Qld first homeowners able to rent out rooms from day one under LNP lifeline
At least 20,000 struggling first homeowners have been thrown a lifeline by the new state government after it made good on a promise to let them rent out rooms.
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As many as 20,000 rooms for rent could hit the market and struggling first homeowners will have help to pay off their mortgages under permanent changes to subletting rules.
Under the changes, first home buyers could rent out a room from the day they moved in without losing grants and concessions, Premier David Crisafulli and Housing Minister Sam O’Connor announced on Saturday.
The change, effective from December 7, would be formally enshrined in legislation introduced to Parliament next week.
Mr Crisafulli first announced the policy in June, with the former Labor government quietly adopting it just before the October election. However it planned to end the scheme next June.
Mr Crisafulli said his government had issued a Ministerial Directive making the rule change permanent.
“The former government said this wasn’t an issue and then at two minutes to midnight, in caretaker mode, they put it in place for six months,’’ Mr Crisafulli said.
“I’m not sure that was the signal the market needs.
“We’re sending a signal to every young Queenslander that it is going to be permanent and we will look to send that message, not just to young people, but also to real estate agents, to banks, to people who want to invest in this state, that we are removing every single blockage to get young people into the market.’’
Mr O’Connor said their Treasury modelling showed 20,000 homeowners could benefit from the rule change.
“That’s a lot of rooms available for rent immediately,’’ he said.
“It’s a big boost to rental supply that we’ve been able to achieve just with a stroke of a pen.
“Please take this up. It’ll save you money and put a roof over the head of a mate.’’
However, Labor said earlier this year that the change would not help many first homeowners.
Only two people were believed to have advised the Queensland Revenue Office that they had rented out a room.
Mr O’Connor said he was also focused on longer-term fixes for the housing supply and affordability crisis.
They included tasking the revived Productivity Commission with ensuring its first investigation, to begin early next year, would be into the building and construction sector.
The government also was working on boosting the involvement of the community housing sector in providing social housing.
Presently it was responsible for only about 15 per cent of social housing.
In NSW, the sector provided up to 30 per cent of social housing and in Tasmania the figure was about 60 per cent.
The LNP would also abolish stamp duty on all new builds by first home buyers and would set up a $2 billion fund to help local governments and construction firms with “shovel ready’’ housing projects.
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Originally published as Qld first homeowners able to rent out rooms from day one under LNP lifeline
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