As part of its mission to solve the housing crisis in NSW, the government has just introduced a rental increase cap, meaning that rent prices can only be increased once per year. That means that from now on, if your rent goes up, it can’t be increased again for another 12 months. Look, we get that once a year is bad enough, but we'll take it.
The new rent increase regulations were introduced on October 15, 2024, and apply to fixed-term leases. The cap has been introduced as part of a comprehensive overhaul of rental laws, which are expected to benefit more than 2.2 million renters across the state. Prior to this law, tenants with fixed-term leases of less than two years weren’t protected against multiple rent increases.
“Ensuring renters can only be hit with one rent increase a year will provide greater certainty and protection for renters regardless of whether their lease type changes,” says Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong.
The overhaul also includes an end to ‘no ground evictions’ (meaning tenants can’t be evicted without reasonable and sensible reasons to end a fixed-term or periodic lease), guaranteed free payment methods for renters (paying of rent sometimes incurs additional costs – FFS – but, from now on, rent will need to be payed via free methods like bank transfers), and guaranteed free background checks (currently some tenants have to pay for background checks when applying for properties).
The NSW government has also promised they’ll make it easier for tenants to keep pets in rental properties – excellent news for dog lovers. From now on, landlords will need to respond to a pet application within 21 days, with only certain grounds (such as the property being unsuitable for animals or the landlord living at the same property) being valid reasons for refusal.
These changes were introduced in response to discussions with renter advocates, industry stakeholders and tenancy experts, as well as a ‘Have Your Say’ public consultation which received more than 16,000 submissions and survey responses.
“We are now one step closer to a fairer and more affordable rental market in NSW,” says Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong. We'll believe it when we see it.
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