Tenancy and occupancy laws provide important rights and protections for people so they can feel secure and comfortable in their homes.

The purpose of this consultation was to seek community views – especially from tenants, landlords, boarders and grantors – about how our tenancy and occupancy laws can be improved and what minimum standards should be introduced to offer better protections.

In addition to minimum standards, we sought your feedback on a range of other proposed property condition requirements to improve the efficiency and thermal comfort of rental homes.

If you’re in an occupancy agreement we heard from you on how occupancy laws could be improved to better protect occupants. This included people in ‘boarder and lodger’ arrangements, university student accommodation, long-stay caravan parks, crisis accommodation and housing support programs.

You can read more on the proposed changes to minimum standards for rental properties and occupancy laws in our consultation paper.

Consultation closed on Monday 2 September 2024.

Before providing your feedback we strongly encouraged you to read our consultation paper on minimum standards for rental properties and occupancy law reform.

The consultation paper contained important background information and questions to prompt your thinking. You could use these questions to guide a written submission which could be uploaded through the make a submission page.

You could also share your thoughts by completing a survey. We had one for tenants and landlords and one for occupants and grantors on the proposed reforms which affect them. Most questions required you to answer "yes" or "no" to proposed standards and changes, with an option for additional comments if you preferred to add them.

We also encouraged you to share comments using our quick comment tool. Members of the community could vote on your comment.

If you preferred to email us directly with your feedback, you could write to us at civilconsultation@act.gov.au.

In August 2023, National Cabinet agreed to the Better Deal for Renters reform package. That package included a commitment by each State and Territory to phase in minimum quality standards for rental properties. The ACT is now considering how best to implement this commitment.

Other jurisdictions in Australia (except for Western Australia and the Northern Territory) already have a list of minimum standards that rental properties must meet.

Under ACT tenancy laws, rental properties are already required to be fit for habitation, reasonably clean, in a reasonable state of repair and reasonably secure. However, because these rules are so general, they may be applied in a subjective and inconsistent manner.

Introducing minimum standards for rental properties would help to ensure rental properties meet prevailing community standards and provide basic levels of safety, security amenity and hygiene to tenants. Minimum standards set clearer expectations for landlords, agents and tenants by establishing a baseline for what constitutes a ‘habitable’ standard.

Introducing a set of minimum standards for rental properties will bring the ACT into line with other jurisdictions and allow the ACT to meet its commitment, through National Cabinet, to the Better Deal for Renters reform package.

Together with the reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to introduce minimum rental standards and other property conditions, the ACT Government is also seeking feedback on how the existing 'Occupancy Principles' laws can be improved. These principals, set minimum conditions around when occupancy agreements can be used, how they can operate and when they will end. Stronger occupancy laws will offer better protections for occupants in the ACT.

Your feedback will help us decide which minimum standards for rental properties and other required property conditions are introduced in the ACT, as well as what changes need to be made to existing occupancy laws.