Installing modifications

1. Status quo + Education

No change is made to Queensland’s laws. Renters need the rental property owner’s permission to change the rental property and this consent cannot be unreasonably withheld.

Education

Developing resources and education materials could help renters and rental property owners to negotiate and agree what changes a renter may make to the rental property. These materials could provide information about what may be considered a safety, security or accessibility change or when withholding permission may be reasonable or unreasonable.

Resources and education material may also highlight the benefits of installing safety, security and accessibility measures for renters, including for example expanding the pool of prospective renters for the rental property, the tendency for some vulnerable renters to prefer longer leases, and improved asset value.

Additional information resources can be developed to direct renters to specialist support organisations, potential funding sources and rental law experts to help them exercise their rights.

2. Guide discretion

Amend Queensland’s rental laws to provide more guidance to support renters and rental property owners to agree changes that can be made to the rental property.

Renters would continue to require rental property owner permission to make changes.

Rental property owners could only refuse safety, security, and accessibility changes on prescribed reasonable grounds. Renters would need to provide evidence to support their need for safety, security or accessibility measures to be installed. In addition, as these measures are likely to modify a surface or interact with the structure of the property and require a level of skill or expertise to be installed effectively and ensure user safety, they should be installed by a qualified person. Reasonable grounds for refusal could include that:

• the measures required could not be safely installed at the rental property
• installing the measure would breach a law or by-law
• installing the measure would require change to be made to other residential properties or common
• property in managed communities
• installing the measure would jeopardise the license of the provider to operate rooming
• accommodation and/or the safety of other renters in the rooming accommodation, and
• the property owner will allow an alternative way of achieving the desired outcome that meets the
• renter’s requirements.

Renters must return the rental property to substantially the same condition as before the change was made to the extent it is reasonably practicable to do so unless the rental property owner agrees to retain the change as an improvement to the rental property. If the change is retained the parties may agree an amount the renter will receive from the rental property owner as compensation for the improvement to the rental property.

Renters would continue to be liable for the costs to repair any damage caused to the property when installing or removing a modification.

3. Limit discretion

Amend Queensland’s rental laws to specify changes a renter can make that do not require the rental property owner’s permission and require a rental property owner to seek an order from a Tribunal to prevent the change being made.

Renters must notify rental property owners of their intention to make a specified change at least 14 days before the change is made. Rental property owners must inform the renter of their intention to seek a Tribunal order to prevent the change from being made within 14 days of receiving the renters’ notification. Rental property owners must apply to the Tribunal for the order within 28 days of notifying the renter of their intention to do so. If the rental property owner fails to apply for the order within this period, the renter may proceed to make the change.

Changes that do not require rental property owner permission to make would be stated in a Regulation and could include:

• accessibility changes determined by an occupational therapist or other specified practitioner as necessary
• security measures that are necessary to ensure the safety of a renter who has or is experiencing domestic and family violence, such as security screens, deadlatches and wireless, removable outdoor security cameras
• securing furniture to a non-tiled wall for safety reasons
• fitting a childproof latch to an outdoor gate
• installing child safety gates inside the property
• installing window safety devices for child safety, and
• installing hand-held shower heads or lever-style taps.

Renters must return the rental property to substantially the same condition as before the change was made to the extent it is reasonably practicable to do so unless the rental property owner agrees to retain the change as an improvement to the rental property. If the change is retained the parties may agree an amount the renter will receive from the rental property owner as compensation for the improvement to the rental property.

Renters would continue to be liable for the costs to repair any damage caused to the property when installing or removing a modification.