The following residents of the ACT draw the attention of the Assembly to the need for a Rental Ombudsman for the ACT. Current ACT law provides strong tenancy regulation that aims to protect tenants from predatory landlords and enforce their right to safe, stable enjoyment of their homes, while also protecting landlords from unreasonable tenants. However, the cost of enforcing these rights through the ACAT, is time and money, is often unrealistic, and navigating the system can be stressful and difficult, particularly for vulnerable Canberrans or those from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
Further, there are no strong mechanisms to investigate and correct systemic misbehaviour by landlords and agents, or to redress wrongs that happen outside the term of a lease, such as those relating to advertising properties, inspections, the tenancy application process, tenancy databases, or events after the lease has concluded.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call on the ACT Government to create a Rental Ombudsman to address tenancy disputes and oversee the residential tenancy market in the ACT. The Ombudsman should have the power to:
- advise tenants, lessors and agents on their rights and responsibilities, directly and through the publication of advice material;
- mediate disputes between landlords, agents and tenants;
- advocate on behalf of tenants;
- open investigations of their own motion into landlords, agents, or systemic issues in the residential tenancy market;
- issue orders to landlords, agents and tenants requiring compliance with legislation, and issue fines or other punishments for non-compliance; refer agents for disciplinary action under the Agents Act 2003;
- collect data and statistics in relation to the residential tenancy market and publish reports based on that data; and
- make recommendations to government on the operation and governance of the residential tenancy market.