 Well, good morning everybody, and thanks for joining us today. The Residential Tendencies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 sets out the rules for renting and when it comes to rooming accommodation, it covers such things as boarding houses, student accommodation and in some circumstances assisted living accommodation. Today we'll have a look at some of those rules and how and when they apply. So again, thanks for joining us today's webinar on rooming accommodation tendencies. My name is Mark Fidler and I'm a Senior Community Education Officer with the RTA. Joining me today is my colleague Deb Bond. Morning Deb. Morning everyone. Deb will be assisting me today with some polls and also collating your questions as they come through for us to look at as we go through today's presentation. But before we start, I would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this country and their continuing connection with land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to all traditional owners and to elders past, present and emerging. So today's session will be focused on the topics listed on the slide. We'll have a look at your questions as they come through and have a final question and answer session at the end. I'll also attempt to address some of the questions provided to us as a part of the registration process and thanks to those that did make submissions. And I can see a few names in the attendee list that did put submissions in. So hopefully we'll get those questions answered for you. Today's webinar will be recorded and it will be made available on our website. And one thing to note is that the RTA cannot provide legal advice, legal advice, and you are encouraged to seek your own independent advice to make informed decisions. And we do want to make today's session as interactive as possible. So please ask questions or make comments throughout. To do so, use the chat function in the toolbar. At the end of the session, there will be a quick survey that comes up. We would appreciate you filling it out as your feedback will allow us to identify how we can improve our communication and education activities. Now, just to start, we will run a quick poll to get an idea of who has joined us today. And I'll hand over to Deb to start that now. Hi, everyone. So I've just launched the poll now. We're interested in knowing whereabouts you're from. So what part of the housing sector you might identify with? We're guessing we have a lot of people, maybe from rooming, but there might be people from other areas. So let us know. And we also want to know whereabouts in Queensland you're from. So whether that's Southeast Queensland or another region. So we'll just give a little more time for people to complete the poll there. OK, so it looks like we've got a good mix here. So few from rooming, some from community housing, a few property managers and agents, a few landlords and mostly from Southeast Queensland, but also a couple from Central Queensland and North Queensland. So thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Hand back to you, Mark. Thanks, Deb, and thanks, everyone, for your input there. So moving forward and getting into what we're here to talk about today. So just as a little bit of information, the residential tendencies and rooming accommodation act does cover the three main types of tendencies. Obviously, you've got your general tendencies, which are your flats, houses, townhouses and granny flats or secondary dwellings as we now know them. Moveable dwellings. So they're for tendencies in caravan parks, whether you're renting a van or a site or both in the park, and obviously rooming accommodation. And this is where you're renting a room only and have shared facilities. So these are in such things as boarding houses and purpose built student accommodation, as I mentioned before. So the focus today, as we've said, and the reason that you're here is on rooming accommodation. So we'll look at what's covered, what's changed and what are the rules. So to define rooming accommodation, it includes, as we've said a couple of times now, boarding houses, supported accommodation services, where a person pays for a room and supports services. So we, for example, meals or personal care, student accommodation, such as off campus accommodation, and also a place or house where the lessor or agent lives on the property and rents out four or more rooms. Now we'll touch on that a little bit more in a moment. Some rooming accommodation facilities, for example, boarding houses and supported accommodation are considered residential services and are also covered by the Residential Services Accreditation Act. Now we don't govern that particular act, but it's important to be aware. So these services need to register with the Department of Community, Housing and Digital Economy in order to operate in Queensland. Three levels of, there are three levels of registration and accreditation, and they are level one that provides accommodation only, level two provides accommodation and a food service, and level three provides accommodation, a food service and personal care. But for more information on what rooming accommodation is covered under our act, please refer to the rooming accommodation coverage fact sheet. And there's going to drop a link into the chat with that fact sheet, so you've got the details. And if you are looking for the definition of a residential service and the registration and accreditation of those things, you do need to contact Business Queensland. And again, we'll pop a link into the chat for that. Now we did have a question from one of our participants. And I can see that Kim is on with us today. In what is the difference between general tendencies and rooming accommodation? So as we just discussed, rooming residents generally don't have access to a whole property as someone in a flat or a unit might be, but they have their room and they share other facilities. Now we will touch a little bit more on some of those differences as we go along Kim, so bear with us. The other thing to note too is that rooming accommodation providers, they can choose to opt in to a general tenancy. So that would mean that you're using all of the legislation around general tendencies as opposed to rooming accommodation. You can't go the other way, but you can opt in to a general tenancy if you wish to. So what's not covered by our legislation in regards to rooming accommodation? Now, I won't go through all of this in detail. There's plenty of information on the fact sheet that Deb has dropped in, but there are a couple of things to note here. So Angie asked, and I'm not sure if Angie's with us, but Angie asked if renting a single room in your residence is covered. And the answer ultimately is no, unless you have four or more rooms rented or available to be rented. So if you're providing a room and you don't have more than four, then it may be that the resident in this situation is a border lodger or that you have them signed to a general tenancy agreement with some special terms around what access they have to the property. Accommodation for holidaymakers is not covered. The first 13 weeks of supported accommodation is not covered. But if the tenant or resident remains after 13 weeks, then it can become an agreement to which our act provides. Another query that we received was in regards to specialist disability accommodation properties and whether the rent or the rent portion of those can be covered. And yes, they can be if they don't fall under any of the other pieces of legislation mentioned on the slide there. And one thing to note, if a bond is taken from a university student on campus or from a border lodger, it must be lodged with the RTA, but the tenancy isn't covered under our legislation. So documentation at the start of the tenancy, there's effectively three forms required. Now I'll go into a little bit of detail on each of these, but in effect, you've got your rooming accommodation agreement, and this includes your standard terms and potentially any special terms. And one thing to note, and this is similar with general tenancies, but a copy of the agreement must be provided to the resident prior to them committing to the tenancy or paying anything in relation to the tenancy. So and that agreement should be effectively filled out in full, except for potentially the name and the start and end date of the agreement. But the intent of this is to ensure that the resident is aware of what the terms of the agreement are, along with what house rules they'll need to abide by in that sort of thing. If you are taking a bond, you need to provide an entry condition report. And obviously the bond lodgment form needs to be submitted to us as well if you are taking a bond, but we'll touch on that lodgment process a little bit in a minute. So you can see there on the screen the R18 and the condition report, but I will just jump in to our website and actually have a look at those forms. Now, the reason that I want to take you through this quickly is for a couple of things, obviously, to show you where the forms are on our website. So forms for room accommodation. It's important that you are always using either forms from our website or the latest version of our forms. Now, they do change from time to time and obviously with the recent legislative changes. We've updated all of our forms. So in order to make sure that you have got the most current form and aren't using it, we encourage you to use it from our website. Now, a couple of things, and I don't need to go through all of this today, but there's a couple of things that I do want to note. If your tenant or resident has a representative in order to receive notices, then please ensure that the details are filled out in item four on the 18A. And also on item five, really important to make sure that if you are agreeing to receive notices by email, that this area is filled out correctly and accurately. So we don't want notices going missing because of incorrect email addresses and those sorts of things. A couple of other things, the breakdown of rent on item nine. Now, if you are providing services that other than accommodation, please ensure that the breakdown is provided in item nine. Now, if a resident is away for more than two weeks, they can request that their rent be reduced by the cost of the food service or if they're absent and are not receiving personal care services, they can also request a rent reduction in that circumstance. So it is important that you show that breakdown and everyone is aware of what they're dealing with. And then finally, and scrolling through here quickly, the special terms page. So if you do have any special terms, make sure that they're stated in here and remember that they can't contradict the act or attempt to evade the purpose of the act. And then signatures. And the reason that I raised this is that a lot of people are now using electronic signatures to have their form signed and that's fine. The key is just to ensure that as per the legislation, all parties do end up with a fully signed copy of the agreement at the end of that signing process. So the other important form that we want to have a quick look at is the, I can find it, the 1A, sorry, the R1. Now you will note that both the forms that we've just had a look at have got an R in front of them. So that's to indicate that they are a rooming form. Any of the tenancy-related rooming accommodation forms will have an R in front of them. So your R11 for the breach notice, R9 for your entry notice. But all of the bond forms, your form two for lodgment, form four for refund, they're generic across all of our forms of tenancies. So you won't find any difference in those forms. Tenant, if the bond is taken, the agent must or the provider must provide a copy of this form, fully filled out and signed, and then give it to the tenant to fill out their side. Now in rooming accommodation, there's no provision for an exit condition report. So it is important that the entry condition report is filled out correctly and thoroughly and includes any provisions or inclusions within the room. And then we also recommend take photos throughout the entry process as well. So you've got a record of what and how the properties be presented to the tenant. So in relation to the bond lodgment process, most people will be familiar with the lodgment process. If you are a provider and have asked the resident to pay the bond to you, it must then be lodged with the RTA within 10 days of having received it. Now this can either be done by sending a check and a form two to the RTA or by using our web services. So web services has been in place now for quite some time. So the tenant can lodge the bond using web services and if they do, generally you'll have a notification within sort of 24 to 48 hours that that's been done. If you are taking the bond and lodging itself, obviously those notifications will be to the tenant similarly. If you are looking to lodge multiple bonds, we do now have a web service that you can make a bulk lodgment. So if you're submitting multiple forms, you can do that through our bulk bond lodgment web service and make one single electronic payment. So once the tenancy starts, the tenant will be or the resident rather will be required to abide by the house rules. And there's a couple of types of house rules, prescribed and other. So the prescribed rules are set out in the regulations that are read in conjunction with the legislation. Providers or managers must display the house rules in a prominent place in the premises and residents must follow the house rules. Now for the most part, prescribed rules mirror the resident's obligation under section 253 of the legislation. So what does it mean by prescribed rules? The legislation sets out what each rule requires. Without going through the full list, I will touch on a couple of examples. So in regards to common areas, what the legislation says is that these may include a television, a room, a bathroom, kitchen, sorry, a television room, a bathroom, kitchen, hallway or a yard. Provider or agent must take reasonable steps to ensure the common areas and their facilities are kept safe, clean and in good repair. The resident must ensure that they and their guests leave common areas clean after use. So it just sets out fairly simply what the requirements are. Now it's also important to note that the legislative changes that came into place on the 1st of October, 2022 do have an impact on a couple of these house rules. So in relation to doors, locks and keys, the legislation says that the resident must not tamper with or change a door lock on the premises or make copies of keys without provider or agent's permission. It's important to be aware here now that there are provisions for a resident requesting that the provider change the locks for the purposes of protecting them from domestic violence and the provider must make that change. And for more information on the domestic and family violence provisions in our legislation, have a look at the link that Debbs just dropped into the chat. And the other one to note here now is that in regards to animals. So currently the legislation says that the resident must not keep an animal on the premises without permission. Now you'd be probably aware that on the 1st of October, 2022, new laws came in around negotiating to rent with pets. So residents can request a pet. I won't go into too much detail about the new pet guidelines but please refer again to the link that Debbs going to drop into the chat. We have a lot of information on our website in regards to the pet process. And if you do have any questions, pop them into the chat and we'll have a look at them as we go along. So the other house rules that I spoke about, these can be set by the provider and can be set in relation to the things listed on the screen. So as an example, they may make a rule that smoking is only permitted in a particular spot on the premises. They may make a rule that there might, must not be any loud noise or parties after a particular time. So the important thing with this, these rules in this process is that the copies of the house rules should be a part of the agreement and provided to the resident prior than committing to the tenancy. So they know what they are. There are also steps that need to be followed if a provider wants to add a rule or change a rule. So to change a rule or add a rule, a notice must be provided to the residents advising of the proposed change and stating the date which the change is to take effect. Notice must be given seven days before the proposed commencement date and the residents can object to the change. Now for a lot more and in-depth understanding of that process, again, we've got a fact sheet on that and Deb will pop that in the chat. So it's important to get everything right from the start. So just to recap, double check your dates, amounts and contact details. We do see a lot of disputes about incorrectly stated rent amounts or time periods. So make sure that you're checking and double checking everything. If the parties are agreeing to notice this by email, ensure that all the email addresses are correct. Keep copies of your paperwork and any notices. You need to comply with the act as we've discussed today and check any time frames. Communication is a key to resolving a lot of disputes. So keep those lines open. And again, if you're not sure of any legislative requirements, please reach out to us for assistance. A couple of things in regards to the rights and responsibilities of the parties. So as the tenancy goes on, both parties have rights and responsibilities throughout. The lessor or the provider must ensure that health and safety laws are met. And this covers things such as smoke alarm, safety switches, pool safety certificates if there is one and those sorts of things. Dealing with maintenance requests is important. Residents must notify you of repairs that need to be done and they should be dealt with in a reasonable time. And the other thing to be aware of is that minimum housing standards will come in as of the 1st of September, 2023. So this should be kept in mind when dealing with any maintenance requests currently. The other thing that the RTA has become aware of recently is concerns around CCTV cameras in rooming accommodation premises. Now, a rooming accommodation provider must take reasonable steps to ensure the resident has quiet enjoyment of their room and common areas. Provider must not interfere with the reasonable peace, comfort, and privacy of the resident in using their room and common areas. So the resident has a right to quiet enjoyment and if the purpose and location of security cameras infringes on their reasonable peace, comfort, or privacy, it may be a breach of our act. If a resident feels that their right to quiet enjoyment is being infringed on, they should speak to the property manager in the first instance to see if they can resolve the issue. So just be conscious. If you do have, and there are cameras set up, make sure that tenants are aware or the residents are aware at the time that they move into the property. But otherwise, the other thing to ensure is that you are providing your residents with a reasonable time to be able to access yourself to get in touch and those sorts of things as well. So the tenant respond, sorry, not the tenant, the resident responsibilities, just as the less or agent has responsibilities, so does the resident. So as per the list, these things are fairly straightforward, certainly in regard to rent payment, cleaning, and not causing any use by the use of the premises. The tenant is required to notify the agent of any repairs that need to be done, both routine or emergency. And there must be contact details for the tenant. And again, as I mentioned a moment ago, time or options for the tenant to be able to contact the provider in relation to these things. So a couple of things that I wanna touch on in regards to during the tenancy and just quickly. So again, I'll just jump back into the website. So entry, the entry notice, the form nine, so it provides for a limited number of reasons to enter the property. So you can do an inspection for cleaning, obviously repairs or maintenance and those sorts of things. So again, important to make sure that this form is filled out properly. And if the tenant has agreed to receive it by email, that it is delivered to them correctly. Now, a couple of things, the provider can enter without notice if the tenant orally agrees, or if the agreement provides for a service other than accommodation and entries needed to provide that service. So that's around your food provision and your personal care services. And also in an emergency or to complete urgent repairs. Now, if you are entering without notice for those particular reasons, we do recommend that you document the entries just in case there's any issues that pop up. But again, the forms, the timeframes that are required to be provided are available. And as I mentioned earlier, we do recommend using the current version of the forms off our website. And then the other thing, obviously, that can occur through the breach, sorry, through the tenancy process is the breach process. And we'll just have a quick look again. There's a couple of things I want to point out with this. If you are issuing a notice in regards to rentable fees, just ensure that the forms filled out correctly. Again, be careful with your amounts and dates if dealing with rent arrears. So if rent falls due during the breach period, it can't be added to the breach, but the tenant is still required to pay as per the agreement. And the other thing is to be aware of how long your tenant has been in the premises. So if they breach in relation to rent within the first 28 days, then the rectification date, sorry, the time to rectify is shorter than it would be if they'd been there longer than the 28 days. So when it comes to ending the tenancy, the tenants' obligations are to leave the premises as near to as it was at the start, fair wear and tear. Now, as I mentioned earlier, there's no exit condition required, exit condition report required. So we do encourage the parties to work together at the end. So if you've taken photos at the start, then you can use to show any inconsistencies at the end. I mentioned the requesting a pet process earlier. If the tenant is approved to have a pet, it's also important to note that any damage caused by the pet is not considered to be fair wear and tear. And the other thing to note through the ending a tenancy process is that bond refunds can only be processed into Australian bank accounts. So if you do have residents ending their tendencies and maybe leaving to go overseas, please ensure they have capacity to receive their refund. And again, we'll just have a quick look at the form 12 because I want to point out that this is where some changes have been made in regards to our legislation. So since the 1st of October, a fixed term agreement can now be ended by using end of a fixed term. And this is the end of a fixed term here. The periodic agreement can only be ended with grounds. So you must have a reason that is listed within part four here, to end a periodic agreement. So the tenancy only finishes at the end date of the agreement. So our time frames and everything are down here. End of fixed term, provide 14 days. You breach processes and everything still in place, especially if you've got a periodic tenancy. And then any of the reasons, know if the property needs significant repairs or renovations, you can end a periodic tenancy with one month's notice. I'd encourage you to have a good look on our website in regards to the changes. One thing that has changed, and for those of you that are managing predominantly student accommodation, and we did receive a question from someone in regards to this. So is there anything relevant regarding purpose-built student accommodation? The one thing that is relevant is that a tenancy can now be ended because the resident is no longer a student. You need to provide a month's notice and it's not considered a break lease. So as an example here would be that a student enrolls in predominantly student accommodation and enrolls in their course and they start, but after a few months they drop out to work full-time. So even if they had a fixed term agreement for six or 12 months, if you become aware that they are no longer a student, you can issue the notice and end the tenancy in that circumstance. So everything else we've discussed today applies equally across all types of student accommodation, across all types of rooming accommodation, my apologies. So from our end, please make sure that you've signed up for our monthly RTA news email so we can keep you informed of any topics or changes. We do produce a range of educational resources, including recorded webinars such as this one on a lot of our legislation and key topics. And we also have a talking tenancies podcast series. You can access both of these through our website and the links are on the screen there. For student accommodation providers, keep an eye on our website for student specific resources. So we do have a student 101 page that has a lot of information for students. So we encourage you to have a look at that page and obviously you can follow us on LinkedIn as well. All right, so Deb, have we had any questions come through? So there was one about what happens if someone leaves something behind in their rooming accommodation. So someone wanted to know kind of what the procedure is or how long you would hold those items. Yeah, OK, so in relation to goods left behind and now I'm diving deep into my knowledge, if the value of the good is, I think it's less than $150, then it can be disposed of. If it is more than $150, then it does need to be stored for a period of time. The exact time escapes me right now. I know it's 30 days in a general tenancy. I'm just not 100 per cent sure if it's the same in rooming. If, yeah, but but certainly if the value of those things is less than $150, they can be disposed of. If they are personal documents or money, they need to be provided to the public trust. But if they if I'm not answered that 100 per cent, if the value I just, yeah, I'm not 100 per cent sure on the time that needs to be. They need to be stored for I've had the luxury of looking it up quickly. Very good. And so it says that within 28 days, you want to pass on your personal documents to the Office of the Public Trusty. So that's money, birth certificates, family photographs and then where there's lost property that you wouldn't dispose of it. So when it's more than that $150 that Mark was saying, then you have to safely store that for at least 28 days and take reasonable efforts to contact the resident. And then after the 28 days, there's a little more nuance to what you do, depending on whether the goods are valued at more or less than $600. So that is whether you donate them to charity or whether you sell them and then what you do with the proceeds of the sale. So we do have a bit more information about that on our website. But that's a quick overview. Just check the chat in case there's been any more questions. But it looks like everything's being covered. So that's been a really broad webinar, Mark. Covered everything. Thanks very much. If you want to know if you think of a question later, our contact centre is open, of course. Excellent. I will just touch on one. We did get a question through the registration process and it was around the council having assessed their business as a home based business. And the question was, do I need an agreement? So just to answer that, yes, you would still need an agreement. There is a difference between what the council are looking for from a rates charging perspective and your responsibilities as an accommodation provider. So depending on the type of accommodation you're providing, whether it's self-contained long term or rooming style, you'd still need to follow the legislation. So there is a little separation there in regards to what the council is suggesting and your requirement or obligations as a residential tenancy provider. So all right, ladies and gentlemen, really appreciate your time this morning. Hopefully we've got through and answered any of the information and questions. And I will now end the webinar. Thank you.