QLD rental crisis: Why end of lease can spell disaster for tenants

What costs more than $25,000, leaves purchasers with nothing to show for their investment and can be taken away for no reason? The answer lies in a decision taken by the state government, writes Keith Woods.

HERE’S a question for our politicians. What costs more than $25,000, leaves purchasers with nothing to show for their investment and can be taken away for no reason?

The answer, of course, is a 12-month lease on a simple unit on the Gold Coast.

There are good landlords and good property managers in this city. But many tenants are being treated poorly by others who know they hold all the cards in a tight market.

Renters live in dread of receiving a “notice to leave” when their lease is nearing its end. Lack of supply means that for people on modest incomes it in effect can mean a notice not just to leave their rental property, but the Gold Coast as a whole.

It is not uncommon to hear stories about such notices to leave being used by private landlords against tenants who had the temerity to raise issues with their rentals.

Only this week a tenant in a complex fronting the Gold Coast Highway said she was told her lease would not be renewed after complaining about the noise of management putting out bins and mowing lawns as early as 5am.

Former tenants at the Smith Collective have also alleged they got notices to leave after raising concerns.

Minister for Communities and Housing Leeanne Enoch. Picture: Liam Kidston.

What is more extraordinary is the fact that, as reported in the Bulletin, the Queensland government itself has got in on the act – attempting to evict tenants from the Brighton Waters unit block in Biggera Waters at the end of their lease terms so they could be replaced by social housing clients.

Perhaps we should not be surprised. The government last year actually legislated to allow for such behaviour.

In new tenancy legislation passed in October, “without grounds” was formally removed as a reason for eviction and “end of a fixed term agreement” was added.

While this change has not yet formally taken effect, the industry is not waiting, with its use already widespread on the Gold Coast.

Minister for Communities and Housing Leeanne Enoch said at the time the reforms helped deliver certainty for the 34 per cent of Queenslanders who rent.

“Queenslanders rely on safe, secure and affordable housing and we’re delivering on our election commitments to improve confidence in the rental market,” Ms Enoch said.

“The new laws provide a strong, balanced approach that protects the rights of renters and lessors, while improving stability in the rental market.”

Those words seem extraordinarily hollow when one considers how the Brighton Waters tenants were treated at the hands of Ms Enoch’s own department.

The Brighton Waters building in Biggera Waters, where tenants were told their leases would not be renewed after it was bought by the state government. Picture: Keith Woods.

Advocacy group Tenants Queensland said the inclusion of “end of a fixed term” as a reason to end a tenancy “significantly watered down proposed protections for renters, almost rendering them pointless”.

“The government says their changes will stop tenancies ending without grounds. That’s not correct,” the group said. “Their (reforms) allow tenants to be evicted because of the ‘end of a fixed term’ - effectively the same as the current ‘without grounds’ notice where renters can still be evicted for no good reason.”

Remarkably, a government report published ahead of the drafting of the new reforms said the same, recommending that end of a fixed term should not be included on the list of approved reasons for ending a tenancy.

“It may create incentives for owners to only offer shorter fixed-term tenancy agreements so owners could end tenancy arrangements if their circumstances change unexpectedly,” the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement said.

“Tenant fears about retaliatory eviction if they enforce their tenancy rights would not be addressed as owners could rely on the expiry of a fixed term to end the tenancy without providing any other reason.”

This is exactly what is now happening to tenants throughout the Gold Coast, leaving many people on low incomes effectively homeless.

The Palaszczuk government claims it is serious about addressing the housing crisis in Queensland, saying it is investing $2.9bn into social and affordable housing.

Taxpayers are entitled to wonder whether that money is well spent when the government’s own reforms, and debacles such as the purchase of the Brighton Waters building, threaten to deprive as many people of their homes as the government is able to help.

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