Image: Greens MP Jenny Leong has constantly been fighting for renters. Image: Jenny Leong/Facebook
By ROBBIE MASON
The Minns government has back-flipped on its pre-election promise to end secret rental bidding following criticism during a parliamentary inquiry.
The decision to remove section 22B from the Rental Fairness Bill (2023), which requires real estate agents to notify applicants when they receive a higher bid for a rental property, is intended to expedite the passage of the bill’s other rental reforms.
The rental bidding reform, which is intended to improve transparency in the rental market, failed to attract the support of the Greens and crossbenchers, illustrating the difficulties Labor face as a minority government.
Last week a range of real estate groups and advocacy organisations, such as the Real Estate Institute, Tenants’ Union of NSW, Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Shelter NSW, provided expert advice to a parliamentary committee.
Real estate groups suggested changes to rental bidding would simultaneously fail to address the root causes of the problem and sow division between property managers and applicants. Real estate groups, peak bodies, tenancy advocates and homelessness groups all agreed that the bill would, in fact, hike up rent prices, stimulating unintended rental auctions.
Putting A Stop To Secret Biddings
MP Jenny Leong, the Greens Renters and Housing Spokesperson, said “The Greens absolutely welcome the NSW Labor Government listening to the overwhelming community concerns and having the sense to put this on the backburner.”
“From the moment we saw the details of this legislation, we knew that this provision would exacerbate the rental crisis and it’s why we’ve worked to expose, and put a stop, to rental auctions.”
Following emphatic community feedback, the government has paused the rent bidding section of the bill until a new Rental Commissioner is appointed.
MP Alex Greenwich has welcomed the move.
“Further consultation on section 22B of the Rental Fairness Bill is a sign of good and consultative government,” he said.
The altered bill will implement a portable bond scheme, outlaw landlords and third-party platforms, not just real estate agents, from soliciting higher rental bids and empower the NSW Rental Commissioner to gather pricing data from agents, enabling them to provide quality advice to the government.
“Now that we have dealt with this distraction, we can get onto the job of desperately needed rental reforms – that means working with the government to deliver portable bonds and end unfair, no grounds evictions,” Jenny Leong said.
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