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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is Sandra Otto, the

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Speaker 1: commissioner at the Northern Territory Consumer Affairs. Good morning to you, Sandy.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. How are you very well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning, and

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Speaker 1: sorry to keep you waiting.

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Speaker 2: That's okay, now we have been we've.

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Speaker 1: Been receiving quite a few messages and calls in recent

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Speaker 1: weeks about people Territory and is pretty concerned about their

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Speaker 1: rents going up significant amounts of money and in some cases,

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Speaker 1: obviously you know they're staying in those locations, but those

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Speaker 1: rents are going up, in some cases a couple of

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars a fortnite, Sandy, is this something that is

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Speaker 1: being raised with the with you guys at the.

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Speaker 2: Moment, Yeah, Katie. We've had a significant increase in calls

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Speaker 2: to do with rent increases, particularly when landlords are demanding

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Speaker 2: that tenants get out of their property. Some landlords have

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Speaker 2: been unreasonable, but there's within the Residential Tennessee Actors time

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Speaker 2: frames that people need to be aware of. And if

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Speaker 2: you think the landlord's been unreasonable in any request, just

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Speaker 2: ask them to give give us a call and we

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Speaker 2: can walk them through that.

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Speaker 1: Sandy, when you say that there has been an increase

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Speaker 1: in the number of calls that Consumer Affairs are receiving,

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Speaker 1: do we have a ballpark idea?

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Speaker 2: Well, for example, I know the figures from last year,

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Speaker 2: we had about a fifty three percent of all our

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Speaker 2: calls that were to do with residential tenancies. This year

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Speaker 2: was fifty six percent, So it has jumped up significantly,

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Speaker 2: and we sort of find the increase in calls. You know,

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Speaker 2: when the rental market titans, people want to be able

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Speaker 2: to stay in their homes and sometimes they just simply

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Speaker 2: can't afford it if the landlord increases the rent significantly.

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Speaker 2: In those sort of cases, I sort of sort of

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Speaker 2: say to the tenants that they should be negotiating with

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Speaker 2: their landlord, and the landlord needs to look at what

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Speaker 2: the tenants are like. If they're really really good tenants,

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Speaker 2: will you know, sort of make sense to try and

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Speaker 2: keep them there. And if they do have to increase

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Speaker 2: the rent for whatever reasons, make sure it's a reasonable amount,

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Speaker 2: not something that's impractical for people to pay.

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Speaker 1: And Sandy, it's such a tough one. I know that

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Speaker 1: you know that yesterday David had emailed us and said,

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Speaker 1: we're like so many other families who are renting. We're

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Speaker 1: going to be rewarded for being great tenants with an

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Speaker 1: increase of one hundred and thirty dollars per week. Apparently

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Speaker 1: that's how you reward tenants for looking after your rental.

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Speaker 1: And you know, that's just a sentiment of one person yesterday.

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Speaker 1: I know that this is something that we're hearing a

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Speaker 1: lot of. By the sounds of it, it's something that

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Speaker 1: you're hearing quite a bit of. But what are people's

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Speaker 1: rights and what can they actually do if they are

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Speaker 1: in one of these scenarios.

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Speaker 2: The landlord cannot raise your rent. So you've got a

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Speaker 2: fixed turn tenancy for twelve months, and you know, in

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Speaker 2: four months from the tenancy starting, the landlord wants to

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Speaker 2: increase the rent. They cannot do that unless there's action

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Speaker 2: in their tenancy lease that allows them to do that.

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Speaker 2: And if they do, it needs to be a dollar

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Speaker 2: amount or some calculation as to the rent increase, and

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Speaker 2: it can only be after six months and they must

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Speaker 2: be given thirty days notice. So there are some limitations

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Speaker 2: in there. And we've been hearing of tenants just saying, well,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to have landlords saying that they're just going

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Speaker 2: to put the rent up. They can't do that. It

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Speaker 2: needs to be within the confines of the lease.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously that lease has has got those terms

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Speaker 1: in place and also a period of time that those

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Speaker 1: terms are in place for. If somebody out there listening

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Speaker 1: this morning is thinking to themselves, we'll hang on my

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Speaker 1: landlord is trying to do just that, what are their

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Speaker 1: best options?

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Speaker 2: Just ask them to have a talk to the landlord,

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Speaker 2: get on to read their lease and if they're not sure,

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Speaker 2: if the clawn on one eight hundred nine three one nine,

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Speaker 2: and we'll be able to walk it through with them.

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Speaker 2: But the other thing is we've also been hearing about

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Speaker 2: landlord not giving enough notice at the end of the tenancy.

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Speaker 2: If they want to allow us the tenant to leave,

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Speaker 2: it needs to be sixty days at the moment, and

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Speaker 2: that's in line with the current health emergency period. It

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Speaker 2: needs to be fourteen days for periodical and forty two

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Speaker 2: days for a fixed term. But that needs to be

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Speaker 2: looked at as well. And what we're seeing is people

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Speaker 2: are only giving a couple of days notice and saying

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Speaker 2: we want you out, We're going to increase the rent.

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Speaker 2: If you want to stay, you have to pay that

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Speaker 2: amount and they just need to be reasonable. And I'm

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Speaker 2: just asking tenants to give us a call.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think is totally fair enough. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this idea of same house, no improvements. Does that sort

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Speaker 1: of factor in at all in terms of how much

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Speaker 1: a landlord can raise the rent as well?

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Speaker 2: I think some landlords just look at what's happening in

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Speaker 2: the market, and I think they can increase the prices

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Speaker 2: like that. There is a provision in the Act for

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Speaker 2: excessive rent, but that needs to be within a current

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Speaker 2: lease and that is determined by the of the Territary

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Speaker 2: Civil and Administrative Tribunal. So that is an avenue for

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Speaker 2: some people. And I don't know how they calculate that

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Speaker 2: or look at that, but that may be an avenue

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Speaker 2: for some people. And I guess what in circumstances like

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Speaker 2: that that look at the market rented at that time,

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Speaker 2: and I know it has gone up. I do know

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Speaker 2: that the vacancy rate has increased a little bit. So

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Speaker 2: it was zero point four percent vacancy rate in June

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Speaker 2: and now it's up two point seven. So there may

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Speaker 2: be a few more properties on the market that are

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Speaker 2: available at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And that certainly gives those rents a few more options.

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Speaker 1: And I totally understand. You know, I am someone who's

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Speaker 1: fortunate enough to have an investment property, and I am

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Speaker 1: totally I totally understand there's in some cases, you know,

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Speaker 1: landlords do want to just make sure that they're getting

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Speaker 1: a fair rental price for their property. But in other cases,

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Speaker 1: you think, wow, this is a bit ridiculous, particularly if

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Speaker 1: you've got someone who's been a great tenant, you know,

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Speaker 1: over quite a long period of time.

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Speaker 2: And that's exactly right, and landlords need to look at

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Speaker 2: the fact that if a tenant can't pay their rent,

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Speaker 2: that they might be in a situation where where there's

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Speaker 2: a lease break, and if the vacancy continues to rise,

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Speaker 2: well there's more properties on the market. It may take

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Speaker 2: longer for the land or to actually get someone in

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Speaker 2: that's willing to pay the price they're asking.

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Speaker 1: And I mean, is it a hope for you that

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Speaker 1: you know, realistically, that you know that people are just

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Speaker 1: doing the right thing, that landlords will just do the

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Speaker 1: right thing and not be greedy.

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Speaker 2: We've heard a lot of stories from both sides. There

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Speaker 2: are tenants out there that have said that their landlord's

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Speaker 2: been quite reasonable and in generally in those cases the

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Speaker 2: tenants are good tenants. And you know, on the opposite side,

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Speaker 2: we hear some landlords that have been totally unreasonable. And

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Speaker 2: what we're sort of saying to people again is, you know,

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Speaker 2: if you've got a good tenant, look after him, and

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Speaker 2: I'm sure they'll look after you as well and look

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Speaker 2: after your property.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Sandy, where should people head to if they are

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Speaker 1: after a little bit more information from consumer affairs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got some significant information on our website and

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Speaker 2: at the owned with the COVID nineteen there are some

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Speaker 2: moderic modifications to the Rental Act and on our homepage

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Speaker 2: it simply says COVID nineteen information businesses and consumers. Just

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Speaker 2: click on one of the quick links there that reverge

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Speaker 2: the rental changes and that can be found on our

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Speaker 2: website at Northern Turgy Consumer Affairs.

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Speaker 1: Well, Sandy Auto, the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you