Law rules out tenants dipping into super to pay rent

Unscrupulous landlords will not be able to force tenants to dip in to their superannuation funds to pay their rent during the coronavirus.

Tenants are protected from having to dip into their superannuation to pay their rent during the coronavirus.

UNSCRUPULOUS landlords will not be able to force tenants to dip in to their superannuation funds to pay their rent during the coronavirus.

Amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act, made at Wednesday’s special one-day sitting of parliament, set out the new regulations designed to protect both tenant and landlord until the end of September.

RENTAL PROTECTION DURING PANDEMIC

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Under the amendments, anyone who has lost their job, or has suffered significant income loss because of the coronavirus, can negotiate a rent reduction if needed.

But the changes rule out a “free for all” where tenants can opt out of paying rent during the coronavirus.

The changes, set to pass at a late night sitting, also allow the Housing Minister to use emergency regulations during a six-month eviction moratorium introduced by the National Cabinet.

Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said the regulations were temporary but retrospective to March 29, the day the state was asked to investigate how it would implement the eviction moratorium.

Housing Minister Mick de Brenni at Parliament House. AAP Image/Dan Peled.

He said they protected both parties to a lease and were drawn up after the National Cabinet’s eviction moratorium which allowed eligible renters to default on payments and led to landlords considering evicting people.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland, Tenants Queensland and leaders in the property sector helped draft the provisions.

Mr de Brenni said under the changes, tenants at risk of being unable to pay rent because of coronavirus hardship would not have to draw down on their superannuation.

“Superannuation is not an instrument of welfare to be used during this global health emergency,” Mr de Brenni told media this morning.

“Superannuation is a reward for decades of hard work and is a retirement saving.”

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But before being eligible, renters have to prove they have lost at least 25 per cent of their income or prove they have lost so much income their rent exceeds 30 per cent of their disposable income, forcing them to forego essentials.

Tenants will have to produce documents such as pay slips, severance letters from employers or Centrelink papers to prove their status.

Mr de Brenni said the eligibility benchmarks were “pretty high” but said there were enough other welfare payments, such as Jobseeker and Jobkeeper, to ensure “everyone kept a roof over their head”.

“We don’t want to see anyone thrown out and we don’t want to see landlords lose their tenants,” he said.

Any disputes over whether a tenant was legitimately suffering hardship under the agreement will be assessed under free compulsory mediation through the Residential Tenancies Authority.

Mr de Brenni said the changes also governed access to properties.