Rental law a pet hate as petition signatures skyrocket

A PETITION to reverse the Gunner Government’s new pet rental legislation has received more than 1400 signatures within days of being launched. WHAT do you think? VOTE in our poll

Real Estate Institute of the NT chief executive Quentin Kilian says he is outraged by the new legislation

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A PETITION to reverse the Gunner Government’s new pet rental legislation has received more than 1400 signatures within days of being launched.

The petition, started by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, calls to dump new laws which mean tenants have the presumption of a right to keep a pet.

REINT chief executive Quentin Kilian said he had received an astounding volume of complaints about the rules.

“Our members are extremely angry and they’re speaking on behalf of their clients who are the landlords,” Mr Kilian said.

“They’re angry at the fact that their rights have been taken away from them.

“Nobody argues that tenants should be without rights; it’s certainly not an acceptable position. What we say, however, is that tenants’ rights should not be given at the behest of taking away a landlord’s rights.

“The landlord is the person who has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into that property … If you want the right of a homeowner we would encourage you to become one.”

Mr Kilian said no consideration had been made to investors considering entering the Territory market.

“We’ll never know who they were or what they were planning to buy,” he said.

He plans to take the petition to parliament.

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the fury of Territorians was clear.

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“Territorians understand that when a Labor Government is pushing through legislative overreach that goes into patrolling their lives, that they will stand up against it and I think this pets clause has really made Territorians angry and that’s why they’re voting on this petition,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles said the legislation would include a “reasonableness test” which would be applied to determine whether a request for a particular pet in a rental property was appropriate.