for proximity to support services and transport, and secondly but more importantly, so she could access the social networks and activities that help her to enjoy life.

Being diagnosed with bipolar disorder means sometimes life is very challenging for Gretta. She has learned to manage this illness over time and with the right medication, but still struggles with other physical health conditions as well. Despite these illnesses, Gretta is full of humour and has a positive outlook, even though she has had some very difficult times finding a place to call home during her years in Sydney.

She’s lived in a women’s refuge and had social housing briefly in Redfern – where she mentions that someone actually held a syringe to her throat over a cigarette! Most of her accommodation has been in boarding houses in the Inner West.

When she first moved from the refuge into a boarding house she liked the independence, but felt very scared of being in a new place. Some residents would come back late at night, very drunk. The other residents would not ask them to be quiet or call the police as they didn’t want to bring trouble to themselves, and as the only woman in the house Gretta would just keep her door firmly locked. She moved from place to place to try and find one that suited her. She doesn’t mind her current place as it is in a suburb she likes, near transport and there are only six other residents which also makes it feel more like a home.

Gretta feels that her current living arrangement is acceptable, but it also contributes to her bipolar condition. She’d like to have her friends over but doesn’t because other people in the house always want to know what’s going on even when it’s not their business. She says about her condition, “It’s very frustrating when you know how you want things to be and they just can’t be that way. I feel angry but if I show this then I’m likely to be booted out and back to square one, and this is why I isolate myself more.”

Gretta is on a disability support pension. When asked how she manages financially she says “Rent always comes first. I can always go to a food van for the other basics.” When asked about finding private rental she laughs and talks honestly about how it’s impossible to find something on her own for less than $300/week. She has tried to save up but it’s impossible to save a 4-6 week deposit on her low income – as well as paying a month in3 advance. It’s not only the money that’s difficult. She talks about the hugely overwhelming task of getting a lease. The forms and paperwork are very hard to understand and her rental history makes it difficult to get a good and reliable reference which is a priority for estate agents. She says “I do want to find my own place but I just can’t afford it – unless I live in my own cardboard box somewhere!”

Gretta is a very outgoing individual when her mental health is going well, and participates in a theatre group called ‘Milk Crate Theatre’. When she visits the Neighbourhood Centre in Newtown, she often sits and chats with a group of friends or workers. She’s doing a Diploma of Community Services, and is looking forward to working as a social worker or in counselling, where she feels her experience will be instrumental in helping those facing similar challenges to herself.

Gretta's story originally appeared in the Tenant News #107. For more information on boarding houses, why not subscribe to Onboard, our new e-bulletin all about Boarding Houses? For individual advice about issues in a boarding house, or any tenancy issues, contact your local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service.

Boarding House Residents Stories: Tony

Welcome to our series of Boarding House Residents Stories exploring a range of residents experiences in boarding houses. The stories have been collected and written by Sally Chalmers, Resources & Development, Boarding House Services, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre.

Within minutes of talking to Tony for the first time, he has painted you a clear picture of how he came to be in Newtown renting a single room in a boarding house for $172/week. This is the first boarding house he has ever lived in and he has now been there for around 12 months. There are 13 rooms in this house.

Serving in (and surviving) Vietnam may have contributed to his ability to battle on despite what comes his way. Now 63, his life’s ups include two marriages, having children and a successful career, but these positives have been punctuated by very difficult times such as caring for his ill wife, being widowed, surviving cancer, and his more recent separation from his second wife and young child.

Tony’s relationship breakdown, separation and his subsequent poor financial position meant that boarding house accommodation was the only real option for him at this point in his life. He currently receives a government Newstart allowance, more than half which he spends on rent. While his rental history would have given him access to the private market, the bond plus the setting-up costs of private, unfurnished accommodation was well beyond his means.

When he first arrived he was shocked at the condition of the house. He felt it was unclean, had a ‘fierce’ odour, and there was much disrepair in the communal living areas – particularly the bathrooms and kitchen which he still won’t enter due to the horrific state they are in.

The manager (an elderly male resident) does not engage in any regular cleaning or arranging repairs so many areas are damaged, rundown and dirty. Appliances, the water heater and gas stoves are often broken. Loose power cords and over-filled power points are a common sight.

Tony himself cleaned the top bathroom for almost a month just to get it up to a standard where he felt he could shower there. Tony regularly washes his bedding and uses two cans of insecticide per fortnight to keep the bed bugs at bay.

He still gets bitten.

When asked about the other residents in the house, Tony shakes his head. He advises that when entering a boarding house, people need to be prepared for dysfunction and residents regularly using medications or drugs and alcohol. He believes that 80% or moreof the residents have absolutely no idea about respect for others (or themselves). Most of them don’t work, and spend little time outside of the premises.

Since living here he has experienced antisocial behaviour, violence and unreasonable levels of noise. The police are called to the house regularly to settle disputes between residents. The manager is nowhere to be found when this occurs.

This Newtown boarding house was easy to access, affordable, close to amenities and gives him his independence while he sorts out his other priorities. He feels that his current position is only temporary, making him able to accept the not-so-acceptable living standards. He feels that the duty of care of the operator is ‘next to nothing’.

Tony is keen to take legal action regarding the unacceptable conditions in the house, and knows what he needs to do. However, Tony has chosen to do this when he is ready to leave, because of his fear of being evicted instantly for standing up to the landlord. He has seen this happen to several residents since he arrived. He is optimistic that his current housing status is not forever so is staying positive and making the best of his situation.

Tony's story originally appeared in the Tenant News #107. For more information on boarding houses, why not subscribe to Onboard, our new e-bulletin all about Boarding Houses? For individual advice about issues in a boarding house, or any tenancy issues, contact your local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service.

Roomshare sector not complying with boarding house reforms

When the NSW State Government introduced the Boarding Houses Act 2012, it set out to address not only traditional boarding house establishments, but also houses and flats rented out in shared accommodation arrangements. This is the 'roomshare' sector, and it is often targeted to students and low-income workers, especially from overseas.

A few months ago the TU did some research into the roomshare sector, to get an idea of the extent to which the Boarding Houses Act applies to it (as 'general boarding houses', as defined by the Act), and the extent to which general boarding houses in the roomshare sector are complying with the requirement in the Act to be registered with NSW Fair Trading.

To do this we looked at roomshare ads on the online classifieds site, Gumtree.  

(A space on the branch rents for $150 per week)

Over five weeks we looked at Gumtree and found, on average, about 1 400 roomshare premises advertised each week (by contrast, there were 598 general boarding houses registered on Fair Trading's Register of Boarding Houses).

We analysed 224 ads to see whether the premises advertised fit the definition of 'general boarding house' at section 5 of the Act, and found:

• 26 per cent very likely to be general boarding houses; and another
• 18 per cent may be general boarding houses.

Of these, just two (0.5 per cent) were actually registered as general boarding houses.

On the basis of our analysis, we conclude that:

• the roomshare sector is a large – if not the largest – part of the general boarding house sector;
• it is hugely – almost completely – non-compliant with the requirement to register; and
• its compliance with other aspects of the Boarding Houses Act, and other laws, is doubtful, to say the least.

The job of enforcing the registration requirement lies with local councils; we recommend that they more actively investigate the roomshare market and exercise their role.

We also recommend that the NSW State Government, local councils and representatives of boarding house residents and proprietors work together to

• clarify what really can and should be expected of the roomshare sector, particularly in relation to planning law and local government legislation;
• establish protocols to minimise hardship to residents where action is taken to stop roomshare premises operating; and
• inform the development of policies for affordable housing to appropriate standards.  

Read the report here.

Boarding house residents in the Tribunal

The first applications by residents under the Boarding Houses Act 2012 have started showing up in the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal – and the signs are that the Act's occupancy principles are indeed a welcome measure of justice for residents.

In one case, a former resident (we'll call her 'F') sought the return of her security deposit – the proprietor had kept the lot because F had moved out early. F had initially gotten an order from the Tribunal for its return under the Residential Tenancies Act, but the proprietor got a stay on that order, on the ground that this had been a lodging agreement, so the Act did not apply.

So, with the help of a TAAS advocate, F made out an application under the Boarding Houses Act, arguing that keeping all of the deposit was a penalty – and penalties are prohibited by occupancy principle 3. F and the proprietor came to a mutually acceptable settlement.

In another case, a resident ('G') used occupancy principle 8 – which, amongst other things, limits security deposits to two weeks' occupancy fee – to get a refund of a $100 'key deposit'. This additional impost – sometimes called 'key money' – is an old lurk, long-outlawed in relation to residential tenancies. Now, in G's case, the Tribunal has determined that security for the keys is covered by the two weeks' security deposit, and requiring any additional amounts breaches the limit in OP 8. Order for the refund of the key deposit.

There's nothing extreme about these cases: just good, fair results.

International students and housing survey

The Tenants' Union of NSW is conducting a survey of international students and their experiences of housing in Australia. Please spread the word – and the link to the survey!

*

Are you an international student?

Are you happy in your housing?

Do you know your rights? 

We want to hear about your experiences with housing in Australia. 
Your participation will help us better understand and provide support and advocacy for international students on housing issues.

Complete this short survey about housing and go into the draw to win a $50 gift card.


www.tenantsunion.org.au/internationalstudents

About us: The Tenants' Union of NSW is the peak non-government organisation representing the interests of tenants and other renters in New South Wales, Australia.

New terms lodged in boarding house agreements

Yesterday, residents of registrable boarding houses were granted new terms in the contracts they have with the proprietor of the boarding house.

Accommodation in registrable NSW boarding houses has had to be in accordance with the Occupancy Principles since July 1st this year but yesterday the flick of a legal magician's wand also inserted adherence to the principles as contractual rights in every agreement between a boarder or lodger in a registrable boarding house and their proprietor.

This means a number of remedies for breaches of the agreement have become available to boarding house residents though without protection from retaliatory terminations many residents may be understandably hesitant to bring action against the proprietor.

556 premises have registered on NSW Fair Trading's Boarding House Register so far- we congratulate those proprietors. There are many many more who have not yet registered. Homelessness NSW made a ballpark estimate that there could be as many as 20 000 boarding houses in NSW- the problem is, they can be very hard to find. ABS only recorded 627 boarding houses in NSW in the 2011 Census. Homelessness researcher Chris Chamberlain found the ABS methodology in Melbourne resulted in a significant undercount. By comparing his work with the 2011 Census count for Melbourne we can see that at best 16% of boarding houses were counted. If we apply the same multiplier here in NSW then we get a figure of at least 3700 boarding houses.

Some are recognisable, and known to be boarding houses, but many are not. A quick search of Gumtree's room share advertisements found more than 1400 ads- a large proportion of which are apartments and houses that fit the definition of a registrable boarding house, but don't necessarily identify as such. The proprietors may not even think of themselves as boarding houses- this is where it will take some time and effort from local councils and NSW Fair Trading as well as industry groups to ensure that registration occurs. 

The good news for residents of places that are unregistered, but registrable, boarding houses is that not registering does not change the law for residents. The occupancy principles apply, and are now contractual terms, whether or not the boarding house is registered, and whether or not the agreement is in writing.

For more information on the way the Boarding House Act affects residents rights, see our factsheet or call your local Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service!

New rights for boarding house occupants in New South Wales

Today the Boarding Houses Act 2012 commences in full.

Until now, only the provisions of the Act concerning the registration (and register) of boarding houses have been put into operation. Today the remaining provisions, including those concerning occupancy principles and occupancy agreements, have also become part of the law of New South Wales.

The Tenants' Union has produced a new factsheet about the Boarding Houses Act 2012, and you can read about it in more detail in an updated chapter in our Tenants' Rights Manual. No doubt we'll talk a whole lot more about its ins and outs over the coming months, as we start to see it in operation.

But for now, let's take a minute to reflect on where this new law has come from,* and just how far it will take us...

Housing advocacy groups such as the Tenants' Union of NSW have lobbied for boarding house reform since the mid-1970's. For most of that time a convincing strategy to produce statutory rights for boarders and lodgers never materialised in Parliament, although some attempts were made.

When the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 passed through the Houses of Parliament in the late 1980s the then Minster for Consumer Affairs, the hon. Deirdre Grusovin, assured boarders and lodgers that legislative protections would be provided for them soon, too. But, although a Boarding Houses and Lodging Houses Bill 1991 was largely agreed to in Parliament, disagreement as to minimum periods of occupancy before the law should apply meant that the bill would never make it into the NSW statute books.

Some years later a differently constituted NSW Government indicated it would examine ways to protect the rights of people living in boarding houses. A period of discussion and consultation ensued, and in early 1998 it was expected that the then Minister for Fair Trading, the hon. Brian Langton, would release an exposure draft of new legislation. A coalition of organisations called the Boarders and Lodgers Action Group (BLAG) - of which the Tenants Union was a member - anticipated that the exposure draft would be riddled with shortcomings, and did not expect to be able to support it. BLAG drew up its own Boarders Bill 1999, to present a clear alternative to the policies anticipated in the Government's bill.

This effectively killed off the Carr Government's ambitions for boarders and lodgers rights. It sent supporters of reform within Parliament into a spin, of sorts, and presented uncertainty as to the way forward for boarders and lodgers rights in New South Wales. By this time the phrase 'boarders and lodgers' had come to describe the large and diverse group of renters that were not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act 1987. No agreement could be reached as to who should be covered by a new law, and which particular rights and obligations should apply to each of the identified groups of accommodation that boarding and lodging denoted. In the circumstances, the Government lacked the political will to argue in favour of a new bill, and the project was abandoned. The anticipated 1998 exposure draft never saw the light of day.

But BLAG's Boarders Bill 1999 lived on. For many years it was used by members of BLAG as an advocacy tool, in the hope that the Government would re-commit to a position on legislative rights for boarders and lodgers. It was a commitment that never came.

In 2005, the Tenants' Union of NSW moved away from arguing for the 'prescriptive rights' regime proposed by the Boarders Bill 1999, and began to advocate instead for a non-prescriptive 'occupancy principles' model based on changes that had recently been made to renting laws in the Australian Capital Territory. These principles would form the basis of a range of standard occupancy agreements, providing a minimum set of commitments to be made by a boarding house operator to a prospective occupant, while allowing the details of rights and obligations to be determined according to the needs of parties to each kind of agreement. This meant that a variety of occupancy agreements, based on a consistent set of rights-based principles, could be used across the range of rental accommodation types to which existing laws did not apply.

The policy gained traction, but was not picked up by the NSW Government during their review and redraft of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987. When the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 became law on January 31st 2011, there were still a number of rental accommodation types that were expressly excluded from the Act's coverage. For housing advocates, rights for boarders and lodgers - along with other marginal renters - became part of the unfinished business of tenancy law reform.

The Tenants' Union produced a four-point plan to reform the marginal rental sector, of which occupancy principles was a major component. The plan was endorsed and promoted by a coalition of housing advocacy organisations in early 2011. Not long after, an 'Inter-Departmental Committee on Reform of Shared Private Residential Services' released a discussion paper called Boarding House Reform. This paper recommended the adoption of occupancy principles and agreements for boarding house residents in New South Wales.

Then, on May 10th 2012, the NSW Government announced that it would introduce laws to reform the boarding house sector. A great deal of work has since gone into bringing the Boarding Houses Act 2012 to its full commencement today. Congratulations to all who have played their part - it's quite an achievement.

But the Boarding Houses Act 2012 is not the solution it could have been for all marginal renters in New South Wales. There will still be many people living in rented accommodation who have no access to statutory rights and formal mechanisms to resolve disputes about the terms of their rental agreements. Lodgers in private residences, some clients of refuges, crisis and supported accommodation, students in residential colleges, occupants of shared households and some caravan park residents are still waiting for a statutory regime that affords them protection against unfair eviction, rent increases, and refusal to meet minimum standards of repair.

This makes no sense. The occupancy principles model that is now law in New South Wales could very easily - and effectively - be applied to all who are not otherwise covered by renting laws in New South Wales.

This business remains unfinished.


*Some of the occurrences referred to in this post are a little before your correspondent's time. Parts of this account cannot be verified by reference to Hansard or other official records. Where required, The Brown Couch has relied on documents from the TU's archive. If you are able to provide an alternative account of the circumstances behind either the 1991 or 1999 boarders' rights bills, please leave a comment...

Boarding Houses Act – update

A quick update on the partly-commenced Boarding Houses Act 2012.

('Houses', by Kevin Woods)

• The part that has commenced  – the Boarding Houses Register – is starting to fill up, and is now presented in searchable format on the NSW Fair Trading website. Proprietors of existing registrable boarding houses must register by 30 June 2013. After that, new proprietors must register within 28 days of commencing operations.
• Those parts of the Act that have yet to commence – in particular, the parts about occupancy agreements (Part 3) and the revamped regulatory regime for assisted boarding houses (Part 4) – we expect to commence in the next month or so, when the Boarding Houses Regulation 2013 and the standard form of occupancy agreement are good to go. Keep in mind that upon commencement there's another three months before the application of the occupancy principles becomes a term of every occupancy agreement.
• We were asked recently if councils could use their inspection powers under the Act to investigate whether premises were a registrable boarding house. We've had a look, and we say no: the inspection powers can be exercised only in relation to registrable boarding premises that are on the register, and only for the purpose of determining compliance with requirements imposed by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and the Local Government Act 1993. Councils investigating whether premises are a registrable boarding house might look for evidence elsewhere: see section 100 for examples of the circumstantial evidence that may be used in proceedings to determine whether premises are a registrable boarding house.
• Any other questions? Try the TU's Tenants' Rights Manual, which now has a new chapter on boarding houses – read it online at the State Library.

Is my share house a boarding house?

With the Boarding Houses Act 2012 partly commenced, share house residents might be wondering: is our share house a boarding house under the Act?

The answer is: maybe. It depends on how many people live there, the legal relations between them and... the furniture at the premises. (Yes, the furniture. All will be explained below.)

The Boarding Houses Act applies to 'registrable boarding houses', as defined by the Act. Registrable boarding houses come in two types: 'general boarding houses', and 'assisted boarding houses'.

For share house purposes, you don't need to be concerned with assisted boarding houses. If your share house going to be covered at all, it will be as a general boarding house.

To be a general boarding house, your share house has to tick EACH of the following four boxes.

First, it must fit the definition of 'boarding premises' (at section 4 of the Boarding Houses Act). Boiled down, this means premises that are the principle place of residence for one or more lodgers.

So, if at least one person in the house is a lodger (not an owner; not a tenant; not a child, partner, visitor or guest staying free of charge), and it's their principal place of residence, the premises are boarding premises.

(This first part of the test is pretty easily satisfied: lots of share houses would tick this box. It's the second and third parts that narrow things down.)

Second, the premises must provide beds for five or more residents, not counting residents who are proprietors (or managers, or relatives of proprietors or managers).

Leased premises, where the tenant lets in others as residents, can be a boarding house – in which case the tenant is the proprietor. As proprietor, this tenant (or tenants plural, if there's more than one of them on the lease) doesn't count towards the five-residents threshold.

Also, note that it's beds for five or more residents, so if a house that's set up to sleep five persons has a vacancy, it can still fit the definition – you don't actually need five warm bodies in the house at any given time, and a general boarding house doesn't cease to be one just because there's a vacancy.

(Many share houses will flunk this part of the test: most are not set up for five residents, particularly when you don't count anyone who's on the lease with the owner.)

Third, as indicated above, five or more residents must be provided with beds.

In the Boarding Houses Act's definition of a general boarding house, the premises provide the beds. If you've brought your own bed to the premises, it appears you don't count towards the five-residents threshold.

(Lots of share houses will flunk this part of the test, too. On the other hand, particularly in the overcrowded, exploitative part of the market, it is common for premises to be set up with bunks, to facilitate the overcrowding – so these places may be registrable boarding houses.)

Fourth, five or more residents provided with beds must pay for their accommodation.

The Boarding Houses Act says the payment must be a 'fee or reward', so it doesn't necessarily mean money – so it's possible (but unusual) for the deal to be that you pay your way by providing services to the proprietor. But if you're staying there free, you don't count towards the five-residents threshold.

(Most residents of share houses pay their way – but sometimes there are people staying for free, so it's worth keeping in mind that they don't count towards the threshold.)  
 
Here's the four-part test summarised:

1. the premises are the principle place of residence for one or more lodgers; and
2. the premises are set up for five or more residents, not counting proprietors, such as anyone on the lease with the owner; and
3. the premises provide beds for five or more residents (again, not counting proprietors); and
4. five or more residents provided with beds (again, not counting proprietors) pay to reside at the premises.

If your share house passes the test, it's a registrable boarding house, and the proprietor will need to register it with NSW Fair Trading. Also, if you don't have residential tenancy agreements under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, you'll have occupancy agreements and be covered by the occupancy principles set out in the Boarding Houses Act when the relevant parts commence a little later this year (date to be announced).

If your share house is not a registrable boarding house, you won't be covered by the Boarding Houses Act – so no occupancy agreements or occupancy principles for you! Also, you may not be covered by the Residential Tenancies Act either – so no residential tenancy agreement, and probably no access to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal for you! – unless you and your housemates get your affairs in order.

As always: if you've any questions, please contact your local TAAS.

New Year, new Boarding Houses Register

Happy New Year, Brown Couch readers.

As the new year commences, so do parts of the new Boarding Houses Act 2012. On 1 January, the parts that establish the new Register of Boarding Houses commenced operation. (Other parts of the Act, such as those relating to occupancy agreements, will commence some time later.)

At the moment, the Boarding House Register is a slim volume. Over the next six months it should start to fill up. Proprietors of registrable boarding houses already operating have until 30 June 2013 to register. New registrable boarding houses, and new proprietors, must register within 28 days of starting operations.

For more on registration and other aspects of the new Act, see NSW Fair Trading's website.

Update on Boarding Houses Act 2012

The new Boarding Houses Act 2012, which was passed by the NSW State Parliament in October, has yet to commence.

Our latest advice from the State Government is that it will commence in stages: first, the provisions about the Boarding Houses Register in January 2013; then the rest of the Act sometime after that.

In our view, there's no technical reason why the provisions about occupancy agreements couldn't commence sooner rather than later. We're taking this up with the State Government.

Boarding Houses Act 2012

The NSW State Government's Boarding Houses Bill has passed through both Houses of the Parliament. It just needs the Governor's signature and we'll have a Boarding Houses Act 2012.

(Charles Blackman, Self-portrait in front of a boarding house)

The Act has not commenced operation yet. We understand that the Government intends for it to commence 1 January 2013.

This is a landmark reform. Under the Act, residents of registrable boarding houses will have, for the first time, an enforceable entitlement to written agreements and written receipts.

They'll also have, for the first time, agreements that must comply with certain basic occupancy principles. These include entitlements to premises that are in a reasonable state of repair, to know the house rules before moving in, to quiet enjoyment, to know why and how the occupancy may be ended, including how much notice is to be given, and to be given reasonable notice of termination. They also include safeguards against penalty terms and unfair utility charges, and a limit on bonds to two weeks' rent. 

Residents will also have, for the first time, straight-forward access to dispute resolution in the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.

If these things seem basic and modest, they are – which says a lot about the very rough deal that boarding house residents have gotten from proprietors, and from the law, for too long.

The Act also establishes a Boarding Houses Register – so you will be able to check if the premises are registered, and find out the name of the proprietor – and directs councils to inspect premises for compliance with building and fire safety requirements. Finally, the Act revamps the regulatory regime for LRCs – now called 'assisted boarding houses'.

As we say, it is a landmark... but not the final destination of reform. Beyond this piece of legislation, there's still more to do. 

We still need to develop standard forms of occupancy agreement for the different types of boarding house accommodation (as provided for by the Act). 

We still need further law reform to extend the occupancy principles to marginal renters who don't live in registrable boarding houses (such as lodgers in private homes, share houses, student accommodation, and refuges and crisis accommodation) and who are excluded from residential tenancies legislation.

And finally, we need the deliberate and orderly winding up of the assisted boarding house sector, with residents assured of appropriate accommodation in social housing, groups homes or nursing homes, and properly funded professional support.

But as we reach the present landmark, we pause and congratulate the NSW State Government, and in particular the Disability Services Minister, Andrew Constance, who had carriage of the reforms. And we congratulate all those community workers, advocates and, especially, boarding house residents, who, over so many years, have spoken out against the injustices of marginal renting and who have kept pressing the case for reform.