Bills

Residential Tenancies (Minimum Standards) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 28 August 2024.)

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (17:30): I rise on behalf of the government to indicate that we will not be supporting the honourable member's motion. However, we understand that the honourable member likely has the support to refer this bill to a select committee and will take part in that process.

The Malinauskas government has made the most significant reforms to South Australia's rental laws in a generation, through changes detailed in the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2023. We thank the Hon. Robert Simms for his contributions and support to help deliver these measures. As part of these laws, it is a requirement for rental properties to meet minimum housing standards under the Housing Improvement Act 2016, known as the HIA minimum standards. These are the same standards that must be met for any residential premises to be considered safe and suitable for human habitation in SA.

The standards include being reasonably draft-proof and weatherproof; being reasonably free from the adverse effects of moisture or dampness; having adequate kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities; and having secure external doors with locks. Our reforms also included a requirement that all new appliances and fixtures installed in rental properties meet minimum efficiency standards. The government believes we have struck the right balance by setting the minimum standards at the same level as those that are required in every other home in SA.

The measures proposed by the honourable member would impose a significant financial cost on landlords. The last thing we want to do is put additional cost obligations on landlords that might cause them to exit the market and risk reducing supply, thus driving up the price of rent. In order to meet the obligations imposed by the bill, landlords would be required to perform detailed assessments of their rental properties to determine whether they meet the specific standards prescribed.

It would be a further and potentially substantial cost to bring rental properties up to the prescribed standards, in which case landlords may find it more economically viable to sell their rental properties or to lease them as short-term rentals through platforms including Airbnb. This has the potential to further reduce the supply of rental homes and put upwards pressure on the price of rent.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (17:32): I rise briefly to speak about the Residential Tenancies (Minimum Standards) Amendment Bill proposed by the Hon. Robert Simms. I understand that in January 120 organisations called on the federal government to support renters and landlords with energy upgrades, including providing funding and support to states and territories to implement bills like this one. The South Australian signatories which supported that proposal included SA Power Networks, Anti-Poverty Network SA, Shelter SA and Uniting Country SA.

I understand that the honourable member has good intentions with this bill, but I also believe that he is now moving this to a select committee. It is my understanding that the South Australian Council of Social Service, Better Renting and Uniting Communities support the bill going to committee, saying that it is a crucial opportunity for sector stakeholders to discuss improving rental homes' energy performance. With that support from the community, I indicate that I will support the bill going to a select committee.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (17:34): The Liberal Party had determined that, if this was going to go to a vote as a bill, we would not be able to support it, although it is no doubt well intentioned. The honourable member might say in his summing-up whether he thinks I am verballing him or not, but my understanding is that he has never met a new statute he did not like, and he also does love a stick to beat about anybody who might have made a bit of a nest egg for themselves by being a landlord.

If I speak first to the merits of the bill, my concern is that it crosses a couple of acts. The Residential Tenancies Act, which this bill is addressed to, but also the Housing Improvement Act, already enable the government to set housing standards by regulation and to take enforcement action where properties are deemed unfit for human habitation. I have certainly attended briefings with the groups that have been referred to—Better Renting, Uniting Communities and SACOSS—who have highlighted some of the situations that private renters find themselves in. Some of their tales are really quite horrific. The question mark that has been left in my mind is that surely these standards would fail the test of the Housing Improvement Act on the face of it.

The proposition was put forward that this would instead be referred to a committee, which I think enables the parliament to explore some of those opportunities to determine whether these egregious examples that have been brought to our attention are actually breaches of existing laws and, if there were to be laws that were to be introduced to address minimum standards, where they might best fit. So I think we certainly will need to hear from a range of stakeholders who represent a range of interests, including landlords as well as tenants, and also to hear from organisations such as RentRight, which is a service operated by Uniting Communities and SYC.

One of the difficulties, too, when you introduce statutes without taking consideration of whether that is the best place for them to exist, and if indeed they duplicate existing statutes, is that the only people who benefit from it are the people who can interpret the law, so in my view that is not the best approach to take.

Given that it is a referral to a committee, the party will support that. The honourable member has reassured me that the committee will report quickly, so we think that that is a useful exercise to hear from all the different stakeholders. We may hear about a few carrots rather than sticks as an approach to this, so that might be for the benefit of all renters in South Australia across the board, as well as landlords.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:38): I thank all honourable members for their contribution: the Hon. Ms El Dannawi, the Hon. Jing Lee and the Hon. Michelle Lensink. I should say I am a bit perplexed by the position of the South Australian Labor Party, who in the middle of a cost-of-living federal election indicate that they do not support a bill that would deliver tangible changes to South Australian renters and assist them in reducing their power bills at a time of economic crisis. I think that is disappointing.

I have made it clear that the second reading stage is, in effect, the device that is required to enable this bill to be referred to a select committee that will examine the bill. I have given notice that I will move a contingent motion, so should this bill pass its second reading stage I will then move subsequently that it be referred to a select committee. I appreciate the support of the opposition in that regard.

As the Hon. Michelle Lensink indicated, I have given her and other members who have expressed an interest in this committee an assurance that should a committee be established we will move quickly to get it finalised. It is important, I think, that the committee wrap up by the middle of the year and certainly, should the committee be established, I will be talking to members about that. In terms of the comments made again by the Labor government, it is also important to note that this bill applies to new tenancies. Of course, these are the sorts of issues that we can tease through in any committee process, should it get off the ground.

I should also say that I am proud of the work that the Greens did with the Labor government back in 2023 to negotiate important reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act. Some of those reforms are really good, tangible changes for renters, but there is still work left to be done. In particular, the energy standards space is an area that I think has been neglected by the parliament for far too long and I am hopeful that if this committee gets support there is an opportunity for us to work together and really address that. It is an area that would deliver some real, tangible change for South Australians who are struggling at the moment and who are in the rental market but, because of the record low vacancy rate, are not in a position to be able to really assert their rights and have been given a dud deal.

Bill read a second time.

Referred to Select Committee

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:41): I move:

1. That the bill be referred to a select committee of the Legislative Council for inquiry and report.

2. That this council permits the select committee to authorise the disclosure or publication, as it sees fit, of any evidence or documents presented to the committee prior to such evidence being presented to the council.

Motion carried.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: I move:

That the select committee consist of the Hon. N.J. Centofanti, the Hon. J.M.A. Lensink, the Hon. T.T. Ngo, the Hon. F. Pangallo and the mover.

Motion carried.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: I move:

That the select committee have the power to send for persons, papers and records; to adjourn from place to place; and to report on 4 June 2025.

Motion carried.