Residential tenants will soon receive greater protection from legislative changes improving rental conditions implemented by the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024 (NSW).
Changes to come into effect in the first half of 2025 include:
- Ending “no-grounds” terminations for renters, requiring landlords to provide reasons to end an expired lease. Such reasons will include breaches by the tenant, sale of the property with vacant possession, the need for significant repairs, renovations, or demolition, and the landlord needing personal use of the property.
- Limiting rent increases to one per year. Rental increase notices will change from 30 days to 60 days for leases of 6 months or less, and 90 days for leases over 6 months.
- Making it easier for renters to keep pets. Landlords will be required to reply to a request to keep pets within 21 days, with limited reasons to refuse a pet request. In addition, it is important to note that strata by-laws that ban all pets are not valid, and cannot be used by landlords as a reason to refuse pets.
- Preventing extra fees being charged at the start of tenancies, such as fees for background checks or preparing tenancy agreements.
- Ensuring renters can elect to pay their rent by way of bank transfer or Centrepay. Centrepay is a free Commonwealth Government facility for Centrelink customers.
Where disputes arise in relation to residential tenancies, an application can be made to NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for determination of the dispute.
