Chris Minns’ key election promise stuck in quicksand

A spectacular policy failure has meant one of Premier Chris Minns’ signature election promises is going nowhere fast.

OPINION

Despite the obvious rental housing crisis, the clock is ticking very slowly towards no-fault eviction legislation being presented to the NSW parliament.

It was a key election promise in March last year when the reigning NSW Liberal and National government, the Labor opposition and the Greens were all, sort of, on the same page with the controversial proposal to stop landlords evicting tenants on extended leases without a permissible reasonable excuse.

The delay in part is because there is no agreement on the best way to achieve tenant security in NSW which sees leases short by international standards along with a high turnover among landlords in the market.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has wisely ruled out a rent freeze from his rental reform package. But it is possible the government could mimic the ACT’s requirement that landlords must seek regulatory approval for excessive rental hikes.

There’s been little movement on Premier Chris Minns’ no-fault eviction legislation. NCA NewsWire/ Dylan Robinson

The government has its inaugural NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones in place but there is little to show for her public usefulness so far.

The Minns government has also moved on controversial housing supply planning reforms, but won’t put downward pressure on rents until the medium term at earliest.

No-fault legislation would likely have quick effect in providing security of tenure for tenants amid the rental crisis where a third of the population think they are at the mercy of others.

The delay on eviction laws comes amid a spectacular policy failure as Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong’s hopes of laws ending rental auction bidding were stymied after a parliamentary inquiry concluded the proposal would drive up rents.

But the Labor government must do something for tenants since many of the most marginal electorates have high volumes of renters, including Epping, Balmain, Winston Hills, Oatley, Drummoyne, Ryde, East Hills and Riverstone.

Anoulack Chanthivong was a key figure in crucial policy failure for the Minns government. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Wise heads in the government know that any no-fault eviction intervention runs the risk of triggering investors exiting the market, making the rental shortage even more dire.

The Real Estate Institute of NSW was silly when they warned the Minns government that ending no-grounds evictions could breach the human rights of landlords, ie Article 17 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sydney landlords who have watched neighbouring states and overseas go down the populist route hope any new system in NSW works and is fair to tenants and responsible landlords.

There are complex issues centring on the length of notice to be given by landlords and their tenants; the size of bonds for lengthy leases; university student tenure given their academic calendar; thwarting retaliatory evictions, and whether to ban the use of no-fault evictions for both periodic and fixed-term leases after the first lease cycle.

There is also the time frame around intended property sales or landlords moving back in.