Houses in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington. On Thursday, Queensland’s Labor government moved to ban all forms of rent bidding as part of a package of reforms for renters.Houses in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington. On Thursday, Queensland’s Labor government moved to ban all forms of rent bidding as part of a package of reforms for renters.Brisbane last month surpassed Melbourne as Australia’s third-most expensive city, now just behind Canberra and Sydney.
The laws would also establish a code of conduct for the rental sector, require agents not to collect an undue amount of information about renters, and set up a portable bond scheme, among other reforms. “What’s happening in practice, though, is that essentially renters are going and offering more and it’s becoming a feeding frenzy, and it’s very difficult to regulate in determining who actually asked that person to pay more.”
Scanlon also introduced legislation on Thursday limiting rent increases for the 30,000 Queenslanders living in manufactured homes. Most of them are old-age pensioners. “I think that many of the arguments as to why you would impose a rent increase limit in manufactured homes equally apply in residential tenancies,” Carr said.Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters“There are many people – I think something like 40% of people on low incomes – in rental stress in the rental market. Almost half of the people who live in the rental market are living there with dependent children.