No-fault evictions will be banned in Victoria and renters will not have to pay more than four weeks’ rent for breaking their lease under a suite of reforms announced by Jacinta Allan.
The premier announced the measures on Wednesday, as well as a ban on landlords and real estate agents charging fees to process rent or conduct background checks.
It comes after Guardian Australia’s Hot Property series revealed an increasing number of real estate agents were moving tenants’ payments on to third-party “rent tech” platforms, which charge service fees.
In a statement, the Victorian government said while landlords are required under the law to offer a fee-free option, such as paying rent in cash at Australia Post, they were often “highly inconvenient” for tenants.
“That’s why government will ban someone charging you a fee just for paying your rent – regardless of the payment method used. Whether you’re paying digitally or in person, you should just be paying what you owe,” it said.
The government will also prohibit rental providers, real estate agents or third-party apps from charging tenants for background checks.
A ban on no-fault or no-grounds evictions, which in Victoria allow a landlord to kick a tenant out at the end of a fixed-term lease without a reason, will also be announced.
Currently, tenants in Victoria can be given either 60 or 90 days’ notice to vacate, depending on the length of their fixed-term lease, even if the landlord intends to keep renting out the property.
But under the reform, landlords will only be able to issue evictions notices for reasons such as damage, not paying rent or if the owner is moving back in.
The government said there will no longer be an incentive for landlords to evict tenants in order to subsequently raise the rent on the property.
Tenants Victoria’s chief executive, Jennifer Beveridge, welcomed the ban, saying it put renters on a more equal footing with landlords.
“Renters have just grown used to accepting they may only be able to stay for a year, and then they have to move on and incur all of those additional costs that come with that,” she said.
“The most critical thing is it gives people security of housing, especially at a time where they are churning through tenancies as rents increase.”
The government said it will introduce legislation to parliament by the end of the year to enact the ban, after a similar bill passed by the New South Wales parliament last week.
In addition to the eviction ban, Allan will announce the cost of breaking a rental agreement will be capped at one week’s rent for each remaining month of the lease, up to a maximum of four weeks in total.
Legislation will also be introduced to mandate requirements for evidence of bond claims, with financial penalties for landlords who fail to comply.
Landlords will also no longer be able to terminate access to electronic keys or security devices – also known as fobs – unless they are terminating the rental agreement. If a tenant requests an additional electronic key or fob, landlords will also be unable to unreasonably deny it.
Allan said the work builds on more than 130 reforms that came into effect in 2021, as well as measures announced last year, including creating a portable bonds scheme and establishing a renting taskforce and a new system, Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria.
“Renters’ rights are all about respect – that’s the principle that we are trying to bring to the rental market … and that’s why we are leading the nation on it,” she said.
