Another week, another round of legislative changes for tenants and landlords in QLD as the Minimum Housing Standards kicked off on the 1st of September, alongside the more controversial change to the frequency of rental increases.
While landlords protesting the change from half yearly rent increases to yearly increases might have gotten a bad rap, this was not actually the element of most concern in this change which nominally, is designed to protect tenants from unfair or overly frequent rental price rises. Rather, it’s the fact that this change will be enforced retrospectively – effectively invalidating previously lawful agreements. For example – if a lease was signed prior to 1st September 2023, and included provision for an increase at 6 months (which, at the time was perfectly lawful), that increase may now be voided and any future increases (agreed to by both parties) may also be affected.
From a practical perspective, any financial benefit to tenants is likely to be shortlived as owners are more likely to seek to build in the equivalent increases anyway, particularly in our current interest rate environment.
While money is certainly at stake, both owners and tenants alike should probably be more worried about the precedent set that agreements can be so easily overturned. It’s a slippery slope to start down and one the Government will hopefully be respectful of in future decisions.
On the less contentious side, Minimum Housing Standards should bring about very few (if any) real changes for those that are already doing the right thing and maintaining their rental property to a good, liveable standard. Inclusions that should come as no surprise are things as simple as having the property be weatherproof and structurally sound (rain stays outside, roof stays up), be in good repair and unlikely to cause injury through normal use (again, a reasonable expectation), have flushable toilets and be connected to hot and cold water suitable for drinking and be free from vermin, damp and mould.
Some things to watch for, on the other hand are new requirements to include curtains or other window coverings where it might reasonably be expected, such as in a bedroom and that there be functioning locks or latches on all external doors and windows accessible without a ladder. This might be one area where owners of older homes might need to look at minor updates. While you need to provide window coverings, it doesn’t say they have to be attractive – so we might yet continue to see the odd 1980s curtain choice continue to squeak through.