Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional legal opinion.
Briefing Paper No.09/1999 by Rachel Simpson
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- Almost 30% of occupied private dwellings in NSW are rented. The
residential rental sector consists of public rental accommodation, private
rental accommodation, caravan parks and manufactured home estates, boarding
houses and community housing. The private rental market is the largest,
comprising 21.7% of dwellings. Public housing accounts for 5.6% of dwellings
and community housing for 0.4%. A statistical profile of residential tenants in
NSW is contained in Part 2, pages 1 to 6.
- A history of the development of residential tenants' rights is
contained in Part 3, pages 6 to 11. Landlord and tenant legislation was first
introduced into NSW in 1847. The first recorded tenants' organisation, the NSW
Rent Payers Association, existed from 1910 to 1916. A period of rent control
began with the Fair Rents Act 1915 and lasted in NSW into the 1950s (NSW
was the last State to relax rent control). Throughout the Depression years,
anti-eviction campaigns were conducted by the Unemployed Workers Movement, and
the Lang government passed ejection postponement legislation in an attempt to
alleviate some of the problems faced by tenants. Rent control was the dominant
policy throughout World War II, during which time some states adopted the
Commonwealth's National Security (Fair Rents) Regulations, agreed upon
by a Premiers' Conference in September 1939. New South Wales did not adopt
these initial regulations, although the 1941 National Security (Landlord and
Tenant) Regulations did apply in NSW. The 1970s to 1980s was a significant
period for the development of tenants' rights. The Tenants Union of NSW had its
formation meeting in 1976 and at about the same time the Department of Fair
Trading established a section to deal with tenants' problems. A committee was
established by the Minister for Consumer Affairs in 1978 to look at changing
the 1899 landlord and tenant legislation. This in fact happened in 1987 with
the passage of the Residential Tenancies Act. The rental bond scheme and
the Residential Tenancies Tribunal were also established during this period.
- The main piece of legislation in this area is the
Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (NSW). The scope and operation of this
Act is discussed in Part 4.1, pages 12 to 16. The discussion focuses on
landlord obligations to the tenant, tenant obligations to the landlord, tenant
rights with respect to the property and the termination of tenancy. The rental
bond scheme is discussed in Part 4.2, pages 16 to 18 and the Residential
Tribunal, which replaced the Residential Tenancies Tribunal from 1 March 1999,
in Part 4.4, pages 20 to 21. Following the commencement of the Residential
Parks Act 1998, residential tenancy agreements between landlords and
residents of caravan parks and manufactured home estates have been removed from
the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 in order to better reflect the
particular needs of those residents. The operation of the Residential Parks
Act 1998 is discussed in Part 4.3, pages 18 to 20.
- The effect on rental prices and the availability of rental
accommodation of the 2000 Olympics, land tax and the proposed GST are issues of
concern to tenants and landlords in NSW. These issues are examined in Parts 5.1
to 5.3, pages 21 to 26. The position of boarders and lodgers, currently
excluded from the operation of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 is
discussed in Part 5.4, page 26. Similarly, residents of retirement villages are
regulated separately from the Residential Tenancies Act 1987, by a
mandatory code of practice, the appropriateness of which is discussed in Part
5.5, pages 27 to 28.
