Queensland rental law reforms: scant sunshine for property management

The Sunshine State’s property managers have only just received the final details of May 1 rental law reforms, despite the changes being passed a year ago.

The Rental Tenancies Authority (RTA) issued the new tenancy application form (Form 22) in a surprise announcement on March 26 – only to remove the form again on April 4 after receiving a wealth of concerns.

These concerns included the issue of having up to three would-be tenants sharing private details with each other on the form.

The RTA then spent the last few weeks consulting with industry stakeholders about the form before releasing an updated version – which stakeholders are still unhappy with – on April 22.

Final tranche of major rental reforms

Form 22 is only one of a slew of recent, staggered state rental law reforms, which began with the Housing Legislation Amendment Act 2021 in October 2021.

This Act was an amendment of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 and gave special renter protection to tenants experiencing domestic and family violence.

New pet legislation changes began in October, 2022, with the start of the second stage of reforms.

The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (RTRAOLA Act) started in June 6, 2024 and featured a ban on rent bidding and limited rent increases to once every year.

In one of the major RTRAOLA Act reforms beginning on September 30, 2024, rental property investors and managers must provide tenants with service and water consumption bills within four weeks of receiving the bill from the relevant authority.

If not, tenants aren’t required to pay the bill.

From May 1 – the final phase of the RTRAOLA Act – tenants will enjoy stronger “privacy protections”, with entry notice periods increased from 24 to 48 hours and entry frequency limited after the issue of termination notices.

Strong antipathy towards rental reforms

The Queensland Government believes the reforms provide a “strong, balanced approach” that protects tenants and rental property owners.

The government also believes the reforms improve stability in the rental market.

Yet these changes’ major focus on tenants, rather than property investors, has left the latter highly dissatisfied and with 71% owning just one investment property, this group are already struggling to cope with cost-of-living pressures.

Hence, their strong dislike of the rental law reforms with property managers, industry experts and peak housing groups also unhappy with the changes.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) denounced the Stage 2 reforms, stating that despite some fundamental victories, the changes missed the mark and many problematic flaws remained.

REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella also believes the changes won’t benefit tenants as the government claim they will.

“For example, changes regarding formulating reletting fees could see tenants paying far more in break lease fees than was previously permitted,” Ms Mercorella said.

She also doesn’t like Stage 2’s change to maximum rental bonds, which sets a maximum limit of four weeks rent will apply to all general tenancies, irrespective of weekly rents.

However, Ms Mercorella is pleased with the introduction of mandatory continuing professional development for all real estate professionals.

Real Estate Excellence Academy director, Stacey Holt has also strongly articulated her dislike of the tenancy law reforms, especially that of both the initial and updated Form 22.

The RTA stakeholder explained on her website that she emailed the Queensland government several times about her concerns with the initial form and attended RTA meetings to discuss a revised document.

She admitted to still having a “number of disappointments” with the new form including the “regrettable administrative burden” that the document required of already busy property managers and investors.

Dodds Realty Group (DRG) concerns

This burden is a key reason why DRG co-founder and head of property management, Marie Dodds, isn’t happy about the reforms with the late, and confused, details about the May 1 changes particularly troubling her.

She said that property managers had had several months at least to prepare for most of the recent reforms – but not so for the May 1 changes, which have been “thrown” at the industry.

“I just feel like it’s been rushed through and not really discussed, and there’s been no adequate time to … prepare for these changes,” Marie said.

Marie said her best advice for property investors struggling with the reform confusion was to organise landlord insurance, as this would give them peace of mind about their asset.

Meanwhile, she is working hard to ensure her landlords receive the best possible and most recent advice about the reforms.

This is especially important for her interstate landlords, who may not be aware of the Queensland changes.

“I give all the information and updates (that I receive) from the RTA’s website to all my landlords to let them know about the changes … and I urge them to have a read of them so they know exactly what’s happening,” she said.

Marie’s property reform ideal is for the government to create a department to care for the changes that are adding pressure to property managers and investors’ day-to-day lives.

“Property managers are here to manage a property, not do all these extra things that now we just have to do,” she said.

“The government should have obviously allowed a budget to have a task force or a department that dealt with those things specifically for every investment property in Queensland.”

Need advice about Queensland’s rental law reforms?

Call Marie Dodds now on 0423 301 290.