Latest news with #LeoPattersonRoss
The Australian
06-08-2025
- Politics
- The Australian
NSW parliament rejects bid to restore rental eviction safeguards
A motion to disallow controversial changes to rental rights in NSW that advocates for the move say could provide a 'loophole' for dodgy landlords has been shot down in parliament. The Labor government introduced requirements that landlords provide evidence to evict tenants to complete repairs and renovations as part of sweeping reforms in May. Just more than a month later, that safeguard was quietly removed. The change triggered backlash from more than 20 civil society groups, legal services and charities, including the Tenants' Union of NSW. A motion to disallow the amendments was voted down in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday despite support from the Coalition, Greens, and the crossbench. Tenants' Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said the result was 'disappointing' and warned the change risked eroding renters' trust in the system. 'The government does deserve a lot of credit for designing a pretty good, not perfect, but pretty good system and committing to monitor it,' he said. 'This move on the regulation is really risky to the integrity of that whole system because if you open up one loophole, then everyone who is seeking to undermine the law, seeking to avoid its application, will try and sneak through it. 'That may not be the majority of people, but it's going to be enough that it causes uncertainty about the integrity of the rest of the system.' Tenants' Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said the result was 'disappointing'. Mr Patterson Ross acknowledged that Labor's reforms were 'genuinely historic' and about 50 years in the making. But, the change to evidence requirements would increase the worry from tenants if they were 'being treated fairly' and if the reasons were 'genuine'. He warned the change raised the risk of further changes without consultation and that it put further pressure on the regulator. 'By removing the eviction ground, they've actually put much more pressure on the regulator to be catching false reasons than when the evidence was upfront,' he said. Mr Patterson Ross said Premier Chris Minns had argued the change would reduce the pressure on NSW Fair Trading and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). Disallowance motion fails In a motion to disallow that change, Liberal MP Tim James said the amendments created a 'giant loophole' for landlords. 'This disallowance motion goes to the very heart of integrity in lawmaking, consistency in regulation, and the trust that renters place in this parliament,' he said. 'Just weeks after those laws commenced, they (the state government) began quietly dismantling them quickly – in fact, faster than a speeding bullet. 'They started to walk it back without consultation, without warning and without any explanation.' Mr James said the amendments meant landlords needed only to provide their 'word' that works were to be undertaken. 'This is not a minor adjustment as the government would have us believe,' he said. 'This is a major backflip on a core plank of the government's own reforms.' NSW Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong slammed the motion as 'disingenuous, politically opportunistic'. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer NSW Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong slammed the motion as 'disingenuous, politically opportunistic' and a political stunt. 'That evidence requirements have not been removed,' he said. 'A written statement, signed and dated by the landlord, must still explain why the renovations or repairs are significant, why the property must be vacant for the works to be carried out, and the proposed commencement date of the work. 'This is a written evidence of action for renovations to take place as part of our no-grounds eviction.' Mr Chanthivong accused the former Coalition government of 12 years of 'inaction and indifference'. Introduced on May 19, the Labor Bill prohibited no-grounds evictions in NSW. A landlord now needs a 'valid legal reason' to evict a tenant, including a change of property use, the sale of the property, or renovations, repairs, or demolitions. The Bill was lauded at the time as a landmark move in rental rights and joined similar measures in other Australian states and territories. The disallowance motion was supported by Greens Newtown MP Jenny Leong. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Mr Chanthivong said the measures gave certainty to renters as well as landlords. Supporting the motion, Greens MP Jenny Leong said that while she believed the 'opposition was no friend of renters', Labor had 'failed to explain' the need for the changes. 'The minister says it's a minor change, but I mean if you take a bucket and put a small hole in it and try and keep it full, it will not work,' she said. 'Because what the government is doing with changing these regulations is putting a massive loophole into the reforms after they celebrated them.' Ms Leong claimed that as far as she was aware, no consultations took place from May 19 when the bill was introduced and when regulations were changed. She encouraged the chamber to 'ask some questions about how many landlords there are in cabinet'. The motion was also supported by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, who noted the number of rough sleepers at Central Station in Sydney had doubled. 'This is all as a result of fierce competition that leaves landlords with considerable power over tenants,' he said. 'Removing no-grounds evictions is key to restoring some balance in the landlord-tenant relationship and protecting tenants from unfair eviction.' Liberal Davidson MP Matt Cross also spoke in favour of the motion. A similar motion is expected in the upper house in coming days.
News.com.au
06-08-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Motion to disallow controversial changes to eviction requirements shot down in NSW parliament
A motion to disallow controversial changes to rental rights in NSW that advocates for the move say could provide a 'loophole' for dodgy landlords has been shot down in parliament. The Labor government introduced requirements that landlords provide evidence to evict tenants to complete repairs and renovations as part of sweeping reforms in May. Just more than a month later, that safeguard was quietly removed. The change triggered backlash from more than 20 civil society groups, legal services and charities, including the Tenants' Union of NSW. A motion to disallow the amendments was voted down in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday despite support from the Coalition, Greens, and the crossbench. Tenants' Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said the result was 'disappointing' and warned the change risked eroding renters' trust in the system. 'The government does deserve a lot of credit for designing a pretty good, not perfect, but pretty good system and committing to monitor it,' he said. 'This move on the regulation is really risky to the integrity of that whole system because if you open up one loophole, then everyone who is seeking to undermine the law, seeking to avoid its application, will try and sneak through it. 'That may not be the majority of people, but it's going to be enough that it causes uncertainty about the integrity of the rest of the system.' Mr Patterson Ross acknowledged that Labor's reforms were 'genuinely historic' and about 50 years in the making. But, the change to evidence requirements would increase the worry from tenants if they were 'being treated fairly' and if the reasons were 'genuine'. He warned the change raised the risk of further changes without consultation and that it put further pressure on the regulator. 'By removing the eviction ground, they've actually put much more pressure on the regulator to be catching false reasons than when the evidence was upfront,' he said. Mr Patterson Ross said Premier Chris Minns had argued the change would reduce the pressure on NSW Fair Trading and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). Disallowance motion fails In a motion to disallow that change, Liberal MP Tim James said the amendments created a 'giant loophole' for landlords. 'This disallowance motion goes to the very heart of integrity in lawmaking, consistency in regulation, and the trust that renters place in this parliament,' he said. 'Just weeks after those laws commenced, they (the state government) began quietly dismantling them quickly – in fact, faster than a speeding bullet. 'They started to walk it back without consultation, without warning and without any explanation.' Mr James said the amendments meant landlords needed only to provide their 'word' that works were to be undertaken. 'This is not a minor adjustment as the government would have us believe,' he said. 'This is a major backflip on a core plank of the government's own reforms.' NSW Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong slammed the motion as 'disingenuous, politically opportunistic' and a political stunt. 'That evidence requirements have not been removed,' he said. 'A written statement, signed and dated by the landlord, must still explain why the renovations or repairs are significant, why the property must be vacant for the works to be carried out, and the proposed commencement date of the work. 'This is a written evidence of action for renovations to take place as part of our no-grounds eviction.' Mr Chanthivong accused the former Coalition government of 12 years of 'inaction and indifference'. Introduced on May 19, the Labor Bill prohibited no-grounds evictions in NSW. A landlord now needs a 'valid legal reason' to evict a tenant, including a change of property use, the sale of the property, or renovations, repairs, or demolitions. The Bill was lauded at the time as a landmark move in rental rights and joined similar measures in other Australian states and territories. Mr Chanthivong said the measures gave certainty to renters as well as landlords. Supporting the motion, Greens MP Jenny Leong said that while she believed the 'opposition was no friend of renters', Labor had 'failed to explain' the need for the changes. 'The minister says it's a minor change, but I mean if you take a bucket and put a small hole in it and try and keep it full, it will not work,' she said. 'Because what the government is doing with changing these regulations is putting a massive loophole into the reforms after they celebrated them.' Ms Leong claimed that as far as she was aware, no consultations took place from May 19 when the bill was introduced and when regulations were changed. She encouraged the chamber to 'ask some questions about how many landlords there are in cabinet'. The motion was also supported by Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, who noted the number of rough sleepers at Central Station in Sydney had doubled. 'This is all as a result of fierce competition that leaves landlords with considerable power over tenants,' he said. 'Removing no-grounds evictions is key to restoring some balance in the landlord-tenant relationship and protecting tenants from unfair eviction.' Liberal Davidson MP Matt Cross also spoke in favour of the motion.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Calls for Australia-wide crackdown on real estate ads that use AI to hide faults and lure in renters
The New South Wales tenants union has called for nationwide reforms to crack down on misleading rental advertisements after the state government introduced new laws in response to the growing use of artificial intelligence in real estate. The legislation, announced on Sunday, will require mandatory disclosure when images in rental advertisements have been altered to conceal faults and mislead rental applicants. The state government cited examples of real estate agents using artificially generated furniture that showed a double bed in a bedroom that was only large enough to fit a single in listings, or digitally modifying photos to obscure property damage. The new laws aim to stop the unnecessary collection of personal information to protect renters' personal data. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email About a third of people in NSW rent their homes and the state government has estimated that about 187,000 pieces of identification information were collected from renters in the state every week, from requiring personal photos and social media account details to revealing the number of tattoos an applicant had. If the bill passes parliament, a standard rental application form will be introduced to clarify what information can and can not be collected. The chief executive of the Tenants' Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, said 'all renters in Australia' should be granted these protections. 'This is an area of renting that has had almost no protection for renters at a time that they are often vulnerable and under pressure to find a new home,' said Ross, who helped consult on the bill. 'We have seen some progress on standardising application processes in other states but they haven't included consideration of the whole range of ways information is being collected or ensuring advertising is an authentic representation of the property on offer, or at least manipulation is disclosed.' Ross said the use of fake photography had become a 'growing frustration' for many amid the growth of AI and digital manipulation. 'Being misled into visiting a property that is not suitable is frustrating for prospective tenants and may mean they miss out on other properties,' he said. 'But it also risks inflating the rent itself by inflating the number of people who appear interested in a place and increasing pressure on someone to rush to put in an application or even offer above the advertised rent.' Ross said just as with AI or embedded networks, governments should look at other important information that may mislead or significantly alter people's interest in properties. 'Landlords could also be required to disclose at the advertising stage the age of the photos being used, the repairs and other compliance history, the energy efficiency performance … and provide floor plans for the property as well as current required disclosures,' he said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The minister for better regulation and fair trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, said renters were 'entitled to dignity and privacy when living in a rental property – and this extends to their personal information too'. 'These reforms are a very commonsense solution to a very real problem for people in the rental market, and I would love to see other states and territories follow NSW's lead,' he said. 'Regulation reform is an ongoing journey and of course we are always looking at options to improve protection for consumers in the property market.' Corporations for agents and landlords would be up for penalties of $49,500 if they broke the privacy rules, or $11,000 for individuals, under the new laws. Individuals would be imposed $5,500 fines or $22,000 for businesses for non-disclosure of misleading or altered photographs. The NSW rental commissioner, Trina Jones, said cyber breaches and data theft were a 'major privacy risk' to individuals and the businesses the collected and held information. 'There's a cyber breach reported in Australia every six minutes,' she said. 'Renters shouldn't have to trade away their privacy just to find a place to live.' The chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, Tim McKibbin, said for the purposes of real estate transactions, including residential rentals, there was often a necessity for agents to collect some personal information. But he said when that no longer existed, information should be deleted. He said uploading photography that didn't accurately represent the property was a 'false and misleading' practice.
Sky News AU
23-06-2025
- General
- Sky News AU
Reality of renting in Australia: Roaches, mould, fear of eviction and rent hikes
Twenty per cent of Australian rentals have mouldy bathrooms, a new survey has found. Research from the Australian Council of Social Service and the University of NSW has found on top of the mouldy bathrooms, some 70 per cent of tenants are too scared to ask for repair work for fear of copping a rent increase. 'This report validates what renters across Australia already know. Despite extensive rental laws on paper, this report exposes the stark gap between legislation and reality for Australian renters,' National Association of Renters' Organisations spokesman Leo Patterson Ross said. 'Weak oversight of rental costs, property standards and industry practices have denied renters the benefits of a safe, stable and healthy home.' The social services council and university surveyed 1019 people who rent in the private sector across the country. The survey found 73 per cent of renters had a rent increase in the past year; a third of renters said a 5 per cent hike would make it difficult to cover rent. About one-in-three rental houses had cockroaches or ants, a quarter had leaks or flooding and 18 per cent had mould in the bathroom. Tenants fear that asking for repairs to be done can lead to rent hikes (68 per cent) or evictions (56 per cent). Social services council chief executive, Cassandra Goldia, said the housing market was failing. 'It is completely unacceptable that people in the private rental market are nervous about asking for essential repairs because they fear a rent increase or eviction notice,' Dr Goldie said. 'Everyone deserves to be able to live in secure homes without the constant fear of losing their home. 'We urge state and federal governments to work together to cap rent increases, abolish no-grounds evictions and boost social housing to ensure people on low incomes have safe, secure and affordable homes.' The university, social services council, National Shelter and the National Association of Renters' have identified five points to address concerns stemming from the report. First, legislated national limits on the amount and frequency of rent increases. No-grounds evictions and further renter protections are the second point the group says need to be addressed. Funding boosts to tenant advice services, raising income support and Jobseeker payments and finally a boost to the number of social houses are on the group's to-do list.
Perth Now
23-06-2025
- General
- Perth Now
Reality of renting in Australia: Roaches, mould, fear of eviction and rent hikes
Twenty per cent of Australian rentals have mouldy bathrooms, a new survey has found. Research from the Australian Council of Social Service and the University of NSW has found on top of the mouldy bathrooms, some 70 per cent of tenants are too scared to ask for repair work for fear of copping a rent increase. 'This report validates what renters across Australia already know. Despite extensive rental laws on paper, this report exposes the stark gap between legislation and reality for Australian renters,' National Association of Renters' Organisations spokesman Leo Patterson Ross said. 'Weak oversight of rental costs, property standards and industry practices have denied renters the benefits of a safe, stable and healthy home.' The social services council and university surveyed 1019 people who rent in the private sector across the country. The survey found 73 per cent of renters had a rent increase in the past year; a third of renters said a 5 per cent hike would make it difficult to cover rent. About one-in-three rental houses had cockroaches or ants, a quarter had leaks or flooding and 18 per cent had mould in the bathroom. Tenants fear that asking for repairs to be done can lead to rent hikes (68 per cent) or evictions (56 per cent). Camera Icon A survey of 1000 Australian renters found 20 per cent have mouldy bathrooms. Credit: Supplied Social services council chief executive, Cassandra Goldia, said the housing market was failing. 'It is completely unacceptable that people in the private rental market are nervous about asking for essential repairs because they fear a rent increase or eviction notice,' Dr Goldie said. 'Everyone deserves to be able to live in secure homes without the constant fear of losing their home. 'We urge state and federal governments to work together to cap rent increases, abolish no-grounds evictions and boost social housing to ensure people on low incomes have safe, secure and affordable homes.' The university, social services council, National Shelter and the National Association of Renters' have identified five points to address concerns stemming from the report. First, legislated national limits on the amount and frequency of rent increases. No-grounds evictions and further renter protections are the second point the group says need to be addressed. Funding boosts to tenant advice services, raising income support and Jobseeker payments and finally a boost to the number of social houses are on the group's to-do list.
