27/10/2010

The new Residential Tenancies Act 2010 was assented to by NSW Parliament on 17 June 2010 and will affect landlords or tenants of residential property. 

The changes have been made for the benefit of both landlords and tenants. 

Some of the notable changes to the 1987 Act include:

More time for tenants to move out
A tenant now has 90 days instead of 60 days to move out if the tenant is no longer under a fixed term agreement and the landlord has given a proper notice of termination. 

Where the landlord has entered into a contract to sell the property, the landlord must give at least 30 days’ notice to the tenant in order to terminate a residential tenancy agreement which is no longer under a fixed term agreement.  

Leniency for late payment of rent
A landlord must accept payment of unpaid rent by a tenant if the landlord has given a termination notice to the tenant for failing to pay the rent on the due date and the tenant has not yet vacated the premises.  The purpose of this provision is to assist tenants who are facing genuine financial difficulties. 

Water efficiency
A landlord must ensure that the premises contain water efficiency measures prescribed by the regulations if the landlord wants to recover water usage charges from the tenant. 

Sale of rented premises
Previously, a landlord did not have to give any notice to the tenant when the landlord wanted to sell the premises.  Now under the new legislation, all landlords must give at least 14 days written notice before the premises are first made available for inspection to prospective purchasers.

Tenants may break lease early
A tenant may terminate a fixed-term lease under special circumstances such as when:

• they accept an offer of accommodation in public housing premises
• they accept to move to a nursing home
• the landlord notified the tenant of the landlord’s intention to sell the residential premises and did not disclose the proposed sale before entering into the residential tenancy agreement
• a co-tenant or occupant or former co-tenant or occupant is prohibited by a final AVO from having access to the residential premises.

Pros for the landlord

Landlords are now able to

• serve eviction notices directly to the tenant’s letterbox
• cut 2 weeks from the eviction process by applying to the Tribunal for orders at the same time as giving a termination notice to the tenant
• throw away any perishable unclaimed goods after the tenant has vacated the premises without having to advertise in relation to those goods. 

Both tenants and landlords should be well informed of these changes and how they affect their rights. 

More information can be obtained from the NSW Fair Trading website at http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au.