A post was merged into an existing topic: Lunatic landlord, does he contravene the ACL?
As a more general observation on renting.
How significant are the behaviours of the agents in delivering good outcomes for prospective tenants?
The market place consists of three interested parties, Landlords, Agents, and Tenants. There is also a legal and regulated framework typically administered at State level. Effectively a system of regulated contracts.
From a rental agent’s viewpoint whose needs do the agents best serve? Objectively an Agency’s value is in the number of properties it manages. The more the better. The availability of tenants is simply a demand condition, ostensibly one the agent has little control over. Less demand might lower the rents, but for the agents with a portion of income from fees fixed, the risks are less the larger your letting base. Rental agents will always prioritise the interests of the Landlord, to the extent the law permits.
If there are needs for reform and action it is at the level of tenants rights and the state level authorities responsible for their administration. The state regulations and administrations provide for resolution at an individual level, failing which there is always a personal court action.
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Overall well posted @mark_m. However the last conclusion - renters are also often more vulnerable from their nous to financial viability. Personal court action is often a pie in the sky option for them in many ways.
An interested, no cost oversight office with enough teeth to enforce rights and issue penalties to slumlords and those landlords who take advantage by overstepping would probably be welcome to even the playing field.
As it is today, make a complaint about your rental and potentialy be evicted and black listed. Personal court action to what real end?
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“The good news? A complaint by a landlord or property manager must be presented to you in writing before it’s lodged with a tenancy database.”
And in QLD:
It appears it is not as easy as some tenants fear, for a tenant to be blacklisted.
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As if dodgy landlords do not know how to push the limits, and when one discovers they are on a list or receives notice they will be put on one, the angst and process don’t often clear overnight or even quickly.
Rules and reality often are incongruent, are they not?
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Yes they certainly are, but in the circumstances of being black listed, the tenant will become aware of such an attempt, because the tenant’s side of it must first be obtained.
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Would an agent, keen on letting a property take that into account or would s/he be more inclined to let to the best and brightest and tidiest applicant? No need to answer unless you disagree with how it would work in a practical sense.
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I agree, it is a journey with limited potential for future renting. Certainly no need for any agent to look your name up on a list thereafter.
I was hoping only to draw a comparison with how the ACCC sees it’s role in administering the ACL and the generalisation that the ACCC does not seek action in response to individuals representations. Rental agreements are state managed.
In the state managed systems it is unlikely any dispute between a tenant, agent and landlord will progress to a formal court hearing. It is a progressive approach that is intended to minimise that outcome. Although simply taking an agent on as a tenant may have the same personal consequences as if they had lost with costs in court.
In principal the change referred to by
Is recognition there is a real concern. Whether it delivers a positive change or serves only as window dressing, it will soon be all too apparent?
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Long after this topic started, but this one reads like the classic case of a bad landlord and/or terrible management company. Rather than getting a liveable home in return for rent the family could be getting all sorts of problems, the least being a financial hit, being blacklisted, a negative credit report, and potentially having to deal with a suit if they stop paying rent and leave.
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