If you own or rent one of the 500,000 rental properties in Victoria, you’ll be affected by changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) - the law that governs arrangements between landlords and tenants.

The Victorian Government is currently reviewing this important piece of legislation with significant changes to the law outlined in the Heading for Home Options Paper, released in January this year.

If implemented, these changes will cause rents to increase and result in fewer rental homes in Victoria.

Some of the most concerning proposed changes include:

• Changes to the notice periods around ending a lease, where tenants can provide as little as 28 days’ notice of their intention to leave a rental property, however landlords may lose the right to end a tenancy completely under the changes;
• Allowing tenants to make non-structural modifications to rental properties without the landlord’s permission, which may include repainting an entire property in whatever colour the tenant chooses, concreting the backyard or reconfiguring built-in robes;
• Removal of the landlord’s right to consent to, or refuse, pets; and
• The introduction of minimum rental property standards, despite standards already existing under the National Construction Code and 70 per cent of tenants reporting their property to be in excellent or good condition.

The Government must urgently consider a more balanced approach to these reforms, before the rental sector in this state is decimated. The Government must undertake further consultation, especially for landlords.