Currently landlords and rental property managers often use a fixed-term tenancy as a trial period for a tenant. If the tenant is suitable, they then let this roll over to another fixed term of usually a year or a periodic tenancy, where there is no end date. However proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act

Amendment Bill 2020 will mean that a fixed term automatically rolls over to a periodic tenancy. The requirements for removing the tenant after the end of a fixed-term tenancy are itemised in the Bill and are not as flexible as a landlord or property manager would like. Apart from the process of removing anti-social tenants, the other reasons for terminating a tenancy can be:

• Property being renovated;

• Property being demolished;

• Property being sold;

• A family member moving in; or

• A change of business.

This all sounds fine, but what happens if, for a variety of reasons, your tenants aren’t working out and you can see that it will just end in a disaster? Well, too bad! You don’t have any option but to allow the tenants to remain. Consequently, the initial process of finding a suitable tenant will become a riskier task and you will not consider those “marginal tenants” to whom you may have given a chance in the past.

‘If these proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act are implemented, these people will have no hope of making a go of things and will always be put in the bracket of a marginal tenant’

So, who might be considered marginal tenants? In reality it could be anyone. For example, they could be students, unemployed, working, single parents, couples, professionals, those with pets, skilled or unskilled people, those with a bad credit history, or even a home owner who has entered the rental market, as well as those who have a bad reference or no references from previous landlords or property managers. They could also be from a different socio-economic background. The issues that put them into the “marginal tenant” bracket may not be permanent.

I’ve always believed in giving people a chance, and having the ability to have tenants on a fixed term for three months. Then if they aren’t suitable, or it isn’t working out, I do not have to commit to a longer period of time. This has always worked well. That option has just been removed. So, what will happen to these people? Maybe they will join the approximately 15,000 people on the public housing waiting list?

However, that will not solve their issue, as coming from emergency housing or a public housing property would often not be considered a suitable reference by a private landlord. If these proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act are implemented, these people will have no hope of making a go of things and will always be put in the bracket of a “marginal tenant”.

This Bill is designed to improve security of tenure. However, these changes mean that those marginal tenants will not even get a chance as only no risk, gold-plated tenants will find rental properties in the private sector.