Following the publication last week of Anglicare’s Rental Affordability Snapshot, the ACT Government has reaffirmed its commitment to helping Canberra’s renters.
“More Canberrans than ever are renting for longer periods, so ensuring access to fair, secure and affordable rental homes is a priority for the Government,” Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said.
- Anglicare: ACT’s ‘significant crisis’ of rental affordability (27 April)
- Mark Parton: Flawed Labor / Greens policy caused ACT housing crisis (28 April)
- Better Renting’s solutions for the ACT’s housing crisis (1 May)
Last month, the government opened a Rent Relief Fund, which provides a one-off grant for up to four weeks rent capped at $2,500. The Fund is open until 30 June 2024. As of 27 April, 168 households had applied for the grant.
- Relief fund for Canberrans in rental stress (17 April)
On 1 April, the Government made what Mr Rattenbury called “nation-leading” changes to tenancy laws in the ACT, to strengthen legal protections for renters and help them face cost of living pressures.
No cause evictions
No cause evictions are no longer lawful, meaning that tenancies can only be ended where the landlord has a legitimate reason recognised under the law.
Mr Rattenbury said that ending no cause evictions will empower tenants to exercise their rights, including negotiating rent increases, without the fear they will be issued an eviction notice.
A lease can no longer be ended simply because the landlord wants to raise the rent.
The ACT is the first jurisdiction in Australia to remove all forms of no cause evictions.
Limiting rent bidding
Solicited rent bidding is now banned. This means landlords and agents can no longer encourage prospective tenants to place rent bids for the property, which drives up prices.
It supports tenants so they do not feel pressured to offer more than the advertised price for a rental property, Mr Rattenbury said.
Energy efficiency minimum standard
A new energy efficiency minimum standard was introduced, as many renters in the ACT live in poor quality housing that is expensive to heat or cool.
The new standard aims to reduce energy bills for tenants, Mr Rattenbury said.
The government also introduced measures to implement minimum standards such as a requirement for lessors to publicly list if they are meeting minimum standards, and allowing a tenant to seek financial compensation or rent reduction when minimum standards are not met.
The new minimum standard means that rental properties with no ceiling insulation, or with ceiling insulation below an R-value of R2, must install or upgrade the ceiling insulation to a minimum R value of R5. This is the standard used in new builds.
Around 60 per cent of rental properties in the ACT are already compliant with the standard.
There is a phase-in period for the new standard: most properties must comply by 30 November 2026.
“The ACT Government will continue to engage with landlords and tenants and consider other ways to assist renters,” Mr Rattenbury said.
Homelessness
Anglicare revealed last week that several Canberrans had become homeless because they could not afford Canberra’s rents.
Rebecca Vassarotti, ACT Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services, noted that in January, the ACT Government committed an additional $2.6 million to homelessness service funding, raising the total expenditure for the 2022/23 financial year to approximately $9 million.
That $2.6 million in additional funding was allocated to OneLink, the central intake services for homelessness services and child, youth, and family services in the ACT. OneLink distributes that funding to a range of wraparound supports including hotel brokerage and other homelessness services.
The ACT Government is also working with the homelessness sector to identify and respond to service gaps and unmet need, under the ACT Government’s Strategic Investment Plan for the Homelessness Sector released last year.
