New report calls for permanent hardship protections for south west Sydney renters

Especially those living in south-west Sydney, who experienced harsher lockdown restrictions than the rest of the state.

However, transitional provisions to support tenants and landlords following the 2021 Eviction Moratorium ended earlier this month.

As these emergency protections fall away, a new report from the Tenants' Union of NSW has found NSW tenancy laws weren't up to the job of supporting renters still struggling as a result of the crisis.

The union's policy and advocacy manager Jemima Mowbray said the organisation's south-west Sydney support service had noted an increase in 'no grounds' evictions over the past few years.

"There is a tight market in south-west Sydney," she said.

"Areas like Campbelltown, Liverpool and Fairfield never saw the trend of more properties becoming available like we did in the eastern suburbs.

"The vacancy rate is low in south-west Sydney at the best of times, but it dropped to 1-2 per cent and it has continued to stay around that mark.

"That is also then reflected in the average rental price in the south west which has risen by five per cent in the past year."

Ms Mowbray said some landlords were using 'no grounds' eviction to ensure they got market value.

"Rather than sitting down with the renting household and trying to come up with a solution, we are seeing an over-reliance on 'no grounds' eviction," she said.

"We are getting to comfortable asking people to move when it is sometimes unnecessary."

The union's report found that renting households in NSW faced basic costs of $2520 when they moved, but were more likely to face costs of around $4075.

Several of the report's key recommendations include:

The union's chief executive Leo Patterson Ross says the fact that emergency measures were needed during the height of the pandemic demonstrated that the NSW renting system as it stands is not able to respond.

"Life crises like losing a job, family breakdown, death in the family, illness or injury impact renting households every day, and can cause significant hardship," he said.

"We know early intervention and support can reduce and prevent that hardship, saving the government thousands more in costly programs and avoiding social housing waiting list blowouts.

"Sometimes, all we need is a break for a short period to avoid years of debt and poverty. We need a NSW renting system that is crisis-resilient, that can protect and support renters through the life crises that can hit at any time."

The report put forward two possible models for mitigating the costs or losses that a landlord may face in circumstances where a hardship rent variation is applied.

These were mandatory landlord insurance and the establishment of a hardship relief fund financed through the introduction of a residential landlord rental bond scheme.

It also called to replace 'no grounds' eviction provisions with a range of "specified reasonable grounds for ending a tenancy".

The report recommends that the landlord should also compensate moving costs where a renting household is evicted for reasons other than a breach of their rental agreement.

"We don't want to see landlords in hardship - we want everyone to have access to affordable housing," Ms Mowbray said.

"The landlord bond would work in a similar way to the same bond their tenants would pay, usually four weeks' rent, so that it can be used to fund a hardship fund for landlords.

"We want to create a win-win situation for everyone involved."