Marrickville Legal Centre Tenants’ Advocates provide a brief summary of the eviction moratorium announced by the NSW Government. A more detailed update will be posted following the publication of the Regulations implementing the moratorium on 15 April 2020.
Emergency measures to protect tenants
Over the weekend the NSW Government announced emergency measures to protect tenants experiencing hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. NSW Fair Trading has provided some information about the measures and who they will apply to.
The Regulations to implement the emergency measures have not yet been published* so precise details of the measures are still to come, particularly those preventing evictions for reasons other than rent arrears and protecting tenants from listing on a tenancy database.
However, from the information provided on the website of NSW Fair Trading it appears that:
- There is protection from eviction for households who have lost 25% or more of their income due to COVID-19 (inclusive of any Government assistance).
- There is a requirement for landlords and tenants to try and negotiate rent reductions or deferrals, but no requirement for a landlord to agree to a reduction.
- NSW Fair Trading’s dispute resolution service can assist tenants and landlords to try and agree on a variation to the rent.
More information
The Tenants’ Union of NSW publishes regular updates on renting and COVID-19 and is an excellent source of reliable information.
You can call our service for advice on 02 9559 2899 or submit a web enquiry for the Inner West and Northern Sydney tenancy services. We are experiencing a high level of demand at the moment but we will contact you as quickly as we can.
Further information from the NSW state government is available here.
Marrickville Legal Centre’s tenancy services will provide a further detailed update following the publication of the Regulations implementing the moratorium on 15 April 2020.
*Regulations have been published on 15 April 2020 after this Marrickville Legal Centre article was published.
