Lord Mayor’s rental crackdown

BY EMMA KEMP
In a strategy to target exploitative landlords, Lord Mayor Clover Moore wants to give city rangers authority to enter city apartments without prior notice.
The plan is council’s response to increasing reports of landlords illegally subdividing units, or subleasing in unsafe and overcrowded flats in the midst of escalating inner-city rents.
‘In one block of apartments where the city is currently pursuing legal action, unauthorised construction turned living spaces and balconies into additional bedrooms,’ Lord Mayor Moore said.
‘This behaviour is both illegal and dangerous, with firefighters saying they could not guarantee the safety of residents in case of emergency.
‘It also has serious impacts on amenity for other tenants, with other residents faced with noise, garbage, security and increased maintenance impacts.’
Currently, rangers are obliged to give notice to both landlords and tenants before conducting inspections on units. It is understood the Lord Mayor will meet with Planning Minister Kristina Keneally to seek her approval on the amendment to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.
The concern about living conditions for tenants comes as Sydney’s population looks set to soar. The Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts that 1.4 million extra people will move to the city by 2031, a huge jump from the previous forecast of 980,000.
Meanwhile construction of new apartments and townhouses has slumped by 30 per cent in NSW in the three months leading up to June. Developers say an increased number of newly elected Greens and other “anti-development” councillors will further exacerbate the housing shortage.
But Greens councillor Chris Harris denied the Greens are anti-development, saying they simply want developers to stick to planning controls and to incorporate sound environmental principles into their projects.
‘Those who shun good design, cut corners, overdevelop their sites to simply make more profits from their projects are irresponsible in my view and I do not support these types of projects,’ Cr Harris said. ‘Many of my constituents agree with this and the recent doubling of Greens representation on the City of Sydney is a testament to this.
‘These kinds of comments are designed to encourage the Department of Planning to interfere further in the council planning approval process.’
Cr Harris said there was a lot council could do to increase the city’s density without destroying the liveability of the area, such as engaging in partnerships with the state and federal governments to deliver affordable housing projects.
He named the old South Sydney Hospital site in Alexandria as one suitable site on which this could be achieved.