
Tenants welcome govt review, so do some Gympie landlords
A HOUSE is still not a home for many tenants under existing laws, according to tenants representative organisation, Tenants Queensland.
CEO Penny Carr said Gympie tenants were in the same situation as tenants all over Queensland.
And most of them would welcome a review of laws which she says can render them homeless, with no appeal, if they so much as stick up for what are supposed to be their rights.
Ms Carr said these rights meant nothing in a context which allows landlords to terminate the tenancy without reason or put up the rent in retaliation.
Some landlords also welcomed reform, but saw it from a different perspective.
“Too many houses get trashed,” said one landlord. David Ward said he had experienced tenants who did not respect the property and who sometimes just stopped paying rent.
The processes of the law were often slow and cumbersome and the delays could cause serious trouble, he said.
Ms Carr said the state government’s proposed reform package would improve things for tenants, although the document was long and detailed, so her organisation was still in the process of assessing it, for the majority of Queenslanders who rent.
