NSW passes rental reforms allowing bond transfers

The NSW government has passed the first part of its rental reforms initially introduced in May.

To help NSW renters during the current cost of living crisis, the Labor government introduced a rental reform bill as a response to the tightening market. 

The bill includes the following:

• Close the loopholes in the existing ban on solicited rent bidding to include owners and third parties.
• Eliminate secret rent bidding by requiring owners and their agents to notify applicants of other offers from prospective tenants that are higher than the advertised price.
• Ensure appropriate powers are in place to design and enact a portable bond scheme that reduces the strain on renters.

Minister for Fair Trading and Better Regulation Anoulack Chanthivong says this reform’s focus is to give renters better rights.  

“In the existing system, a renter paying $550 per week faces a bond cost of $2200 if they want to move,” says Chanthivong.

“A portable bonds scheme will end the system that sees the average renter forced to spend the equivalent of 11 weeks’ groceries to move from home A to home B.”

With the new bond scheme, you will only have to pay a new bond to secure a new place once your previous bond is refunded. That means you have the choice to transfer your existing bond from rental to rental each time you move.

“[These] reforms are the first step, not the last. We’re already working on the next tranche of changes to deliver relief, including making it easier to have pets in rentals and ending no-grounds evictions,” says Chanthivong.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson says that improving rental laws and rights will improve people’s lives in NSW. 

“More and more people are renting – and renting for life. As our housing market changes, we need to update and modernise our laws to ensure we are getting the balance right,” he says.

The NSW government has also begun to audit surplus public land that could be rezoned for housing developments to help alleviate the current housing supply problem across the state.