New Minimum Housing Standards in QLD from September 2023
In Queensland, the next phase of tenancy law reforms in the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 and Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2009 comes into effect from September 2023. This will see the introduction of minimum housing standards for rental properties in Queensland.
The new standards will apply for all new tenancy agreements from September 2023 and for all tenancies from September 2024.
What are the benefits of the new standards?
The new minimum housing standards will benefit both landlords and tenants. For landlords, providing high-quality rental accommodation can help attract and retain tenants, and reduce vacancy rates as well and ensuring the property is well cared for and enhancing it’s longevity and growth potential. For tenants, the standards will ensure that their rental accommodation is safe, healthy and functional, and improve their quality of life.
What are the new minimum housing standards?
The new minimum housing standards for rental properties in Brisbane include the following:
- Adequate ventilation: All habitable rooms must have adequate ventilation to prevent the buildup of moisture.
- Adequate lighting: All habitable rooms must have adequate natural or artificial lighting to enable activities to be carried out safely and easily.
- Safety switches: All electrical circuits must be protected by a safety switch.
- Functional and safe bathroom facilities: All rental properties must have functional and safe bathroom facilities.
- Adequate kitchen facilities: All rental properties must have adequate kitchen facilities, including a sink with hot and cold running water, and a stove and oven in good working order and condition.
- Effective sound insulation: Walls and floors must provide effective sound insulation between dwellings and between rooms within a dwelling.
How will the new standards be enforced?
Failure to maintain these minimum standards will open the lessor to potential action from the tenant, who may issue a breach notice and potentially take action via QCAT which may include vacating the premises or seeking a repair order obligating the lessor to comply.
Read more
You can read more about the new minimum housing standards here.
Nothing regarding insulation for more efficient heating and cooling of a house.This is a fibro rental with no insulation, not even in the roof and it gets to 42 degrees in summer inside the house. Cant run the air-conditioner because its too expensive to waste the energy going out of the house, because there’s no insulation and the fans barely do anything except stir hot air. The rent is $510 per week!!! It’s a killer house and the landlord ought to be ashamed of themselves for not providing such a basic requirement.
Yes, that’s a tough one for you. These most recent minimum housing standards are a good start but there will be some houses that may need more than that to ensure comfort. Thanks for your insight.
Contact tenants qld. They’ve told us insulation is meant to be installed in roofs now. We pay $600 a week and we’re never advised no insulation. We were also given the impression that there would be a/c installed but that never happened and they’ve now declined. Living with a newborn baby the owners of this property are roiting us. Can guarantee they would not live without air con.