A year on from National Cabinet announcements, are renters getting the ‘better deal’?

In August 2023, Australia’s National Cabinet - a collaborative forum comprising the prime minister and the heads of the state and territory governments - agreed to ‘A better deal for renters’. The agreement was essentially to ‘harmonise and strengthen renters’ rights across Australia’ and was driven by an environment of undersupply and high demand for private rental homes. 

This AHURI Brief provides an overview of where renters’ rights were up to across Australia, one year on from this announcement. 

What was the National Cabinet’s ‘better deal for renters’?

The National Cabinet ‘better deal for renters’ was focussed on:

1. removing ‘no grounds eviction through a nationally consistent policy to implement a requirement for genuine reasonable grounds for eviction
2. ensuring that provisions to allow appeals against retaliatory eviction notices are fit for purpose 
3. limiting rent increases with a national standard of no more than one rent increase per year for a tenant in the same property across fixed and ongoing agreements
4. implementing a ban on soliciting rent bidding
5. allowing tenants experiencing domestic or family violence to end agreements without penalty; change the locks; have their name removed from databases due to property damage; and for jurisdictions to consider further action to protect tenants
6. limiting break lease fees for fixed term agreements 
7. making rental applications easier and protecting renters’ personal information
8. considering options for better regulation of short-stay residential accommodation
9. phasing in minimum quality standards for rental properties

As rental legislation in Australia is the legal responsibility of the individual states and territories, it is their responsibility to implement any legislation arising from the National Cabinet. As of August 2024, the States and Territories were satisfying a number of these requirements (including where legislated before 2023). State and Territory legislation can vary significantly and may not be as robust as policy makers and some stakeholders may want. 

Table: Overview of how current legislation for each state and territory satisfies the nine ‘better deal’ agreements

Removing no grounds eviction

In no grounds eviction, a landlord is able to end a tenant’s residency of the property without providing a reason (although they must give a legally required amount of notice). 

The ability to apply no grounds evictions varies across Australia’s states and territories: some states allow it, others don’t. Some states have different rules for tenancies that are fixed term (i.e. tenancies that have a contract end date) and periodic (i.e. that are ongoing month by month, with no contracted end date). 

Rent increases limited to once a year in seven Australian states and territories

Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction that allows rents to be increased every 6 months.

Legislation for minimum rental standards covers limited outcomes

Legislation covering what is considered to be minimum levels of housing in rental properties varies considerably across Australia; for example, the ACT is the only jurisdiction that mandates a level of insulation in the roof of rental properties. 

Although the National Cabinet didn’t specify what minimum rental standards might cover, establishing rental housing standards that supports sufficient roof, wall and window insulation; energy efficient heating and cooling; and water efficient fittings (and maybe even domestic solar panels) will lead to lower ongoing housing costs for tenants and also deliver housing that is better able to support tenants with climate change.

Each state and territory’s rental standards are summarised further below.

Progress on rental regulations must continue

While most states and territories have developed regulations to improve housing outcomes for renters covering no grounds evictions; limits on rent increases; bans on rent bidding; and limited minimum rental standards, further progress is still required in order to align with the National Cabinet statements of 2023.

It is important for Australian tenants that the rental laws and regulations across Australia are developed further so that rental housing can continue to become a valid and safe long-term tenure option for Australians.