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Speaker 1: Well, if you have been listening this morning, you would

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Speaker 1: have heard that we've been talking about housing in a

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Speaker 1: different sort of capacity. Of course, with that development at

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Speaker 1: lead point, but I think that most Territorians understand that

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Speaker 1: the struggle for many is real when it comes to housing,

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Speaker 1: particularly the current rental situation, and with nearly half of

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Speaker 1: people in the Northern Territory renting, some believe that our

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Speaker 1: current tenancy laws are failing renters across the Northern Territory. Now,

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Speaker 1: in April this year, the Prime Minister Anthony alban Easy

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Speaker 1: detailed a plan in the National Cabinet to strengthen the

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Speaker 1: rights of renters across the country. Housing ministers from each

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Speaker 1: state and territory are going to be tasked with developing

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Speaker 1: proposals for National Cabinet. Now joining me on the Law

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Speaker 1: on the line to talk more about this from the

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Speaker 1: Darwin Community Legal Service, well I have got the Tenants

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Speaker 1: Advice Solicitor Al Cabrey.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, ol.

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Speaker 3: Good morning here you are, yeah, really.

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Speaker 2: Good, Thank you so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Our from a legal person. Do you get a lot.

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Speaker 1: Of people making contact with you guys about their rights

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Speaker 1: as renters?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely on a daily basis. In fact, we've got people

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Speaker 3: waiting for course back at the moment. Actually, in regard

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Speaker 3: to various tendency issues, unfortunately, we see quite a few

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Speaker 3: trends in what people are experiencing, a lot of the

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Speaker 3: same stuff and a lot of really preventable issues. This

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Speaker 3: we think that could be addressed through strengthening tendency protections

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Speaker 3: in the territory.

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Speaker 2: What are some of those issues.

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Speaker 3: A chronic one is the lack of an independent bond board.

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Speaker 3: So the territory is the only jurisdiction in the country

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Speaker 3: without an independent bond board. So that means that a

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Speaker 3: tenant security deposit is held untrusted by the landlord or

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Speaker 3: real estate agent directly. In every other jurisdiction it's held

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Speaker 3: by an independent party or bond authority, and it basically

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Speaker 3: just shifts the onus away from the tenant having to

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Speaker 3: claim back their money onto the landlord. So in every

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Speaker 3: other jurisdiction there's a process that if at the end

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Speaker 3: of the tenancy there's a valid claim on the bond,

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Speaker 3: a landlord can submit that claim, Otherwise the money goes

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Speaker 3: to the tenant. In the territory, however, it's very discretionary

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Speaker 3: and it's up to the landlord or real estate agent

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Speaker 3: if they want to release it, because they're ultimately the

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Speaker 3: ones who hold the money. So we see bond issues constantly.

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Speaker 3: We're also are seeing more and more concerns regarding privacy

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Speaker 3: and people's information being shared. Rent bidding, the current rental

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Speaker 3: market in particular, people are just try and struggling, but

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Speaker 3: trying to find a place that they're offering more money,

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Speaker 3: and it's really disservicing people who aren't able to provide

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Speaker 3: that amount.

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Speaker 1: It's a tough market as well, isn't it. You know,

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Speaker 1: like there's a lot of demand for the rental properties

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Speaker 1: that come up, So the last thing you want is

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Speaker 1: that rent bidding. You know, you want, I guess, the

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Speaker 1: best possible, the best possible people moving in for the

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Speaker 1: right reasons.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we've been definitely seeing an uptick in

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Speaker 3: people who are coming through our service who are really

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Speaker 3: struggling to find alternative accommodations. So when if their tenancy

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Speaker 3: is ending and there's a increase proposed and they just

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Speaker 3: can't meet it and they have to move out, they're

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Speaker 3: really struggling to find somewhere else to go to. So

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Speaker 3: that's the very very consistent issue.

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Speaker 1: Now we know that the Prime Minister detailed the plan

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Speaker 1: in the National Cabinet. It's all aimed at strengthening the

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Speaker 1: rights of renters across the country. Housing ministers now from

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Speaker 1: each state and territory are going to be tasked with

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Speaker 1: developing proposals for national cabinet. What do you think needs

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Speaker 1: to be taken into account in the territory.

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Speaker 3: I think this is actually really good opportunity for the

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Speaker 3: territory to take stock or where we are and where

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Speaker 3: we've gotten to. The territory's definitely fallen further and further

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Speaker 3: behind across the years with other jurisdictions. New South Wales

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Speaker 3: as an Act recently have put some really progressive reforms

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Speaker 3: through and unfortunately we just haven't kept pace. So this

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Speaker 3: really is an opportunity for the territory to look around

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Speaker 3: and think, wow, this is pretty appalling. We need to

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Speaker 3: at least get into line with these other jurisdictions so

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Speaker 3: that rents in the territory have the same level of

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Speaker 3: rights across the rest of the country, if not improving

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Speaker 3: those rights even further.

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Speaker 1: And I suppose in the meantime, by the sounds of it,

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Speaker 1: the Darwin Community Legal Service. Well, you guys are doing

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Speaker 1: a bit of a work behind the scenes to try

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Speaker 1: and to get I guess, get a bit of a

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Speaker 1: bit of an idea of how renters are feeling.

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Speaker 2: You've got a survey that's about to get underway.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we do so. I called make Renting Fair

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Speaker 3: in the NT the survey's name, and it's also the

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Speaker 3: name of a campaign that we've just started to really

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Speaker 3: pressure the government or to put some ideas to the

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Speaker 3: government that you know, these reforms will be really well received.

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Speaker 3: Like you said earlier, almost half of the territory rent,

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Speaker 3: so we think this is a no brainer. And this

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Speaker 3: survey is really just intended to get the experiences of

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Speaker 3: renting the territory from renters themselves in order to inform

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Speaker 3: what we're advocating for and what the really key issues

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Speaker 3: of tenants across the territory.

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Speaker 1: Are sol How can people get involved If they're listening

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Speaker 1: this morning and they're thinking to themselves, well, I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: mind actually, you know, getting my point across so that

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Speaker 1: we can make things a little bit fairer.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, that'd be a really great thing. If anyone

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Speaker 3: is wanting to come forward or wanting just to complete

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Speaker 3: the survey. It's the best way of accessing it is

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Speaker 3: through Facebook or our website. There's a link to the

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Speaker 3: survey on those forums, the down Community Legal Service Facebook

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Speaker 3: page and also if tenants are wanting to get in

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Speaker 3: touch for advice some particular issues we're I'd like to

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Speaker 3: say that we're free legal service and we welcome anyone

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Speaker 3: in provided they're a tenant with an issue and we

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Speaker 3: can assist them as best we can.

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Speaker 1: All good stuff, Well, Tenants Advice Solicitor al Cabri. I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat to us.

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Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having on.

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Speaker 2: Thank you