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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-11-19 Daily Xml
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RENTAL AUCTIONS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Consumer Affairs a question about rental auctions.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Housing Industry Association has predicted that a shortage of new dwellings will force people to bid at informal auctions to rent a house. The latest figures from the Real Estate Institute show that rental vacancies in Adelaide were running at 1.39 per cent of available dwellings in June 2009, down from 1.5 per cent a year earlier, and well below the 3 per cent the Real Estate Institute regards as a balanced market.

Rental auctions are where agents and landlords seek to push up rents, for example, by advertising properties within a price range and inviting tenants to submit their best offer, which is above the advertised price. The practice is not accepted by real estate institutes or tenant groups across Australia. My question is: what is the government doing to work with industry to protect renters from the unscrupulous practices of some landlords?

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) (14:44): The government fairly recently undertook a wide range of real estate reforms to put extra protections in place for those people who want to enter the property market, as well as providing clarity for real estate operators, and that has been a real win-win situation for both real estate operators and homeowners, particularly in terms of improving confidence in relation to the real estate industry.

I know that there have been some issues around transitioning into those arrangements, but my understanding is that the uptake has been really positive and that the level of operators conforming to the new requirements is quite high, so they are to be congratulated.

In relation to the issue the honourable member outlined around inflating rental property prices, that issue has been brought to my attention before. I am happy to look into the matter. Obviously we are always looking to protect the interests of those people entering the rental market whilst, at the same time, ensuring that we are fair to the property owners. I am happy to take the details from the member and look into the matter. If there is an opportunity to improve these protections, I am happy to look at it.

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