Legislation changes coming soon

As part of the government's re-election strategy a couple of years ago, changes were proposed to the way the residential tenancies run, and these are now being progressively rolled out. Some of the 130 or so new regulations already in place, and the remainder due to be in enforce by 1st July 2020. This will change the landscape within which we operate as landlords and property managers, and we’re already adjusting our procedures to accommodate the new laws

Some of the changes which will have the greatest effect on the way we manage your property are:

Pets - once this new regulation comes into effect, there will no longer be the right to exclude pets from rental properties unless there is an order in place from VCAT. This may be difficult to achieve, as the view expressed to us is that pets are a right, not an option, and a landlord will need very compelling reasons not to allow a pet within the rental property.

Urgent repairs - when this regulation comes into force, the definition of what constitutes an “urgent repair” will be broadened to include airconditioners, safety devices (such as locks and smoke alarms) and mould infestation

Safety Device checks – this legislation will stipulate that all gas appliances and smoke alarms are regularly serviced by certified contractors, and records kept of the service; the service periods will most likely be 2-yearly for gas appliances, and annually for smoke alarms.

Removal of 120-day “no reason specified” notice - this is quite possibly the one item that has created the biggest point of contention within the industry as it removes a right of termination from the landlord. We are in consultation with the Real Estate Institute of Victoria and other bodies and have started to move our procedures to take this into account.

There are a lot more changes coming into place over the next few months, and these will be outlined in in future newsletters however if you would like further advice as these legislative changes are put into practise please don’t hesitate to contact your property manager.