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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-04 Daily Xml
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RESIDENTIAL TENANC

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Consumer Affairs a question about tenancy lists.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Landlords are often concerned about who their properties are rented to. Of equal concern is when tenant databases can be used to prevent tenants legitimately getting access to rental accommodation. Will the minister advise what is being done to make renting fairer?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:13): Tenant reference databases provide landlords with personal information about the previous tenancies of prospective tenants where there may have been issues or disputes. This information is intended to allow landlords to assess whether an applicant is likely to be a financial risk. However, if used incorrectly, tenant reference databases can be used to unfairly blacklist prospective tenants, which might make it difficult for some people to find new rental accommodation.

The member for Light in another place recently wrote to me about a constituent who alleged that they were unfairly threatened with blacklisting on a tenant database unless they took over responsibility for a relative's lease. South Australia is part of a move to promote a nationally consistent tenant database. This will regulate privately held residential tenancy databases to maximise useful information for real estate agents and landlords while also protecting people from false reporting.

The Office of Business and Consumer Affairs is working with other jurisdictions to prepare nationally consistent regulations governing how real estate agents and the like use records in relation to an individual's tenancy history. If these databases contain inaccurate or incomplete information, it can obviously affect the ability of the tenant to secure rental accommodation.

Of course, landlords also have a right to be aware of legitimate potential risks associated with prospective tenants and, as tenants move interstate, the need for national consistency is obviously paramount. Some states where tenant databases have been very active already have specific laws relating to residential tenancy databases, whereas South Australia, along with some other states, applies fair trading legislation that, to date, has been limited in scope.

South Australia has joined a national working party developing a uniform legislation framework that is looking at a range of possible provisions. The working party will look at:

how to ensure tenancy applicants receive timely information about the database process;

disallowing certain kinds of listings that could be misread as negative;

clearly defining events that constitute a breach justifying listing on such databases;

only allowing tenancy breaches to be listed once a tenancy agreement finishes, with the tenant given the chance to review, correct or dispute a proposed listing before it occurs;

promoting the accuracy and quality of a listing;

ensuring tenants can access and correct listings, and a disputes resolution process;

defining a maximum period for certain listings to remain on a database.

We believe that this will not only improve the quality of the information available to landlords but also improve the level of protection for tenants.

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