Reforms designed to help NSW renters have hit a snag after the Greens withdrew support for a key government bill, saying it could inadvertently push spiralling prices higher.
The Minns government wants to introduce a portable bond scheme and put an end to “secret rent bidding”, where prospective tenants approach real estate agents privately, offering to pay more rent to secure a property.
Under a suite of government reforms, real estate agents would have to disclose higher bids to all prospective tenants.
With the rental market squeezed, the Greens argue the measure could have unintended consequences, and entrench rental auctions, with the price of properties continually pushed higher.
Sydney has seen the largest rental price spike of all capital cities over the last year, with rents jumping 13.1 per cent, according to Core Logic data released last month.
The government’s rental reforms hit a snag on Tuesday after the Greens housing spokeswoman Jenny Leong flagged concerns.
Entrenching a system that gave rental properties to the highest bidder is the “the last thing we should be doing”, Ms Leong said.
“Every day renters are struggling to find an affordable place to live in a brutally competitive rental market, or being hit with unfair rent hikes,” she said.
The bill will now be sent to a lower house standing committee for an inquiry.
“This inquiry is an opportunity to demonstrate the real harms being caused by rent bidding, both in its secrecy and in how it is massively driving up the cost of rent, Ms Leong said”
Meanwhile, the opposition says adding Sydney Water and Hunter Water in the NSW constitution does not go far enough and excludes a fifth of the population.
Adding the two water utilities to the NSW constitution was a key election promise of the Labor government and the first piece of legislation moved by Premier Chris Minns this month.
It will protect future governments from privatising the state assets, Labor says, having warned it was next on the coalition’s chopping block.
The coalition dubbed the promise an election scare campaign, only to change tack on Tuesday and put up an amendment to have all water utilities added to the constitution.
“It discriminates against the 1.85 million people who obtain their water from water utilities other than Sydney Water and Hunter Water,” Nationals MP Steph Cooke told parliament.
“Failure to include other utilities leaves us wondering about the NSW Labor government’s agenda in relation to the future privatisation of WaterNSW and the 89 local water utilities across regional, rural, and remote NSW.”
WaterNSW owns bulk water assets such as Warragamba Dam and supplies two-thirds of water used in the state.
The amendment does not have the support of the government or the Greens.
Changes to first-home buyer taxation are destined to succeed, however.
The government secured support from the Greens and independent MP Alex Greenwich, with the reforms likely to pass next week.
Labor’s changes would increase exemptions on stamp duty for first-home buyers, up from a previous cap of $650,000 to $800,000, and allow concessions on homes up to $1 million.
Access to the Perrottet government’s stamp-duty-or-land-tax scheme would also be switched off for all first-home buyers who bought from July.
– AAP
