The ACT Government is holding a six-week community consultation for minimum rental standards in Canberra.

The government wants to hear from tenants, landlords, boarders, and granters about how to improve tenancy and occupancy laws; what minimum standards should be introduced to better protect tenants; and proposed property condition requirements to improve the efficiency and thermal comfort of rental homes.

The national cabinet last year recommended the consultation when it agreed to the Better Deal for Renters reform package.

“This basically invites the question: what do we expect people to have access to when they move into a rental property?” Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said.

The ACT has already implemented a requirement to meet minimum energy efficiency standards for ceiling insulation, “which is particularly appropriate in Canberra’s climate: extreme cold in the winter and extreme heat in the summer,” Mr Rattenbury said. “We identified this as a really effective way to make people’s lives better, to reduce their energy bills, to be more comfortable, to have a better quality of life.”

Minimum standards might include locks, window furnishings, water efficiency devices, ventilators, heating and cooling systems.

“A lot of the other states have been specifically mandating these things,” Mr Rattenbury said. “Most rentals in the ACT would have, for example, the provision of a kitchen … but it’s not required under law. … At the moment, if they don’t [have a kitchen], there is a limited ability for tenants to seek recourse from their landlord. Having minimum standards in legislation gives them the power to go to the real estate agent or to go to the tribunal, and say: ‘Hang on a second; this should be here as part of a normal rental property’.”

Tenants’ advocacy group Better Renting and the Real Estate Institute of the ACT (REIACT), the professional body for the real estate industry in Canberra, each support the consultation.

“It’s great to see the ACT Government opening this consultation, and we hope to see constructive engagement from renters and landlords,” Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam said.

“REIACT welcomes the ACT Government seeking feedback from landlords as well as tenants on the impact of further regulation of the rental industry,” REIACT CEO Maria Edwards said.

Better Renting advocates for electrification and efficient appliances to protect renters from high gas prices.

“It’s good to see questions around water efficiency and appliances, and also household electrification,” Mr Dignam said. “One concern we’ve had is that renters would be left behind as households electrify, which would mean having to face increasing prices on the gas network. Some of the options considered here, like requiring gas appliances to be replaced with electric appliances at the end of life, could help to avoid this; and a requirement for energy-efficient heating and cooling would go very well with existing requirements for ceiling insulation to make it possible and cost-effective for people to have healthy indoor temperatures.

“I hope that renters take this chance to share their experiences with the ACT Government to help inform progress towards improved minimum standards for rental homes.”

REIACT aired its concerns that recent government reforms had placed financial strain on landlords, and cautioned the government against creating an investor-unfriendly environment.

“Already we have seen significant reform in the past few years requiring landlords to absorb costs well above predicted projections for mandatory ceiling insulation upgrades; and this – coupled with higher interest rates, significant rises in insurance, maintenance, and body corporate fees – is creating a financially unsustainable investment for many,” Ms Edwards said. “In a time where more investors are needed to create a steady supply of new housing in the ACT, the long-term impacts of having an investor-unfriendly Territory will affect generations of renters to come through lack of supply.”

Mr Rattenbury replied: “That’s exactly why we’re running a consultation process to ask these questions. This requirement for minimum standards comes from the national cabinet process the ACT has signed up to, and that’s exactly why we run our consultations to elicit these views…

“Every time the government seeks consultation on rental issues, the Real Estate Institute says this will lead to a scarcity of supply. This has not proven to be the case thus far on reforms such as ceiling insulation, and the government research has not indicated this is the case.”

Ms Edwards also called on the government to reconsider its position on stamp duty (a tax on property sales). Since 2012–13, the ACT Budget has aimed to rebalance its tax base by gradually eliminating stamp duty and increasing general rates (higher property taxes) over 20 years. Despite this, an economic report stated last week, the revenue reduction from stamp duties is projected to surpass the increase from general rates through 2027–28.

“The ACT Government’s reliance on rates and land tax (in place of stamp duty) to underpin the local economy should also be considered,” Ms Edwards said. “Without a solid strategy for future private investment, this could create a budget black hole, which will affect the provision of essential services and infrastructure for all Canberrans.”

Mr Rattenbury maintains that shifting reliance from stamp duty to general rates provides a stable revenue stream for essential services while reducing the financial burden on home buyers.

“The ACT Government is committed to a long-term tax reform,” Mr Rattenbury said. “We’ve been very clear: stamp duty is a tax on people trying to buy their own home. It adds onto their mortgage and adds significant additional expense over the life of the mortgage. Reducing stamp duty makes it easier for people to move home, to downsize, to meet their debt-changing family circumstances. On the other side of the equation, rates provide a stable source of income for the government to provide those vital community services that we’re talking about. Stamp duty can go up and down depending on economic cycles. Rates and land-based taxes are a much more reliable source of revenue for government to be able to plan on behalf of their community.”

Mr Rattenbury concluded that the consultation aims to balance the interests of tenants and landlords, ensuring rental properties meet basic standards for a decent living while protecting landlords’ investments.

“There is a constant tension in the Residential Tenancies Act to get the balance right between tenants and landlords,” Mr Rattenbury said. “We need to be mindful that for landlords, this is an important asset they own; they want to protect it, they want to look after it, and to make sure the tenant looks after it well.

“At the same time, we need to make sure hat if a tenant is paying good money to live in this place and it is their home, they do have some basic minimum requirements that are met; they have a decent standard of living. So many people now are renting; they are renting for long periods of time; and they deserve to live in a good quality, decent home that anybody in Canberra would expect to live in.”