 Well, good morning everybody. Thanks very much for attending today. My name is Mark Fidler. And joining me today from the RTA is Lynn Smith, where senior community education officers and will be taking you through today's webinar on negotiating renting with pets. Firstly, we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners on the land on which we meet today and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging. So today's session is focusing on the rental reforms and the topic of the framework for negotiating renting with pets. New changes came, come into effect on the 1st of October 2022. And today we'll look at the process of requesting a pet in a tenancy and responding and the legislative reasons outlined for an owner to refuse a pet. We'll also be looking at working dogs and pets in a body corporate situation. We will have a question and answer session at the end. As we mentioned before we finish today, we'll have a question and answer session. We'd love to receive your questions and we'd like you to do that by using the chat function or speech bubble in your Zoom toolbar. If you can't see it, please click on the more and look for chat there. We'd also like to hear from you today on how our session went, as well as any future topics that you might like to know more about. So please look out for a survey when the webinar closes today. So without further ado, I'll pass over to Lynn and we'll get today's session started. Great, thanks Mark and welcome everybody. Just to recap a little bit here on the rental law reforms. So the Housing Legislation Amendment Act 2021 was passed in October last year and that amends the Residential Tenancies and Rumi Accommodation Act. That's the Queensland Tenancy Laws. So the role of the RTA as an independent statutory authority is to administer the Tenancy Laws for Queensland. There are four key areas in these amendments. The Domestic and Family Violence Protections which were already in place as of 1 October last year and then we have the new laws as of 1 October 2022 and that's the Framework for Negotiating Running with a Pet, changes to the reasons for ending a tenancy and also repair orders and other amendments. So we also have minimum housing standards and they will commence from September next year to 2023 and that will be for new tenancies and for all tenancies will be the following year. But today we are going to be focusing just on the Framework for Negotiating Running with a Pet. So the RTA does not regulate the rules for prospective tenant applications or the selection process. The new laws introduced do not apply to prospective tenants. The RTA regulates the laws for the start during an ending of a tenancy and the new laws about pets are for existing tenancies and commencing as of 1 October 2022. Going to apply for general tenancies as well as your roomy accommodation. The new Framework provides a guidance and structure about those conversations and negotiations between landlords, owners and their property managers and tenants and that's about the to request to have that pet in a rental property. The owner still needs to give permission to have the pet. However, there are provisions around the refusal process. It is a two-step process. The first obviously is for the tenant to seek permission. The RTA will be providing a new form. The RTA requests to keep a pet form and this will be available from 1 October 2022 and will be on the RTA's website under our forms and resources tab. Tenants will need to provide information about their pet and that's going to include things like the size, the type, the weight, colour. It also could be that you provide a photo or other information for the owner or the agent to make an informed decision. Now, the second step for this process is for the owner or their managing agent to respond with either an approval or refusal in writing and that needs to be done within 14 days. So an owner or manager can refuse a request on identified reasonable grounds and I'll talk to you about those shortly. So to help with this process in responding and writing, the RTA will be releasing a template document for owners and managers to respond to the pet request and that will be available on the RTA's website as of 1 October. There's also, if there's no response, I should say, there's no response from the owner or the managing agent within the 14 days, it's then deemed that the pet is approved. Now, we have been asked, is that 14 calendar or working days? It is calendar days. So the reasons for an owner or manager to refuse a pet, now these are outlined under section 184E and that's the reasonable grounds to refuse a pet under the new laws and also for roomy accommodation under section 256E. So these includes what you see on your screen here and this is that it exceeds a reasonable number of animals to be kept at the property, that the premises are unsuitable. So this could be a lack of appropriate fencing, open space or any other thing that's necessary to humanely accommodate the pet. All the pet is likely to cause damage that could not be repaired for the cost less than what the rental bond amount is. It could contraven a bylaw, park rule or for room accommodation, a house rule or any other law. It could be a risk to health and safety of another person. And as you can see on your screen, pets do come in all shapes and sizes. So we're not necessarily always talking about the cats and the dogs. Or if the tenant does not agree to the reasonable conditions that's been proposed by the owner as part of the conditions of having a pet and also to if the animal is not a pet in any other round prescribed by regulation. Now for tenancies in movable dwellings, that's your caravan path tenancies. If keeping a pet would contraven a condition of a license applying for the property. So as I mentioned before, an owner or a manager can consent, make a consent subject to reasonable conditions. So that could be that the pet needs to be staying outside at all times, that there's evidence of flea treatments or registration with the council, carpet and pest control to be professionally done at the end of the tenancy. And also to for room accommodation, it might mean that the pet needs to be staying within the room. So for owners and managers, when approving with reasonable conditions must take into account the type of pet and also to the type of the rental property. So if reasonable conditions are part of the approval process, then tenant will need to agree to these conditions for the pet to be approved. Now tenant is responsible for any nuisance caused by the pet. So as an example, if the dog is barking and causing disturbances to neighbors and any damage caused by the pet is not considered a fair wear and tear and that's going to be to the tenant's costs to rectify any damage. It's important to remember too, keeping a pet on the rental property without the owner's permission or it's not being agreed to in the tenancy agreement is a breach of the tenancy agreement. Now for owners and managers, you cannot just say no pets are allowed to comply with the new legislation, you will need to explain the reasons for refusal. And as I mentioned earlier, the grounds to refuse a pet have been outlined in the legislation. So property managers known as cannot ask a tenant to pay a pet bond or any other type of security, nor can they increase the rent to allow for the pet. So once permission is given, it is given for the life of the pet. So while it remains at the rental property and even if there's a renewal agreement or periodic tenancy or that there's a change of owners or their managing agent. Also too, if a working dog retires from service, it can still remain at the rental property. So I just want to talk about what is a working dog. So the new laws have put some clarification around this and we are talking about a working dog or a retired working dog and they don't require the owner's approval. So a working dog is covered under the three legislations that you will see on your screen. So as an example, you've got your guide, hearing or assistance dog, a corrective service dog or a police dog. Now I just want to quickly also touch here on body corporate and pets in body corporate. So if you own or manage or rent in a unit, an apartment or a townhouse, you may have body corporate bylaws that are applicable to that complex or that building. So not all bylaws are the same for every building or complex. So at the start of the tenancy, a tenant must be given a copy of the relevant bylaws that pertain to that building or complex. This is under section 69 of the legislation and there's penalties that are applicable for not providing a tenant with a copy of the relevant bylaws. So the bylaws form part of the tenancy agreement and a breach of a bylaw is a breach of the tenancy agreement. So pet approval also needs to be given by the body corporate or the committee and that may come with conditions. So the RTA will all be releasing a webinar that we've done in collaboration with the body corporate commissioner's office regarding renting with a pet with body corporates and understanding the body corporate approval process, what are the types of the bylaws that's out there and also what process you can follow if a body corporate says no to a pet. So please keep an eye on our website for that. That should be available hopefully next week on our website. So for any queries on body corporate matters, please refer to the body corporate commissioner's office. That's 1-800-060-199. Mark, I might just get you to put the body corporate commissioner's details in the chat if that's okay. I have just done that, Lynn. So yes, it's in there for them. Thank you. So now let's just have a look at the tribunal process. So what happens if the owner says no to a pet request and the tenant feels it's not justified or that the response provider wasn't a valid reason or the tenant doesn't accept the reason that the owner has provided. Now the tenant can apply to the tribunal for an adjudicator to make a decision. Now the first step of this process is to attempt self-resolution. The communication is the key to resolving most disputes and tenants and owners and managers are encouraged to talk with each other, try and find workable solutions and also to understand the other person's point of view and try and negotiate. So if you're not successful in trying to resolve the matter yourselves, then the next step is to apply to the RTA's free dispute resolution process for conciliation. Now conciliators are impartial, they're not there to take sides or make decisions but to help parties negotiate and reach an outcome. Now they do provide a safe environment for people to have their say and conciliators will assist with legislation information and also processes. It is also a confidential process too. So the RTA successfully resolves over 70% of disputes where parties will participate in the conciliation process. So if it's not resolved, then a notice of unresolved dispute is issued for the matter to proceed to the tribunal. So if a tenant does not agree with the owner's response then applying to the tribunal is a non-urgent application. So you do need to come through the RTA's dispute resolution process first before applying to the tribunal. Now for the tribunal is QCAT, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. And you can go to their website which is qcat.qld.gov.au and that's where you can find the information on the application forms, fees and everything about the process. So if that's the process that needs to be taken, that's where you'll get the information from. Okay, so just to before, I know I've given a lot of information at a very quick time but we just also wanna make sure that we cover up on your questions today and we do have a lot of people in today's session. So I'll just wrap up here and Mark, I'll head over to you shortly for these questions. So we are gonna be providing a lot more information and education on the tenancy laws. All our forms and publications will be updated and we'll also have other educational information available through like other webinars, podcasts, videos, fact sheets, quick guides and also through our e-news as well. The RTI has also been working collaboratively with our key stakeholders and we welcome anyone who's actually joined us today from those stakeholder groups or that have ordered the invitation to their members. So the webinar series on the tenancy changes will include the topics of ending tenancies which is recorded and also available on our website and the next part of the series is repair orders and other amendments. So invitations for these webinars will be available soon. So a copy of today's recording will also be on our RTI website over the coming weeks so do keep an eye out for that. Now Mark, I can see my screen just ticking away here with a whole pile of questions which is great. Certainly has been Lynn. Yeah, so thanks very much everyone for popping those questions in. We'll start to work through those. If you've got questions as we're going along through this continue to drop them in and we'll attempt to get to them. So firstly, just to clarify Lynn, I know there was a slide about this. There's been a question in regards to whether we will be producing forms or whether landlords or agents have to create their own forms. Yeah, great question. So the RTI will be producing the pet request form. It is a prescribed form. So we will have that available as of 1 October. And just to help with the process, we will have a template document, a letter to help owners and managers to be able to respond to those pet requests. Excellent. Now we are seeing a number of questions come through around the breach process and especially if, for example, one of the provisions about allowing a pet is that it must be an outside pet, but they're found to be inside and also along the lines of damage that a pet might cause and that sort of thing. So I do just want to touch on the breach process in that situation or those circumstances. Sure. So if part of the condition or the consent a owner gives to have a pet is because, yeah, the reason is because the pet is the state side. Now, if the tenant breaches those conditions, then obviously you would follow the breach process. And like with any breach that happens in a tenancy, we always recommend parties have a conversation with each other and try and resolve the matter. So the other part of that question was, sorry, Ma. Around damage to the property. So it happened, saw those sorts of things, yep. So if there is damage from the pet, that is the tenant's cost to rectify if it's in relation to like carpet. So as an example here, if you went and did a routine inspection as a manager or an owner and you got there and that there's more dirt or damage done to the carpet as part of your routine inspection, the tenant has an obligation to make sure that they obviously keep the place clean and tidy during the term of their tenancy. If you get there and they haven't met that requirement, then you'll be having a conversation with them and potentially asking them to obviously have those carpets cleaned. Now, the legislation is very clear about having the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy if that's part of the condition of having a pet, but it says at the end of the tenancy rather than actually during the tenancy. So again, it comes back to the tenants obligations during that tenancy. Okay. Now, we're getting a series of questions through here around the working animal and the difference between a working animal or an assistant's pet. And also touching on that same one is around what can be asked as proof that it is a working animal. Okay. So just when I talked about the working dogs and that fell into and we're looking at the companion or therapy dogs and such. So the guide hearing assistance dog legislation does outline what is an assistant dog. So it may be that a therapy or companion dog may not necessarily fall into that category. For most assistance dogs or pets, then there may be an undergone some training and maybe provided with a certificate or something like that. It might be wise for like a tenant to provide additional information with their pet application. So the owner or manager can make that informed decision. So that could be like maybe a medical certificate from the tenant. It also could be maybe that there might be some additional training that's been done for the dog as part of some pet training and things like that. So again, it comes down to that if people cannot agree and obviously the tenant believes that the owner has not, you know, has refused not only approved reasons to refuse then they can obviously come to a dispute resolution and we can try and see if we can help parties get a resolution. So what you're suggesting there is separate to any of the dogs that or animals that fall under those three pieces of legislation. They would normally outside of those three pieces of legislation and we would accept that or assume that animals that fall under those pieces of legislation would have some sort of certification to be able to provide to the owner or the agent in that situation outside of that they'd be stepping through the normal process that we've just gone through today. Absolutely Mark, absolutely. Okay. So in regards to moving on, in regards to body corporates and we are seeing some questions come through here around the concern about 14 day approval process and the potential that the body corporate process may take some time longer than that. Yeah. And, you know, working with the commissioner's office over the past weeks in being able to find out more information on how their processes work. Absolutely. The 14 day timeframe does not apply to body corporate and their legislation. So if part of the requirement of having a pet in an apartment with bylaws is that they, the owner may say yes, but also to they have to have body corporate permission as well. Now the time frames are different and it could take several weeks for body corporate to come back to the owner or the tenant and say whether pets approved or not. So the owner, if it's a part of the bylaws that a pet has to be approved by the committee or the body corporate, then the owner, if they can't get that approval within that 14 day timeframe, then potentially the owners needs to probably go back and say, look, sorry, can't approve it at the moment. However, if the tenant does get that approval, you know, three, four, five weeks later or something like that, then the tenant could come back to the owner and say, well, I now have approval from the body corporate and then reply to the owner and say, well, look, I've met that requirement now and have the owner's permission. All right. They do keep an eye on our website. As I said, hopefully next week, we will have a recording and there's a lot of information about the processes who does apply to the body corporate manager or the committee and what the process is if the body corporate says no. So do keep an eye on our website for more information on that. Very good. Caravan parks and rooming accommodation agreements and the request for pets in those circumstances. Can we touch on those issues? Yeah. And the reasons to refuse a pet, there is if there's obviously a brief, if it doesn't comply with park rules or for rooming accommodation in relation to if it doesn't comply with house rules. So for rooming accommodation, you have prescribed house rules as set by the legislation and yours have other house rules that can be made by the rooming accommodation provider. So it comes down to obviously, if that's part of the rules in place for house rules or the park rules, then tenants would then need to be talking to the property manager or the park or their rooming provider to have those conversations. As I said, like it's very clear that if it is a breach, if it is in conflict of a bylaw, a park rule or a house rule, that might be one of the reasons why someone can say no. With movable dwellings too, it might be part of the license of the property that there's no pets allowed. So that might be another reason for the caravan park tenancies as well. Thank you very much for that, Lynn. We're getting a series of questions come through around the suitability of the property. How big does the property have to be to hold a certain pet or how do we make a decision as to whether the property is suitable? So could you touch on that a little bit for us? Sure. I suppose we don't actually make the guidelines in relation to if a property is suitable, but there's another part that also looks at if make sure that it's not in breach of any other laws and that could be your council laws. So your local councils may actually put some rules in place in relation to how many animals can be in a property. As one thing I do know for Brisbane City Council area, for example, they have restriction on how many dogs or cats and dare I say that no pigs are allowed or things like that on residential plates. So again, sometimes it might be just referring back to your local council to see what might be in place in relation to whether a pet's suitable for that type of property. But the RTA couldn't make a determination on that. One line is if there's no negotiation or it's not resolved at the end of the day, if you went off to QCAT, it was be adjudicated that would make a decision on it. Excellent. So there's a couple of questions in regards to, and I think we touched on this a little bit before, around and just to make it clear, the question specifically, could you put a provision on a professional carpet clean is done every year if the pet is allowed inside? But I think we talked about that in regards to not being able to, but just to, if we could just clarify there for us, there are a few questions coming through around that. Sure. So in relation to the professional pest control and carpet cleaning, the legislation does allow that if a pet is approved for the tenancy that you can ask the carpet's professional clean at the end of the tenancy. David Ten has that responsibility to return the property in the same condition it was in at the start of the tenancy, less fair wear and tear. You cannot put it in a clause that says that the carpets have to be cleaned every six months or 12 months. When I probably mentioned this before, it was more around the fact that if you've done an inspection and it's beyond the normal, I suppose, condition, because again, the ten has the obligation to maintain the tenancy, make sure the property is clean and tidy throughout the tenancy, having regard to the condition at the start when they moved in. So again, it's having those conversations throughout the tenancy and making sure that if there are issues to try and talk to each other and get the matter addressed. Thanks very much. We've got a couple of questions in regards to tenants currently in fixed term agreements that may have stated at the start of the tenancy, no pets allowed. So once the 1st of October comes to these laws regardless of what's potentially written into the agreement, provide them with an opportunity or an option to apply to have a pet. Correct. Continue laws from 1 October, apply for existing tenancies and you correct Mark. So if someone is on a fixed term agreement, then, and that says no pets currently, as of 1 October, they then can ask for the owner or the managers to have a pet. So permission would need to come from the owner and again, follow that process that I've talked about. Fantastic. Now, there's a really good question here. So we talk about the approval being granted for the lifetime of the pet. In the event of breaches, can approval be revoked? Look, this would be, again, that conversation that obviously the tenant is responsible for that pet during the term of the tenancy. And if it's a serious enough breach, obviously, then you'd be looking at potentially, there could be a risk of a nose to leave and potentially, obviously, you know, going to QCAT and things like that. But, you know, we would ask again that tenants and their managing agents and owners all talk with each other and try and get those matters resolved. It's that if it's a serious enough breach, then yes, they can issue the breach and follow the breach process. Fantastic. A couple of questions coming through and there seems to be a little bit of a theme here around if the approval process is started, but there is already a pet on the premises. So there's, you know, the question that just came through, I tended to allow them to have the pet at the premises before, you know, either the approval process is completed or the dispute process or QCAT. So my understanding would be that the application is made before the tenant brings the pet into the premises. Correct. So currently, if you have a tenants agreement that says no pets, then it's no pets. And then when you apply after one October, then you cannot bring the pet onto the property or get the pet until obviously the owner has given permission. So and again, too, if the owner then is, refuses permission and then you have to pursue it through dispute resolution and then take it off QCAT, you'd have to follow that process until you actually did get permission. Fantastic. All right, I think we've covered most of, not necessarily individual questions, but most of the themes. One last thing, so for example, then if a tenant rented a property and there was a decent size backyard, but it wasn't suitably fenced and they approached the owner with the view of asking for a pet and putting the fence up or putting some fencing up themselves, how would that process work or what would occur in that situation? Sure, so if the property is not suitable, the owner could come back to them and say, it's not suitable because the yard's not fenced. However, if the tenant then does say to the owner, look, I'm willing to put the fence up and things like that, then it says conversations and probably falls onto the process and the rules that we have on our current legislation with that fixtures and fittings and being installed. So if the tenant does install the fence at their own cost, there might be some conditions that whether it needs to be installed in a professional way, who's covering the cost, if it stays, does the tenant have to remove it at the end of their tenancy? So it's having those conversations and making sure that whatever's been agreed upon is actually put in writing so that there's no questions at the end of the tenancy, whether that be six months, 12 months or two years or whatever down the track, what actually happens about that fence if it has been installed? So again, putting it down to that negotiation with the between the tenant and the owner and anything that's agreed, put it in writing. Excellent. All right. So a couple of questions here and I'll describe to pet application form available from the 1st of October. Yes. Yep, fantastic. So it will be on our website under our forms and resources tab. Fantastic. What happens when the tenant is considering a pet that has to choose a pet that takes some time to get approval? Pet can't just be on hold awaiting approval, i.e. size of dog may be unknown. I think the form that we're producing requires them to provide information about the type of dog and the size of dog and that sort of thing, doesn't it? It does. So I suppose it's very hard for an owner to make a decision if they don't have all the information. So I suppose one of the examples might be that the tenant goes and talks to the owner or the managing agent and says, look, I'm looking to get this type of dog. My aim is to get a dog that is in this category, this size, this weight, that type of thing. They might give a couple of examples of the type of pets they're looking to get. So again, it doesn't stop someone coming and having those conversations but keep in mind that if there's not enough information provided as part of the pet application, then the owner may fall automatically in the decision to say, look, I need more information. Can a tenancy be advertised with a no pet clause? As mentioned before, the new tenancy laws are for existing tenancies and not covering that prospective tenant process. So the RTA doesn't cover the tenant selection process or the advertising process. However, technically, yes, probably an owner could advertise a property say no pets. However, once the tenancy does commence, a tenant can still apply and obviously our legislation falls into place. Yep, fantastic. Just to clarify two couple of questions, I know we spoke about tenants being on six term agreements before and obviously a tenant in a period, tenancy come the 1st of October would be in the same situation and these new laws won't only be applying to current tenancies, sorry, we'll be applying to both current tenancies and tenancies starting after the 1st of October. So everyone is in captured regardless of the particular agreement that they're on at the moment. Correct. Yep, all right. So couple of questions just around and this is probably from an RTA perspective, a procedurally type question around converting the forms into an online format as opposed to having a physical form. So similar to any of our other forms in the RTA. Yes, we do see them converted from our PDF documents into Word documents and those sorts of things. The key is that they need to be substantially complied at a minimum, if not almost identical. But yeah, by all means you have the option to fit them into your, and they'll be a part of our suite of forms anyway. So they'll go into most software packages and that sort of thing. Yeah, I think the important thing to understand there too is that the legislation was very clear. It's a prescribed form. So when it does say that, obviously then the RTA needs to be ensuring that this rental sector has access to that. The response template that we're doing is not a requirement for us to produce. However, we are doing that just to help the rental sector with the actual process of that 14 days. I've got a question here and I'm without trying to read too much into it. What if the head lease does not allow pets? Is that enough for refusal? That might be in a social housing situation or something along those lines. So look, it could be without probably knowing a little bit more information. We might need a little bit more information about like the head leasing set up and everything like that. But usually when you're like in that head lease then you become the landlord as such. So the rules will apply. Yeah, all right. So question around, does the tenants have to fill out an official application or can it be done by emails or in writing? So this is where it comes down to the legislation does talk about it being on the prescribed form. So there is a form to complete and look at the form will have a lot of information there to make sure that the owner can make that informed decision. And it's also an opportunity to provide further information, some other documentation that might be attached about the pet. It could also be like maybe a photo of the animal that they're looking to have as well. Fantastic. Well, then I think that pretty much covers most of the various groups of questions that we've received this morning. So just having a quick scan through that we haven't missed anything doesn't appear that we have can. Yeah, I can see that there is a lot of questions in there about body corporates. And as I said, we've been hearing a lot of questions in the sector for the last couple of months. So again, please do watch out for that reporting on that will be available next week. Because what we do is we wanted to hear from the Body Corporate Commissioner's office about their processes. It's not the RTA's processes or our legislation. So do keep an eye out for that. And so hopefully by the end of next week, that should be available on our website to be able to answer a lot of those body corporate questions. Fantastic. And as you can see on the slide there, there will also be a lot of information and education coming through our website, our podcasts, more webinars, and there's other information on our website. And obviously you can also follow us on LinkedIn. So thank you very much for coming along today. Please be aware that our Contact Center is available Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 5.00 excluding public holidays on 1300-363-1100. Outside of those times, you can access our website for the information that I mentioned previously. Thank you for attending today. Thanks very much for your time, Lynn. And we look forward to seeing you all at our future webinars. We'll close the webinar and we'll hope to see you again soon. Thanks very much.