New Legislation and Regulation to respond to COVID-19

The Queensland Government recently announced changes to residential tenancies legislation, to assist tenants and property owners negotiate appropriate resolutions where hardship is experienced due to coronavirus. Last week, the Queensland Government legislated changes to the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act, to be implemented through the COVID-19 Emergency Response Regulation.

These Regulations set out the criteria for defining a tenancy as “COVID-19 impacted” resulting in hardship, and the responses available to property owners and tenants as a result of this hardship.

A plain-language guide to the changes can be found here, however we have summarised below the criteria tenants will need to meet to be eligible for this assistance, and the main assistance that the Regulation provides.

Defining a “COVID-19 impacted” tenancy

It is important to note that only tenancies deemed to be “COVID-19 impacted” qualify for the assistance measures outlined in the COVID-19 Emergency Response Regulation.

In order to be deemed to be COVID-19 impacted, and therefore in excessive hardship, tenants must meet specified criteria in relation to both the circumstances leading to their loss of income, and the amount of income that has been lost, and be able to provide evidence of this.

The criteria are as follows:

1. A person is suffering excessive hardship due to the COVID-19 emergency if any of the following apply:
2. one or more tenants or residents are afflicted by COVID-19
3. they are subject to a public health direction to stay at a place
4. a public health direction has closed their employment or restricted their employer’s trade or business
5. they are self-isolating because they or a member of their household or a someone they are a primary carer for is a vulnerable person
6. they are unable to work because of a travel restriction
7. they have been prevented from returning to Australia; AND
8. the person suffers a loss of income of 25% or more, OR
9. the rent payable is 30% or more person’s income.

Protections available to a COVID-19 impacted tenancy

Should a tenancy meet these tests, special provisions will then apply around:

• Ending a tenancy with a moratorium on evictions
• Extension of fixed term agreements
• Tenancy variation agreements due to requests for rent reductions
• Termination of a tenancy agreement for excessive hardship
• Restrictions on property managers entering premises for routine inspections
• Additional protections for tenants impacted by domestic violence

As well as these protections, there are new measures for property owners impacted by COVID-19 who may need to sell their property or need to occupy the premises. There is also clear guidance about the process if both parties do not agree on the revised terms with detail about the conciliation process with the RTA.

You can find additional information about all of these important changes on the Queensland government’s “Hub” website.

Our approach to implementing these new arrangements

It is our absolute priority to ensure that both our property owners and tenants have the most accurate and timely information in this changing environment. We are keeping up to date with all industry and government guidance, processes and requirements, so you can rest assured that we are here and ready to assist you in any way we can during this time.