News

Many of our Landlords and Tenants at Trove will be wondering how the pending proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will affect them. 

Primarily for tenants across South Australia - particularly those who rent privately (meaning direct with a landlord), it will give them peace of mind that they can now enforce their landlord to maintain their property and appliances without the fear of retaliation by way of terminated leases, or excessive rent increases.  It will also give tenants protection from the odd private landlord who insists on monthly inspections!  Most importantly the changes provide tenants more security over the duration of their tenancy - providing peace of mind and much needed stability for families across the state.

There are other amendments that will be welcome by many tenants:

• Increased notice period to terminate a lease from 28 days to 60
• Improvement of rights for victims of domestic violence
• Implementation of energy efficiency standards when installed or replaced meaning smarter, cheaper to run appliances
• Removal of on charging of SA Water quarterly supply charge (tenants are still responsible for all water consumption)

The hotly debated Pet topic has been addressed with a sensible approach and will require a tenant to 'apply' for their pet, and there will be 'reasonable grounds' to decline (such as the pet will need to comply with Strata rules, and be appropriate for the premises... you can't have a donkey in a courtyard!).  There are also provision for sensible arrangements such as the pet must remain outside, carpet cleaning etc - with appropriate penalties including possible termination of tenancy if they are breached.

For Landlords, the biggest change is the removal of the ability to end a fixed term lease at their discretion.  For many this will be frustrating, however I must stress that this change does not limit our ability to be effective in ensuring a property is well maintained.  Tenants (just like Landlords) remain accountable for ensuring they carry out their obligations under the Tenancies Act.  A tenant who does not remedy a 'breach' (for example address cleanliness or damage items, pay rent etc) can still have their tenancy terminated.  There are a few added enhancements for Landlords such as:

• In the event a tenant vacates on a Form 2 Notice to Remedy Breach, this will now be treated as Lease Break (tenant will be responsible for up to 1 months rent, plus a portion of letting and advertising fees (previously not recoverable)
• Planned improvements to the Bond lodging and claim process - speeding up lengthy bond claim process
• Reduction in timeframe to store a tenants abandoned goods from 28 days to 7 days

You can be assured that Trove are across all the proposed items and will be ready to amend our systems and procedures to accommodate them when the time comes.