Submission: Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019

The Tenants' Union made this submission to the Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 Consultation. 

A statutory review of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 was undertaken during 2015-2016 and NSW Parliament passed the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Review) Act 2018 in October 2018. This amendment introduced a range of reforms to the Act. The Regulation provides the administrative detail to support the operation of the Act.

For this submission, the Tenants' Union consulted heavily with the advocates of the Tenants Advice & Advocacy Services, and we are aware that a number of services have lodged submissions of their own. We encourage the Department to consider their experiences as professional advocates with extensive experience of the way the Act and Regulation operates in practice.

We have also consulted with a range of other stakeholders including Shelter NSW, Vinnies, the Salvation Army, the Community Housing Industry Association and Community Legal Centres such as the Women’s Legal Service and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

We are also aware that a sizable number of tenants and organisations have submitted brief submissions regarding our pets provisions proposals. This is an issue which tenants have told us for many years is a pressing issue for them and we are pleased that so many have written in support. We strongly believe it is time for this element of unfair tenancy practice to be addressed.