On behalf of the Greens, today I’m proud to announce our plan to follow the lead of Victoria and New South Wales by establishing a taskforce to crackdown on real estate malpractice and rental breaches.
The Real Estate and Rental Standards Taskforce will focus on known significant issues, such as:
- Minimum standards for rental properties not being met
- Rental bidding
- False advertising
- Underquoting on sales
- Illegal leases and notices
The taskforce will be supported by an investment of $2.4 million.
Crucially, the taskforce will proactively investigate these issues, rather than just relying on complaints being made. This will include taskforce officers conducting in-person inspections of properties advertised for rent to ensure they meet the minimum standards set out in law. The taskforce will have the ability to issue fines and in extreme cases to take legal action, as has been done in other states.
There is so much that needs to be done to fix the housing crisis. But cracking down on malpractice by real estate agents and on breaches of the state’s rentals laws is a simple measure that will make a real difference to the thousands of Tasmanians trying to find a safe, secure, and affordable home right now.
I frequently have people contacting my office sharing shocking stories about their experiences with real estate agents and rental properties. We absolutely need stronger rental laws, but we also need to do much more to enforce the rules we already have. People are often too afraid to make complaints because they’re afraid of losing their home, which is why a proactive approach is key.
Taskforces like this have already been shown to be delivering results on the mainland. Victoria’s Rental Taskforce issued $620,000 in fines in its first year, and within a month of being set up the New South Wales equivalent had put $50,000 back into the hands of renters.
The Greens believe this policy is a no-brainer, and we’re hopeful the other political parties will get on board. In particular this should be something Labor supports, considering it’s a policy introduced by Labor governments on the mainland.
