Government pushes rental cap change through on coat-tails of unrelated bills

Laws that will limit rent increases to just once a year have been rushed through state parliament after the Palaszczuk government chose to bypass wider scrutiny of the controversial shake-up.

• Where rental vacancy rates have declined

Laws that will limit rent increases to just once a year have been rushed through state parliament after the Palaszczuk government chose to bypass wider scrutiny of the controversial shake-up.

But the government has defended the decision, insisting the move was necessary to protect renters against escalating cost pressures and the small portion of landlords “who aren’t operating fairly”.

The government on Tuesday slotted the changes on an unrelated local government Bill, which will mean the rental shake-up will not be subject to the normal scrutiny of a parliamentary committee.

The Opposition, the Greens and stakeholders such as the Real Estate Institute of Queensland have slammed the decision to push the changes through without scrutiny.

The rental reforms, to restrict increases to once every 12 months, was announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in late March.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles shepherded the reforms through parliament, replacing previous rules that had allowed for rent increases to occur every six months.

Mr Miles said the changes would mean existing agreements in place on July 1, 2023 which include a clause for rent increases after that date would “not be valid” unless the last increase was 12 months ago.

The laws passed parliament late Tuesday, with Mr Miles facing questions from the LNP and the Greens as he moved the amendments.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles.

LNP housing spokesman Tim Mander asked the Deputy Premier if renters would receive any “tangible benefit” from limiting rent changes to once a year, rather than every six months.

Greens MP Amy MacMahon also criticised the amendments, saying the changes were the “status quo” for those on 12 month leases.

“Any renters watching this today, if you’re on a 12-month lease, know that the government today are doing absolutely nothing for you,” she said.

Mr Miles defended the changes, saying they were designed to bring Queensland in line with other jurisdictions – as he accused the Greens of engaging in “grandstanding”.

“As I noted earlier, the RTA (Residential Tenancies Authority) … advised that in 2022, the number of tenancy agreements that saw more than one increase in a 12 month period was over 24,000,” he said.

Editorial: Political damage done despite rent cap rethink

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said the rent increase frequency cap had not been put to the community, warning moves to circumvent the consultation process bred “suspicion” within the community.

Ms Mercorella also questioned why the state government opted to slot the rental change on the back of unrelated legislation, when it had put out for public comment its second stage of reforms to empower renters that same day.