Landlords would be required to have attempted rent-reduction negotiation with tenants prior to issuing vacate notices after the ACT's six-month moratorium on evictions ends, under a Legislative Assembly committee recommendation.
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The ACT Legal Aid proposal would also require lessors negotiate with tenants prior to accessing compensation from the civil tribunal over unpaid rent and when a tenant requests a 25 per cent or higher reduction in rent.
Legal Aid ACT reported it had received numerous calls from people significantly impacted by COVID-19 who were having difficulties negotiating rental reductions.
The negotiation requirement was to encourage landlords to reach an agreement with renters now and prevent their tenants wracking up insurmountable debt later, a spokesperson said.
Legal Aid lawyer Brice Hamack said as long as landlords were prepared to engage in "good faith negotiations" they shouldn't be concerned.
"As long as they demonstrate they have a genuine intent to engage with their tenant and find a mutual resolution they can still take their matter to ACAT [ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal] if there isn't a reasonable outcome," Mr Hamack said.
"Obviously if the tenant engages and is unreasonable or is acting in bad faith then I don't think there's any expectation of the landlord to just agree to whatever the tenant proposes."
If a family is going through significant financial hardship there should be easier pathways for them to find a way out.
- Legal Aid lawyer Brice Hamack
Designed to ease the burden on renters facing financial hardship during coronavirus, the reform was one of 19 legal aid recommendations the pandemic response committee supported in its interim report released on Thursday.
The committee also recommended ACT government temporarily amend laws to allow tenants to terminate contracts with three-weeks' notice and proof of COVID-19 hardship.
Mr Hamack said he'd like to see this change made to tenancy agreements beyond the coronavirus.
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"That way we're not putting people who are already in significant financial trouble due to life circumstances into further financial debit and seeing them going into rental arrears and potentially facing homelessness."
The government announced its six-month moratorium on rental evictions, as agreed by all states and territories, at the national cabinet in May.
The Assembly committee was established in April to scrutinise the ACT government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
An ACT government spokesperson said on Friday it was considering the committee's recommendations.
"Considerable work is already under way to assess any future potential negative financial impacts on tenants and landlords as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said to date 600 applications had been received for a land tax rebate for landlords who reduce rent by 25 per cent.
Alex Crowe
Alex covers science and environment issues, with a focus on local Canberra stories. alex.crowe@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Alex covers science and environment issues, with a focus on local Canberra stories. alex.crowe@austcommunitymedia.com.au
