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Real estate giant Ray White is calling for all Australian states and territories to provide further clarification on their COVID-19 eviction policies, following the lead of New South Wales.
The group’s managing director, Dan White, has welcomed recent announcements from South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales regarding their support for residential tenancies, but he said it’s “critically important” every state can provide clarification around eviction procedures and other grey areas.
Ray White has conceded that since the Prime Minister’s statement in late March regarding a federal moratorium on evictions, “many tenants assumed this meant they would not need to pay rent for the next six months regardless of whether or not COVID-19 had impacted them”.
Since then, the statement has been clarified only slightly — on a state-by-state basis.
“I think everyone agrees that unless a landlord or tenant can prove their financial hardship is directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pre-existing rules should still apply,” the managing director stated.
He outlined: “We need a clear and efficient process for both tenant and landlord to prove hardship from COVID-19 and therefore receive the safeguards the government has proposed, and as an industry, we think we can play a role in helping all parties achieve this.
“The NSW government, and it seems the Queensland government, are relying on the tribunals as the primary point by which landlords and tenants can prove financial hardship and mediate outcomes.
“We believe that the real estate industry can and should play an important role in these negotiations as the intermediary wherever a property is under professional management, rather than private management by the landlord.”
In addition, the managing director has revealed the lack of clarification around landlord insurance and whether it covers pandemics such as COVID-19 as “one of the biggest grey areas surrounding vulnerable tenancies”.
Landlord insurance providers “are all currently advising that a termination process should be stringently followed by managing agents to ensure a future rent default claim will be upheld in the landlord’s favour”.
“Ray White believes that any tenants who do not have the ability to meet the financial commitment of their rent, due to redundancy and/or reduced hours or income, should have the right to terminate their lease without penalties,” according to Mr White.
“[But] there needs to be a formal requirement for tenants to establish that they have lost their employment or it has been reduced by a percentage due to the pandemic in order to qualify for protection against eviction for non-payment of rent.”
He is asking all state governments to be clear on whether any rent not paid by the tenant during the six-month moratorium is to be accrued as a debt to the landlord, as has been clarified in NSW.
Ray White is also urging the government to establish phone hotlines across all states and territories to provide support, information and services to vulnerable people, particularly those aged over 70 or who are immunocompromised.
“There are some 2.5 million Australians who do not have access to the internet at home or own a smartphone and many of those people are tenants in isolation who need advice or services,” Mr White highlighted.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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