 Welcome and thank you for watching today's RTA webinar on questions answered which is our fourth webinar in the new series on the Tenancy Law Changes. My name is Lynne Smith from the Education Team at the RTA and today I'm also joined by my colleague Mark Fiddler. Morning Lynne, thanks very much for having me along. Before we start we'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners on the land on which we are meeting today and where you are as well and pay my respects to our elders past, present and emerging. Today is very much a quick review of the Tenancy changes as we focus on the questions Mark and I have received over the past few months either through our face-to-face presentations, our online meetings with various stakeholders or through our webinar series. To start this is a review of how we got here. So after the initial consultation and feedback from the rental sector the Housing Legislation Amendment Act was passed in October 2021 with the new Tenancy Laws being implemented in stages as you see on your screen. Today we are focusing on the questions asked around the 1 October 2022 changes which is the pets, ending tenancies, repair orders and other amendments. The RTA has released a lot of resources on the changes and you can find more detailed information through the link that you see on your screen now. Please visit the RTA's website at rta.qld.gov.au. If you haven't already checked out these resources please do so as this will give some more clarification around the changes. Before we do start Mark and I are not here to provide legal advice and as always the Residential Tenancies and Room Accommodation Act and Regulations outline the rights and responsibilities and processes for both owners, managers and tenants and you can also seek your own independent legal advice. So we are going to start with the framework for negotiating renting with a pet. So some of the questions for the pets have been around the process and how that works. So this slide is outlining the process from when the tenant needs to apply and needs to use the new form, the request to keep a pet form 21 which is available on the RTA's website. We would encourage tenants to ensure that they have as much detail as possible and include a photo of the pet to help the owner make that informed decision. Owners do need to respond within 14 days with either an approval or refusal. If approved the owner could put conditions as part of the approval which the tenant would need to agree to. If there's no response within 14 days from the owner or the manager then the pet is deemed to be approved. But let's have a look at the steps. Now what happens if an owner or manager refuses and the tenant does not agree with the reason that they have provided? The first step is self-resolution. So both the tenant and the owner or the manager should speak with each other and try and resolve the matter between themselves. Once parties speak with each other there could be more information shared and a better understanding for both the tenant and the owner or the manager. So there is tips on self-resolution and that can be found on the RTA's website. If that's not successful then the tenant can apply to the RTA's dispute resolution service and go through conciliation. If it is resolved then a conciliation agreement is signed by all parties. If it's unresolved then the tenant would need to apply to the tribunal. This would be a non-urgent application and time frames do vary at QCAT. So welcome back Mark. So how much information needs to be supplied about the pet? Thanks Lynn for having me back. Tenants are encouraged to provide as much detail as possible. Now the Form 21 that we have produced has a lot of questions on it and a lot of tick boxes and those sorts of things. So we'd encourage the tenant to provide and fill out as much of that information as they can. Photos would be beneficial as well. So things like the size of the pet, type of pet, whether it's a cat or a dog, the breed and those sorts of things. So the Form does allow, as I said, for the tenants to put a lot of information in, but if they have additional information it might be a certificate from puppy school for example, or it might be a vet certificate to show that it's been desexed or whatever the circumstances might be. So we would encourage them to provide as much information in those circumstances as they can. And the next question is what happens if the pet causes a nuisance or damage during the term of the tenancy? So the changes to the legislation around this are pretty clear. Firstly, damage by the pet is not considered to be fair wear and tear, so would be the lessor's responsibility in that situation. And also if the pet owned by the tenant is causing a nuisance, so barking or digging under fences or anything like that and interfering with the peace, comfort and privacy of a neighbour, again the tenant is responsible in those circumstances. Now if an owner has allergies and they intend to move back into the property in the future, can they say no to a pet? So I'm going to assume this could be like a cat or a dog with fur. Yeah, so if the owner has concerns and they are aware that they're going to come back into the property at home stage, then the refusal reason could well fall into the health requirement in this circumstance. It would probably be up to the owner in that situation to demonstrate or have evidence to be able to show the tenant as to their reason in those circumstances. Yeah. Now we do know that one of the popular questions that we have been asked throughout the last few months is, is a companion dog classed as a working dog and does the tenant need to provide a certificate? Now Mark might just get you to clarify what a working dog is and versus a companion dog. Yeah, so the changes make specific reference to a working dog not being required to go through this process. Now there's three acts that the working dog is covered under. One is the Police Powers Act, the other one is the Correction Services Act and the last is the Assistance and Guide dog legislation. So those three pieces of legislation set out what a working dog is and describe what a working dog is. Outside of those descriptions, a companion dog or a companion pet doesn't necessarily need to be a dog, would need to go through the approval process. Now we certainly understand that some tenants that need or require a companion animal may have some medical reason for that purpose. So in the approval process or in the request process we'd encourage them to be providing as much information as they can and that might be again certification around what the animal assists with or medical certificates to show that they're required to have that but certainly they would need to go through the approval process in this situation. Now if a property is not suitable for a pet because there's no fence, what happens if the animal wants to put up a fence as opposed to the animal? Now if a property is not suitable for a pet and there's no fence, what happens if the tenant wants to put up the fence? So in that situation we'd look at a slightly different section of our legislation that talks about the adding of fixtures and fittings. So the tenant would be able to request to add the fence to the property and the owner would then have the ability to either agree or disagree. Now part of them agreeing might be stating that the tenant either needs to leave the fence there at the end of the tenancy or it may be that they need to return the property to the same way and so therefore remove the fence. But if they do go through that process with the owner they need to ensure that the agreement is documented and everything's in writing so both parties understand where they're at with that. Now what happens if a body corporate doesn't respond in 14 days? Now what we do know is that the body corporate do have different rules compared to the residential tenses and room accommodation acts. So if a tenant is requiring permission to have a pet they will need to have permission from the owner as well as the body corporate. Now body corporate is usually with bylaws particularly if you're looking at renting into an apartment or a townhouse complex. So again when it comes down to this we do have a webinar recording that we have done in collaboration with the body corporate commissioner's office to outline the two separate processes but I guess the main thing here is that if the body corporate doesn't respond in 14 days the owner is probably going to have to say no and then wait for the body corporate to approve before the pet can actually go onto the property. Just clarification here you cannot ask for a pet bond. That's correct so if you do if the owner or manager does approve a pet they can't ask for a pet bond or nor can they increase the rent in as a part of the process or part of the approval to allow the tenant to have a pet. Now does a fish or bird require permission and also the bird part probably is quite easy to answer but what about a fish requiring permission? So in both situations the process would need to be followed. The pet approval form would need to be submitted. Now we appreciate that a fish might be just something as simple as on a bowl on the kitchen bench but ultimately or technically that still needs to be go through the approval process and all of the information provided is probably not unreasonable to consider that the bowl on the bench could soon turn into a large tank with filters and all of those sorts of things so it would be expected that the process is followed in those circumstances yet. And can I advertise the property as no pets? Now we know that these new rules are in relation to existing tenancies because the RTA doesn't obviously cover the application process but Abitur Mahat, can an owner advertise with no pets? Technically they can advertise with no pets Lynn but really if they do and the tenant is approved to take the property and they move in they're still entitled to go through this pet approval process so they decide they want to have a pet they would put the application in. Now the owner even though they stated no pets in the advertisement they would still need to have one of the legislated reasons for denying the tenant to have that pet. So in those circumstances yes they can but it won't stop the tenant from using this process to request a pet regardless. Okay as I mentioned before we do get a lot of questions on the body corporate approval process versus the tenancy law processes so we do have a resource on our website and we welcome you if you rent or own in an apartment or townhouse or unit complex that have body corporate and bylaws please have a look at that resource for more information. Now let's have a look at the ending of a tenancy so just to quickly summarise the new grounds that have been introduced to end a tenancy the without grounds provision has been removed however new additional grounds for owners and managers have been added and they include what you see on your screen so the end of a fixed term undertaking significant repairs renovations change of use or the item moving back in or pairing to sell the property or that the property has been sold or the property is required by state government program. Now for tenants additional grounds also include if the property is not in good repair the death of a co-tenant or if the resident is no longer a student and that applies for student accommodation or the owner does not comply with repair order or there's misrepresentation by the owner or the manager so again we have more in-depth details on these grounds and you can find them on the RTA's website or our previous webinar on the ending of a tenancy. Now for owners and managers you cannot relit the premises for six months after the tenancy has ended for either a change of use so this is potentially looking at the property going into maybe like short stay accommodation or holiday lets and the property is being sold or owner occupation so the owner does need to provide reasonable evidence as why this did not occur should there be a complaint with our compliance and enforcement team remember there are penalty provisions that do apply for providing false misleading information as well as if you do relit the property under that six month timeframe. Okay Mark getting you to come back and we'll have a look at some of the popular questions that we have been asked and that is if I gave a notice to leave without rounds prior to 1 October and it expires mid-December 2022 is that still valid? It certainly is so if a process started prior to the first of October the transitional arrangements allow the process to continue so as long as the correct timeframe is provided on the notice to leave then the notice remains valid. Can you issue a notice to leave at the same time you have a lease signed now this has been a very popular question as well that we've been asked yeah the the RTA's position on this is that this is not an unlawful practice however it's probably not in the spirit of the policy behind the legislation changes and what evidence is required if you are selling a property or the owner or their relative is moving in or there is a change of use and now this obviously is putting it back to that six month timeframe yeah so when you're looking at evidence around those particular things we'd recommend an owner would provide or have a copy of the sale appointment for example if they're looking to sell the property if the relative is moving in they might have an electricity account in the name of the relative that once the tenant or once that situation starts they might have a moving invoice even to show that they've moved in change of use there might be promotion of the short stay so an add on one of the short stay accommodation places or something along those lines we would recommend that owners or managers have evidence and ensure that they keep a copy of that evidence especially if there is a complaint made down the track now if I end the tenancy due to significant repairs does the six month timeframe to not really apply no this is one of the changed grounds to end a tenancy that the six month timeframe doesn't apply the thing that's significant and repaired is that what is considered to be significant is any repair or maintenance that needs to be done that the tenant can't or where the tenant can't remain safely in the property while the work occurs so you would issue the notice to end complete the repairs and then once they're completed do within your right to relit the property as soon as you're able to right now to end a lease due to the end of a fixed term does the two months notice need to be issued exactly two months before the last date of the lease no it doesn't so that two months notice ending for example for ending a fixed term agreement that can be issued anytime up to the day before the end of the fixed term date and that will be a valid notice and the tenant will be expected to leave at the end of the notice period and what if there's a breach has anything changed with the new laws now we know that the breach process is still the breach process whether it's a general breach or rent arrears over to you Mark yeah so in these in regards to breaches nothing has changed so the legislation still provides for you to be able to issue that breach and then issue the notice to leave if the tenant for example doesn't remute the breach so no changes there and what is an example of misrepresentation to end the tenancy so this is one of the new grounds it's been put through for a tenant to be able to end the tenancy yeah so what we see occasionally or from time to time is where the tenant and the owner will sign a tenancy agreement and a part of the special terms in there might be that the owner is going to install an air conditioner or maybe put some security screens in or repair or put up fence or something along those lines within a certain period of time after the tenancy starts now if that doesn't occur then the tenant is able to end the tenancy due to misrepresentation now this does need to occur within three months of the start of the tenancy agreement now if a property does not sell within three months can the owner relet it so again this is coming back to that six month time frame that if a property is to be sold that the new legislation changes says that it cannot be relet for a six month period yeah so the legislation is quite clear as you said around that six month period but it also does allow for situations where for example the owner puts the property on the market they may not get any suitable offers within you know a period of time so that they may take it off the market and in that situation if they've got the evidence to show that it went on the market then it you know they didn't get any suitable offers then they may have a defense to the offense of relating it within six months the other situation may be for example that they do sign a contract and before that contract is completed it falls through so in those situations they may put the property back into the rental market within the six month period and that would be a reasonable defense or possibly be a reasonable defense to them not having committed an offense in that situation so what evidence is required if a co-tenant dies and obviously this is one of those sensitive situations yeah it is and obviously in the you know in the circumstances where this does occur the remaining tenant does have the opportunity to end the tenancy if it's not okay or reasonable for them to remain in the property so in in order to provide evidence they may look at providing legal documents in regards to the person's passing they may even look at information coming from the next of kin or the executive via state so it is a sensitive situation as you said so it's best for both tenant and the owner manager to speak with each other through that process and deal with it as sensitively as they can now if a student wishes to leave early than the end of their fixed term can they be charged a lease break so if the accommodation is for generally for the purposes of student accommodation and the resident is no longer a student then they can give one month's notice and end their tenancy now in these circumstances there would not be any penalties or a lease break so as long as they follow the requirements then and they were a student as defined under the Social Security Act then in that situation they can end the tenancy and there'd be no penalty so if the tenant doesn't follow those processes though or requirements then potentially they may be looking at our penalties or or a lease break in that situation yeah and just to add to that to that obviously for this particular section to apply to be released if they're no longer a student is for that the accommodation is primarily used for student accommodation yep absolutely now the RTA has updated our forms and we do encourage you to make sure that you are always using the latest form so you will see a tick box on the new forms on how a tenancy ends so that's the forms 12 and 13 and also too with the refund form this is now a two-page document and will require both pages to be completed and we're doing again encourage also that last section to be completed as to how the tenancy has ended so the next part we're going to look at is repair orders and the other amendments so just to quickly summarize the process on emergency repairs and routine repairs both these repairs do require the tent to notify the owner or the manager of the repair however if we look at the first part which is the routine repairs if the repair is not done or the breach is not rectified the first next step is to apply to the RTA's dispute resolution service and if it's not resolved then apply to the tribunal so the repair order for routine repair is a non-urgent matter but for emergency repairs again if the manager owner has not responded or organized the repair or their nominated repairer the option available is for the tent to organize the repair themselves and seek reimbursement or they could apply to the tribunal for on an urgent application and that does not require them to come through dispute resolution it's a straight application to the tribunal remember too with the new laws that with emergency repairs a tenant can spend up to the equivalent of four weeks rent to have the repair done and seek reimbursement from the owner or the manager and also too that the it's always important to make sure that you do put that nominated repairer on the agreement to make sure that the tenant knows who to contact so the repair order if a repeal order comes from the tribunal it is attached to the rental property not the tenancy and again if it there's a change of tenants a new agent or the property has been sold to a new owner then the order will continue to apply until it's been addressed there's a new section in there that also talks about changes state that the owner or the manager must disclose a repair order to the tenant so the new tenants agreements now have a section to be completed for this and also too don't forget the changes in the timeframe for the entry condition report so the tenant now has seven days to complete and sign that report and return a copy to their manager or owner now mark coming back in here for our first question on repair orders what if the owner cannot do the repair order within the timeframe qcat has ordered yeah so if from whatever reason they're suffering hardship or there's a difficulty getting tradespeople or something along those lines then they can apply for an extension of time to get that repair order completed the key to this is that they must make the application to the tribunal before the expiration date of the original order then can a tenant issue a breach notice for repairs now what we do know that most people ask for like an email about repair or could even make a phone call or might have a maintenance request or portal but a tenant can issue a breach notice as well they certainly can issue a breach notice we would encourage them to take one of those other options as the first step and talk to the landlord but there's nothing preventing the tenant from issuing a breach notice in that situation and one of the questions we're often asked in our call centre as well as the events has been what's a reasonable timeframe to have repairs done it's one of those reasonable words yes reasonable what a great word it comes down to the type of repair really the legislation doesn't set a time frame but really you need to take a common-sense approach so an emergency repair so a burst pipe or something like that or a hot water system that's broken will be you know different to potentially the the toilet roll holder falling off the the toilet wall so a common-sense approach in that situation and the other thing that we are aware of at the moment is that it can take time to get tradespeople so we do recommend owners or managers are talking with the tenant and communicating and let them know that you know there's going to be delays or when things are happening now can the tribunal order the tenancy ends if the repairs are not done yeah they can so if it gets to the tribunal and the repair order is issued there's a number of different orders that they can make one of those could be that the tenancy ends if the repairs aren't done within the required timeframe they may also order that the property remain vacant until the repair is done so yeah they certainly can end the tenancy in those circumstances now what happens if the tenant doesn't return the entry condition for in seven days and this is probably still the same issue as whether it was the previous three days but this is the tenant's responsibility to also complete their portion of the entry condition report they certainly are and one thing here to the owner or the agent must fill out the report sign it and give a copy to the tenant now obviously we would encourage the owner and agent to make sure that they have a copy of that report if the tenant doesn't return it within seven days then the original copy of the report is still evidence to show how the property was given to the tenant at the start some managers the owners might choose with the extended timeframe now to do a follow-up to ensure that the tenant is aware but ultimately if the report isn't returned signed by the tenant the original copy that the owner or agent provided will stand in regards to any evidence or dispute at the end of the tenancy now for nominated repairers on the lease can we just put our agency details instead so this is why the questions that have been quite popular from the real estate sector and we now know we've seen the new agreement so it does allow for details on who a tenant needs to contact yeah so there is a requirement now for something to be put in there we would encourage agents to probably provide a nominated repairer but there's nothing preventing them putting their own details in there the key to this really is Lynn that the tenant has someone to be able to contact and that that person either can do the repairs or at least arrange the repairs now we know that certainly in emergency repair situations hot waters and burst pipes and those sorts of things don't generally occur within you know office hours so the main key here is that the tenant is able to contact someone because their first step in this process is contacting and advising that the repair needs to be done so as long as the details enable the tenant to contact someone and get the repairs arranged then they're meeting their obligations in regards to that and also to keep in mind too the legislation does outline what an emergency repair is under our legislation so it's not that someone's going to go after hours and and get a plumber for like a you know a drippy tap or something like that if it's not listed as what an emergency repair is that's correct so just clarification here the emergency repair cost has increased from two four weeks rent equivalent and the answer to that is yes certainly has gone from two weeks to four weeks that's correct and the real estate agency management form do we have to update it for this one i'm just going to let you know that the rta does not cover the contractual arrangements that's in place between an agent's office or property manager's office and the landlord client so the agents will need to make sure that you do comply with the officer bear training requirements and that may be that you need to update the form or put it in an extra or get an agreement with your landlord client however it is best to seek your own independent advice and just make sure that you do comply not just our legislation but the officer bear trading legislation as well so the rta has a lot of resources available including podcasts and webinars and if you haven't signed up for our rta e news we do encourage you to do so so this is a way to keep up to date with the latest news from the rta and also invitations to our upcoming webinars so thanks for your time in joining me today mark thanks very much for having me along Lynn it's been a pleasure to do these webinars over the last few months so please visit the rta's website for bond or turns the information at rta.qld.gov.au or contact our friendly call centre staff on 1300 300 6301 thank you for your time in watching today and please check out our past webinars or we hope that you'll join us online soon for one of our upcoming webinars the webinar will now end thank you