‘Not Monopoly’: troubling effect of new rental laws

NSW’s rental laws are already having a troubling effect after they passed parliament just last week.

NSW’s rental laws are already having a troubling effect after they passed parliament just last week.

The new quasi pro-tenant rental laws, which passed through the NSW state parliament mid-week, are already prompting landlords to sell up.

The troubling occurrence emerged during the Legislative Council debate, when independent MLC Rod Roberts advised he had sold an investment property from his own portfolio.

Property records revealed it was a property in Goulburn that fetched $1.1m in early October through Barry McEntee of First National.

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Politician Rodney Roberts has sold his Goulburn investment propertyPicture: realestate.com.au

It was a small block of three two-bedroom units plus a one one-bedder which Roberts and wife Lynette had acquired for $325,000 in 2004, after he had retired from the police force.

The Combermere St units, upgraded with modern kitchens and bathrooms, have a $64,480 gross annual income.

Roberts told his colleagues he was minded to sell down his portfolio because aspects of the legislation reflected “the slow socialist march of the Labor left eroding people’s property rights”.

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Rod Roberts MLC. Picture: Supplied

“This is not a game of Monopoly with the little guy in the top hat and tails smoking a dirty big Havana … these are mum-and-dad workers who risk it all by borrowing extra money, usually against equity in their own home. They run the risk because they want to save for their future so that they are not a burden on society,” he said.

“We need to encourage landlords. We need to keep them in the market. We also need to strike a sensible balance between tenants’ rights and landlords’ rights. I completely understand that. However, this Bill misses the mark.”

Roberts had told 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley he was most concerned about the new section 87E (3) rule surrounding investors who secure vacant possession as they intend to sell, but then fail to find a buyer.

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“So your poor old mum-and-dad investors say all right, we’ll rent it back out again, but no, this Act says you can’t.”

Desirous landlords can’t re-let for six months, unless approved by the secretary of the department.

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Originally published as ‘Not Monopoly’: troubling effect of new rental laws