On 28 October 2008, the Minister for Public Works, Housing and Information and Communication Technology introduced the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Bill 2008 (“the Bill”).
If the Bill is passed by the Queensland Parliament, mortgagees will be required to give residential tenants 60 days notice of the mortgagee’s intention to recover possession rather than the current 28 day notice period. The new notice period for rooming accommodation (such as boarding houses) will be 30 days.
In this regard, the Bill is aimed at tightening protections for tenants where the rental property is to be sold and lengthening notice periods to give tenants greater time to find alternate accommodation at the end of a tenancy.
If the Bill is passed, the resulting Act will also repeal and replace the two current tenancy Acts, the Residential Services (Accommodation) Act 2002 (Qld) (“the RSAA”) and Residential Tenancies Act 1994 (Qld) (“the RTA”).
The RSAA governs residential services which include boarding houses, aged rental accommodation and supported accommodation as well as independently operated student accommodation. The RTA currently covers self-contained accommodation, including flats, houses, caravans and houseboats as well as social housing.
What will change?
Currently if, upon the default of a mortgagor, the mortgagee becomes entitled to obtain possession of the secured property it can recover possession despite a tenant’s occupation of the premises if it has:
- given the tenant 4 weeks (28 days) notice that the mortgagee requires possession; and
- not consented to the tenancy.
The mortgagee’s acceptance of rent does not constitute consent to the tenancy.
