By Rachel Eddie
The cost of breaking a lease will be capped, and landlords could be fined for making dubious claims on a tenant’s bond, with a new mandate requiring evidence for damage being proposed by the Allan government.
Tenants will also no longer face charges to pay their rent or apply for a home under six changes announced on Wednesday, after a week of promises to address the housing crisis was slammed for its lack of help for renters.
Tenants will win more rights under the proposed changes.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Evictions at the end of a lease, without reason, would also be banned.
What financial penalties could flow from making dodgy claims on a tenant’s bond are yet to be confirmed. But even when damage was found to be genuine, the government said renters had a right to know it had been properly recorded and costed.
“Show us the receipts,” the government said in a statement.
“More detail will come when legislation is introduced to parliament, but the bottom line is: if you make people pay costs that aren’t real, then you’ll be the one paying.”
Renters can already apply to have their bond released through the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority without the landlord’s permission.
While agents and landlords already have to offer tenants a fee-free way of paying rent, the government said it would go further by banning hidden charges that have increasingly been introduced through third-party apps.
Passing on costs of background checks for renters applying for properties would also be banned under the proposal. Agents could still check a residential tenancy database to look at an applicant’s history, but would do so at their own cost.
The government will do further consultation to determine its cap on lease break fees, but has proposed a cap at one week’s rent for each remaining month of a lease, up to a maximum of four weeks, for fixed-term agreements of five years or less.
The government will bring the changes to parliament in stages over the next year and said further reform was on the table.
The ban on no-fault evictions would also be expanded to protect renters reaching the end of their lease.
Last September’s housing statement already sought to stop landlords raising the rent on a property between successive fixed-term leases to disincentivise churning through tenants to hike the price.
But the government wants to ban all evictions without a valid reason, including at the end of a lease in a bill to be brought before the Victorian parliament by the end of this year.
Genuine reasons to evict include damage, failure to pay rent or the owner moving back into the property.
Tenants Victoria chief executive Jennifer Beveridge welcomed the measures for renters, who make up 30 per cent of the state.
“After all, housing is an essential service and a human right,” Beveridge said.
“Extending the ban on no-reason evictions gives renters more security. It puts them on a more even footing to request repairs, for example, in the knowledge that rental providers cannot ask them to leave without a reason under the law.”
The government also proposes to give renters the right to get an additional electronic key or security fob that cannot be unreasonably denied.
Consumer Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams said the changes would put more money in the pockets of renters.
Labor said it had already implemented more than 130 reforms to support renters.
“We’re also building more homes, so there’ll be more properties available for you to rent where you want to live – near the things you need, the lifestyle you lead, and the people you love,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
The government was on Saturday accused of recycling old promises for renters while embarking on a new housing agenda.
Greens renters’ rights spokeswoman Gabrielle de Vietri said Labor had offered “breadcrumbs” while shadow consumer affairs spokesman Tim McCurdy said the government was “overpromising and underdelivering again”.
The new Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria (RDRV), promised last September to offer tenants an easier and free way to raise issues, will open in June 2025.
The portable bonds scheme – allowing tenants to transfer bond from one property to another when they move to reduce their upfront costs – will roll out in 2026.
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