Landlords consider selling up in response to rental reforms
Rental reforms from the State Government were pressuring landlords into selling, with an industry survey showing about 81 per cent of those considering selling up were being influenced by reforms either implemented or proposed.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland said landlords were “passionately opposed” to changes being proposed by the Government in an options paper to combat a rental shortage and skyrocketing rents.
The first stage of reforms included limiting rent increases to once a year.
The second stage includes allowing renters to more easily install safety and security modifications and make minor personalisation changes to a rental property. It also included reforms to renters’ privacy, ensuring bonds were appropriate and ensuring rents and fees were reasonable.
When the legislation was introduced, the Government said the amendments would bring Queensland into line with other Australian jurisdictions and balance the rights and interests of Queenslanders who rent, and property owners and investors to maintain rental supply.
The annual limit on rent increases was one of the reforms to come out of the Government’s Housing Roundtable. About a third of Australians rent.
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“The majority of landlords do the right thing, but taking immediate action will protect Queensland renters from landlords who aren’t operating fairly,” Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.
The REIQ said 62 per cent of respondents said they had considered selling their rental property in the past two years and 27 per cent said the primary reason for selling was the rental law reforms.
“More specifically, the survey revealed an overwhelming 98.6 per cent of rental providers were vehemently opposed to tenants making any property modifications without their consent – citing various concerns regarding property value, safety regulations, unqualified works, costs to rectify or fix damages, and insurance implications,” the REIQ said.
When they were asked if the reforms had influenced the likelihood of selling, 81 per cent said yes.
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REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said her organisation had received an overwhelming and passionate response from Queensland rental providers, who may walk away from property investment due to yet another round of rental law reforms.
“The REIQ is concerned with ongoing and consistent rental law reforms in Queensland which are progressively eroding property investor rights along with their confidence,” she said.
“Further withdrawal of properties from the rental pool amid the critical rental crisis in Queensland will have dire consequences on the market in both the short and long term.
“This wholesale reform of the rental market is in direct contradiction with what all stakeholders seem to be in furious agreement about – the need to boost rental supply.”
The survey found that if landlords could only refuse a property minor modification by going through the Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal, 83.7 per cent said it would impact their decision to keep the property.
More than half (64.5 per cent) were opposed to minor personalisation changes to rental properties without the owner’s consent and were apprehensive about the lack of definition of ‘minor’. By way of example, 79.8 per cent of the survey respondents did not consider painting walls of the rental property to be minor in nature.
