$160m relief package to help struggling Queensland tenants

The Miles government has announced a $160 million package to help struggling Queensland renters and provide relief from the current housing and cost of living crisis.

The Renters Relief Package will allow tenants to access bridging loans for rental bonds, and for bonds to be transferred between rental properties.

Queensland renters are generally required to pay four weeks’ rent as a bond at the start of a tenancy agreement, plus two weeks’ rent in advance. This initial lump sum can amount to thousands of dollars and can be particularly difficult to amass when waiting for a previous bond to be returned.

Speaking at a press conference in Brisbane, Premier Steven Miles said he hoped the rental package would help keep a roof over the head of more tenants amid rising costs.

“One third of Queenslanders rent, and they have said to us that they’re doing it tough in what is a very tight rental market,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve put renters front and centre in our Homes for Queenslanders plan, not just to make it easier for them to rent, but also so they can be saving money for their own deposit so they can aspire to one day own their own home too.”

A report released on January 29 by the Queensland Council of Social Service found Queenslanders were the hardest hit by the current cost of living crisis, with low-income families spending as much as 40 per cent of their weekly income on housing.

In addition to helping renters with upfront costs, the renters package includes new laws to provide better protections for tenants, and to crack down on practices like rent bidding.

“I have heard from too many Queenslanders who have put their application in for a rental property thinking they would get it only to find that someone else has bid more than the advertised price for that rental,” Miles said.

“These new laws will stamp out that practice, will provide transparency for renters, and will provide an even playing field for everyone who wants to rent that property.”

The package also includes help for victims of family and domestic violence to buy whitegoods and pay removal costs; provisions to limit rent increases to the rental property, not the tenancy; and amendments to allow tenants to install necessary safety modifications to rental properties.

“We’re really pleased to see increased protection for people who need to modify their homes because of safety issues, particularly related to domestic and family violence,” Q Shelter executive director Fiona Caniglia said.

“We really welcome the code of conduct for the industry [too]. Every industry should have a code of conduct, and we need to make sure that at every transaction, there is a high standard of practice and that renters are protected.”

The number of frontline specialist customer service staff in the state’s 21 housing service centres will also be doubled as part of the five-year package.

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