Victoria tribunals ruling landlords who end tenancies without giving a reason

ABC NEWS (Australia)

In some parts of Australia, landlords can end a tenancy without giving a reason. In other jurisdictions, like Victoria that's not the case and sometimes, Victorian tribunals even rule against landlords who have a good reason to end a tenancy.

Transcript

00:00The most landlord-friendly jurisdictions in Australia are WA and the Northern Territory,

00:07which both allow for no-grounds evictions.

00:10Moving along the spectrum, New South Wales is committed to removing no-grounds evictions

00:15and a draft bill is expected to be made public and come before Parliament later this month.

00:21Moving along further along the spectrum, you've got South Australia and the ACT, which for

00:25some time now have removed no-grounds evictions.

00:30And at the far end of the spectrum, the most tenant-friendly jurisdiction in the country

00:35is Victoria.

00:36And since 2021, it's removed no-grounds evictions.

00:40But even if a landlord does have a good reason to end a tenancy, for instance, they want

00:48to sell a property, they want to renovate a property, the landlord themselves wants

00:52to move into the property, or they want a close family member to move into the property.

00:57In Victoria, decision-makers will still apply a reasonable and proportionate test.

01:02In other words, they will look at the relative needs and positions of the landlord and the

01:08tenant.

01:10So there was a recent test case on this, wasn't there?

01:13How did that play out?

01:15It was a very interesting case, and there have been actually now a number, but it's

01:19perhaps the most interesting and illuminating of a bunch, or a number of different cases

01:24which have come before the tribunals recently in Victoria.

01:27And it involved a disability pensioner and her 17-year-old son.

01:33The 17-year-old son is studying Year 12, and they receive a notice to vacate.

01:40And at that point, the mum tries to get an alternative rental accommodation.

01:45She applies for something like 200 rental properties.

01:49She's very unsuccessful.

01:52This family is facing the prospect of homelessness.

01:56But on the other hand, the landlord has a legitimate, valid reason for wanting to end

02:03the tenancy.

02:05She wants her father to move into the property.

02:08He's a man who's a plasterer, who has impaired lung capacity.

02:11He's only able to work a few days a week.

02:13And because of the impaired lung capacity, he also wants to live alone because of risk

02:19of infection.

02:20So good reason, valid reason, for the landlord to end the tenancy.

02:26So what happens?

02:27It goes to the tribunal, and they apply the reasonable and proportionate test.

02:32And they rule that, well, the relative needs of both are assessed, and they decide to rule

02:37in favour of the existing tenant, and not allow the notice to vacate, to proceed.

02:44And so the tenant stays in the property.

02:47And have there been other cases where this test was used?

02:49Yeah, there've been a number of very interesting cases.

02:53There was another one where the landlord himself was unable to live with his family, and therefore

03:01was now couch surfing, living in a car, living in a hotel.

03:06And he was effectively homeless.

03:08He wants to move into his investment property.

03:11But the tribunal rules against him, because on the other end of the ledger, the tenant

03:16is a very vulnerable family, where you've got a grandma, her daughter who has a brain

03:21injury, and some of her children who are living on the autism spectrum.

03:28And it was clear that if these people were evicted from the property, they really would

03:32be running the risk of homelessness.

03:35But having said that, I'm told that the cases don't always go in favour of the tenant.

03:42There was a landlord who was very, very ill and needed to get their affairs, their financial

03:46affairs in order.

03:48And even though the tenant had vulnerabilities, the tribunal said, look, applying this reasonable

03:54and proportionate test, we're going to allow you to proceed with your notice to vacate.

04:01So it's a very interesting, unique test, and other places all around the country are

04:06looking at what is happening in Victoria with enormous interest.

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