A tenant in NSW is served a no-cause eviction every 18 minutes, putting renters at fear of losing their homes over simple requests.
In the state, 30,000 households a year are given no cause evictions, with two out of three of those on fixed term agreements, according to Tenants Union NSW.
Fixed term agreements are common in NSW, making up 58% of rentals, and those that receive a no-cause eviction are given 30 days to find a home.
As a result, renters advocates say tenants are afraid to speak up with fears that even basic requests for maintenance or negotiation of a rent increase could lead to an eviction.
It’s not unheard of, in July last year a Sydney woman was served an eviction notice after requesting a shower rail, and earlier this week an eviction was overturned following a request to fix a broken oven and faulty light. Both times the landlords denied the maintenance requests were a reason for the eviction.
The push for changes to eviction laws comes as the NSW government is looking to reform its rental laws, a key election promise.
However, is currently unclear exactly what that reform will look like. Despite the state government previously promising to end no-cause evictions, rental advocates have accused it of backtracking and of now considering a model that would still allow renters to be evicted for no reason at the end of a fixed-term agreement.
They say that such reform would not address the problems created by no cause evictions.
“In other states where no grounds are permitted at end of fixed-term, this has led to continued suffering for renters,” said Tenants Union NSW spokesperson Zuzia Buszewicz.
“New problems have been created, such as significant numbers of people placed on short-term fixed terms, with evictions notices sent at the beginning of every renewal.”
Other reforms are being recommended too, such as limiting the amount of information that can be asked of renters, prohibiting the use of automated decision-making in assessing applicants and ensuring specific and valid reasons a given for termination.
They say without them, renters will continue to live in insecure and often unhealthy housing.
