Significant changes to the residential tenancy legislation in Queensland and will become law on 1 October 2022.
Significant changes to the residential tenancy legislation in Queensland and will become law from 1 October 2022.. So, what does this mean for your PM software?
In light of the legislation changes coming into effect for Queensland, we would love to share with you OurPropertys plans for accommodating these new processes. The REIQ has written an explanatory article on what you need to know on the new rental reforms which can be read here, or you can watch the short RTA webinar here.
OurProperty Changes
- Minimum Housing Standards
OurProperty has already implement the ability to add minimum housing standards information directly into the Client Hub. We are also including three other areas where min. housing standards can be completed:
- From NBSU (managing agency agreements) – These can be completed by the PM or Landlord when the agreement is completed and signed. On signature this will update the Min Standards details for the property.
- From inspections – This will be updated to be a requirement to complete an ECR and can also be updated from Routines if needed but will not be a requirement to complete the Routine. This will also update the min standard on the property
- From leases – Before the lease can be signed by the tenant, the Landlord will need to complete the Min standards checklist. This will update the min standard details on the property.
2. Ending a Tenancy
Ending a tenancy without grounds will no longer be accepted from October 1, 2022. To accommodate this reform, when a lease end date is passed the option to end the tenancy without grounds will not be available for selection when issuing the NTL from OurProperty Leases. The tenancy will be considered as periodic, and the NTL will show valid reasons for ending a periodic tenancy only.
All other reasons now valid for ending a fixed term tenancy will be updated to our existing NTL settings structure which is designed to provide complete flexibility for every reason and condition. You can learn more on the OurProperty NTL settings here.
3. NTL for unsigned lease renewal
From our discussions with various agencies on this new reform, OurProperty will be implementing an agency-based setting in the Lease component to provide options for how you would like to best manage this process. The setting will include the following options to select from:
- Send NTL on lease offer
- Create a task for the PM to send the NTL for end of fixed term lease at either 7, 14, 21, or 28 days after lease offer has been sent.
- None (issue no NTL on lease offer or via PM task)
It is important Property Managers effectively manage their lease To Do tasks, to ensure any NTL’s are sent as required.
4. ECR Return
As of 1st October 2022, the ECR return timeframe will be updated to 7 days. OurProperty will implement this across all QLD agencies and will be applied to all new Entry Condition Reports being sent from the OP inspections component.
5. Pets
The OurProperty Tenancy Application form already includes specific questions for pet approval. The RTA will be releasing a new Pet Request form and as soon as this is available, we will set to duplicate the form into OurProperty to be issued directly from the Client Hub. Pet approval or decline will still be managed between the owner and property manager, with negotiations in line with the new reforms on when a pet application can be rejected.
We hope this update has been informative and correlates with your agencies processes on how the new legislation changes will be handled. Should you have any questions on OurProperty’s accommodations, please contact your Account Manager.
