Brisbane renters fall through the loop due to lack of guidelines, basic living standards needed

    by: Sherine Conyers
    From: Quest Newspapers
    May 23, 2012


STANDARDS: Queensland Shelter executive officer Adrian Pisarski is concerned about overcrowding and poor accommodation options. Source: The Courier-Mail

THE rental situation has become so dire people are renting chicken pens and garages just to maintain shelter according to accommodation support groups.

Rose Brown from the Tenants Union said more must be done to get compliance standards in place to protect tenants.

She said overcrowding, mould issues and getting repairs to property were just some of the challenges for tenants too scared to `rock the boat' for fear of retribution from landlords.   

"Market forces don't offer any protection,'' she said.

"There really is a place for more affordable housing and some kind of regulation around standards.''

Queensland Shelter executive officer Adrian Pisarski said he'd seen one couple rent out a chook pen in desperation.     

"It's outrageous really.   

"It was in a mining region where there was really nothing to rent and they were low income folks and that was about the only thing they could find,'' he said.


Around Brisbane, poorly maintained property, illegal boarding houses and people living in garages are becoming the norm as more and more people were priced out of the rental market, he said.   

"I've heard reports of many students renting overcrowded properties that aren't properly registered as boarding houses but operating as boarding house.

"Low income people can't compete,'' he said.   

According to the Rental Tenancies Authority, whether a dwelling such as a garage is suitable for someone to live in is a matter for the local council, which administers building regulations and local health and safety laws.

Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) General Manager Fergus Smith said both tenants and landlords had obligations the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act (2008).

"The Act does not set standards for compliance, it sets general requirements about the condition of the property,'' he said.

A spokesperson for Brisbane City Council said in 2009, council amended its House Code ruling that no more than five unrelated persons can legally reside in the same house.

"Garages and sheds are not considered habitable dwellings and need to be converted to operate as such.

"This requires building approval and may need planning approval from Council.

"Council takes breaches of health, safety and local amenity law seriously and investigates any complaints received.

But Mr Pisarski said frustrated home owners "renting down'' had left low-income earners with significantly less accommodation options.       

"Properties that are at the lower-end of the market tend to be occupied, not by low income folk, but by people who could actually probably afford to pay a reasonable bit more.

"The real problem is supply and we still have not done enough to make sufficient supply particularly at the lower end of the market,'' he said.   

If you want cheaper housing it means getting rid of negative gearing and the introduction of a  government program to build housing.

Who's game to take on the greedy landlords?

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on May 23^rd, 2012 at 9:23am:


What about the starving landlords? You know not all landlords are greedy and not all ppl that are negative gearing can do anything about it. Some (prolly a lot) of ppl have had to move out of their homes and pay rent somewhere while renting their home out to pay the mortgage while they try to sell which they cant because nobody is buying.

What exactly is the problem with negative gearing?

SOB

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on May 23^rd, 2012 at 9:23am:


Have you tried to build a home lately?  The 5 star ratings and the rest, its not cheap.  Cost of materials keeps going up and builders are undercutting each other just to get the work.

Land banking is the biggest issue.

Verge wrote on May 23^rd, 2012 at 9:45am:


Don't build a new house then, buy one that's already built, an older one preferably, that was built to last.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on May 23^rd, 2012 at 12:02pm:


If it's in the same market, it will be affected by the prices. The price is dictated by the marginal cost of supply, not the total cost. Everyone who seeks out an older house to avoid the regulations also pushes up the price of those older houses. The price difference comes to reflect only the difference in what people are willing to pay, not the difference in the original cost of building it.

Regarding house prices everyone should watch dick smith's documentary on population growth. It seems that property developers are behind population growth so they can flog their over inflated properties to desperate people

Again the property parasites get their way at the expense of the rest of us !!

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on May 23^rd, 2012 at 1:12pm:


if it was only applied to new houses it would force people to invest in building new joints instead of flipping old joints and creating nothing new except scarcity and a bigger bubble

if it's capitalism then why the corporate welfare and tax breaks for property developers and speculators ?? Let the market take car of itself with NO concessions for anyone