Insights from the End of Tenancy Survey
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In the context of the ongoing rental crisis, the NSW Government Department of Fair Trading's End of Tenancy Survey is an important data source – shedding light on the dynamics of renting in NSW. Fair Trading began this survey in 2019, and between October 2021 and September 2022 an impressive total of 53,700 surveys were collected – representing approximately 17% of all tenancies that concluded during that period. Notably, while the survey is distributed to all principal tenants, landlords, or nominated agents, tenants have been far more responsive, accounting for 71% of survey submissions, while landlords only contributed 29%. This may reflect the frustration and limited power experienced by tenants when dealing with evictions, making the survey a crucial avenue for voicing their concerns.
In a new article on our blog, Jack Moon (Tenants' Union Data and Research Officer) analyses the End of Tenancy Survey data to explore who is ending tenancies and why. Jack also discusses the limitations of the survey data.
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No grounds evictions
The ban on no grounds evictions for renters, announced in March, will be a significant step forward in safeguarding tenant rights when it arrives. However, the end of tenancy survey results demonstrate that this reform must be a comprehensive end to no grounds evictions or we risk leaving many behind. An overwhelming majority (71%) of no grounds evictions occur for renters on fixed-term leases. Such findings underscore the need for a comprehensive approach to protect tenants, as landlords may manipulate lease terms to continue evicting without cause at the end of the fixed term.
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Rental reform on the National agenda
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The renting crisis remains in the national spotlight, and there has never been a better opportunity for the country to work together to bring greater stability, safety and security to millions of renters nationwide. Renting in Australia should mean a good home from which we can live full, rich lives. Just as it did 50 years ago, the Commonwealth can support a national conversation across jurisdictions about what we expect from our renting system as well as bringing all the other tools it has to support good homes.
We were pleased to see some increased conversation from government at the national level with National cabinet agreeing to a new target for Australia to build 1.2 million new homes over five years (compared to 985,000 we built over the previous 5 years). They also promised a 'better deal for renters' (ABC News) – with national consistency on reasonable grounds for eviction and phasing in minimum rental standards. These announcements begin to get us back towards a fairer housing system, but especially for supply it matters what is actually built and where.
A coalition of over 80 organisations across Australia joined together to urge governments to act swiftly on rental reform in a joint submission to the Federal inquiry into the worsening rental crisis. The broad range of organisations included housing, health, domestic violence and legal services. Together, we called for fair limits on rent increases, ending no cause evictions, and improving energy efficiency, and for at least 10% of all dwellings to be social housing – that's the 'missing housing' as Michael Pascoe writes (New Daily).
The Tenants' Union, along with sector colleagues, appeared at the Sydney hearings for the Federal Inquiry. Renters from across NSW also shared their experiences directly with the Inquiry. We told the hearing the current crisis is particularly acute, but not new. Our key message was more needs to be done to address the lack of availability, but also and importantly the problem of inadequate regulation.
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Housing is an essential service. It needs systemic protections
To address the rental crisis we need to start by recognising that the purpose of the rental sector is to provide homes for people. With other essential services such as healthcare, energy, food and water, we ensure that the systems set up to deliver services hold that primary purpose in mind. Even in privatised or market-driven essential services there is a consensus across government, industry and community about the primary purpose of the essential servce. Tenants' Union CEO Leo Patterson Ross further explores this discussion in a recent piece for Parity magazine: Modernising Consumer Protection in Renting: From Individualised to Systemic Protections
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Meanwhile in New South Wales, the NSW Government's consultation on improving rental laws has closed (you can read the Tenants' Union submission here). We are hoping that swift and effective change will come out of this process; and we'll keep advocating until all renters have homes that are affordable, stable, secure, safe, healthy, and feel like home! What you need to know right now to make renting fair in NSW (Tenants' Union blog).
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An insight into housing co-ops
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Amalina Wallace is a founding member of Emoh Ruo housing co-operative in Erskineville. She spoke with the Tenants’ Union about her experiences establishing and living in housing co-ops over the years, giving an insight into both the positives and the challenges of co-op housing.
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If you find Amalina's interview inspiring, you might also check out this recent radio episode from Housing for the Aged Action Group in Melbourne: United we Stand: forty years of co-operative housing (3CR Radio). And this story from the USA about a land lease community that turned co-op: How a mobile-home park saved its community from a corporate buyout (High Country News).
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Tenant Advocate's perspective
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In August, the Tenants' Union visited the Murra Mia Western NSW Aboriginal Tenants Service in Dubbo. During this visit, we had the opportunity to interview Team Leader Sonya Mooring who has extensive experience working in the Aboriginal housing sector. Sonya spoke to us about the most common housing issues she sees in regional NSW and her top tips for tenants...
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Tenants' Union says yes to the Voice
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The Tenants' Union of NSW supports a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum on the Voice to Parliament. Empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and enabling their voice to be heard will help to close the gap and overcome the systemic disadvantages they face in housing and other areas. Recently, the Cabbage Tree Island Aboriginal community in northern NSW was told their community will not be rebuilt (ABC News) following last year's catastrophic floods, while in Walgett, Aboriginal elders are demanding more housing support (ABC News) from the state government more than a year after the town's only men's shelter was demolished.
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Ensuring all people have a home that nurtures their lives, including connection to community is so important for everybody, but in particular for Aboriginal people who face current and historic barriers to this. The Voice is one part of a long process to rectify these issues and creates opportunity for Aboriginal people to be better heard and recognised in public policy that impacts them.
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We are always updating the resources on tenants.org.au to keep them accurate. Last month we updated several resources to reflect changes to the law around rent bidding: The landlord or agent must now state a fixed amount of rent in the advertisement or offer for the property and must not solicit or otherwise invite a higher offer than the advertised amount.
We also regularly add new resources. Recent new addtions worth noting...
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Tips: Renting after a Disaster
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Living through a disaster such as a flood or fire is difficult enough without having to worry about your tenancy. So we have prepared a new set of tips, in the form of short answers to common questions to assist renters to decide what to do after a disaster event. This adds to our other disaster-specific resources: our factsheet for renters, factsheet for land lease communities, podcast for renters and podcast for land lease communities.
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Sample letters for new renters
The current crisis has made getting into the rental market harder than ever. We are currently working on a New Renters Kit – designed to guide people who are new to renting in NSW, such as young people and new migrants. Four new sample letters (which will also be included in the Kit) are now available:
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Have you recently faced eviction?
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Are you a private renter who is facing eviction or who has been evicted in the last few months? If so, a new research project would like to learn more about:
- How the landlord or agent went about endeavouring to evict you?
- What have been the impacts of the threat of eviction?
- If you have been evicted what have been the impacts of the eviction?
Your story will help provide recommendations to governments and other organisations to improve the security of private renters.
If you agree to be interviewed, you will receive a $50 voucher to thank you for your time and contribution. If you are interested, fill in this form or email the lead investigator of the study, Professor Alan Morris, at alan.morris@uts.edu.au
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Help the Tenants' Union continue our work for tenants...
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