good morning everybody hello and welcome to the rta's webinar on domestic and family violence provisions in queensland's tenancy laws my name is lynn smith i'm from the communication and education team and with me today is my colleague lauren thompson be here all right thanks lauren before we start we'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners on the land on which this webinar is being hosted today and also where you're joining us from and pay our respects to elders past present and emerging domestic and family violence is a sensitive issue and and it can impact couples or families the rta is committed to and continually improving the education and awareness of these provisions in the tencey laws and making sure that the queensland rental sector is informed today we want to make sure everybody is on the same page so to speak and we want to provide you with a scenario talk through the considerations from all sides of the situation and advise you where you can get more resources and if you have any questions we'll address them at the end please note we cannot provide you with legal advice and you are encouraged to seek your own independent advice to make informed decisions as usual our session is interactive so we do want to hear from you if you do have any questions or comments please pop them in the little chat function that's what you see on your screen in your toolbar um and at the end of the presentation we'll have a quick one minute survey for you to complete this is a great opportunity for you to provide us with feedback and more importantly to what tenancy topics you would like to know more about we will also be running some polls during the session which i'll get lauren to launch one now um so we know who's in our audience we're asking um two questions um what part of the sector do you belong to and also where are you located today so again two-part question um whether you're a property manager or owner or a tenant or community housing or provider and also to what area that you're actually joining us from and so far looks like most people seem to be in southeast queensland today so we're obviously still getting a little bit of wet feet um from all the rain that we've experienced this week and also too just like to acknowledge you that our promotion on today's topic was also shared amongst a lot of different organizations today so um if you are joining us for the first time we do welcome you okay lauren i might get you to share that poll so it does look like the majority of people attending today are property managers or agents and we also do have some community housing or support workers and again welcome to the people in north queensland who have also joined us um as well as our southeast queensland reps so i'll just stop sharing that thanks everybody okay so the queensland government passed the housing legislation amendment act 2021 and that commenced as of 20 october last year and this changes the provisions under the residential tenancies and roomie accommodation act it is a staged approach so the dfb provisions did start straight away and you could say that they're very similar to the previous covert 19 emergency response regulations the other areas of the changes were around the framework to negotiate renting with pets ending over tenancy provisions and also to a few other legislation tweaks including repair orders these will all start on 1 october 2022 the other major area relates to minimum housing standards and again you'll see the dates on your screen these are not going to start until next year over the next few months there will be a lot of education being delivered by the rta on the new laws and will also include the new regulations once they're released so please watch this space we hope to see you online for a session or maybe even at a face-to-face event so today's focus is on the dfe provisions only so i'm just going to summarize these and remember they do apply for general tendencies as well as the roomy accommodation so tennis experiencing domestic and family violence can end their interest in the tenancy they do need to give seven days notice and they do also need to pay for the rent for that seven day period they can request their bond contribution to be refunded if they have paid bond money and they're not liable for any re-letting costs or any damage that's caused by the domestic and fair family violence if they do decide to stay in the rental property they can change the locks without the owner's consent to ensure that they have safety um and i will actually step through that side of things shortly as well um please note though with roomy accommodation the changing of the box does not apply so it does not matter the co-tenant is the person committing the domestic and family violence or whether it is someone who may not reside of the property if the tenant needs to end their interest in the tenancy due to domestic and family violence they can do so and both the tenant and the manager owner will need to follow the process so the practical steps for the vacating tenant to start the process is first of all to issue a notice of ending tenancy interest or a neti form 20 to their property manager or their landlord they will also need to provide or show relevant evidence and that could include a protection order a police notice or a completed domestic and family violence report now the dfv report is available on the rta's website and can be completed by various health practitioners and support professionals as well as like a refuge or crisis worker a solicitor or even a social worker the notice needs to be in writing um but there's also an option there for the evidence so that can be in writing as well or the documentation may be just shown to the manager or the owner upon receiving the notice the property manager or the landlord needs to assess if they do not agree there is a step that they must follow and that involves applying to qcat within seven days to have the notice set aside and they also need to inform the vacating tenant that they don't accept it and that is their intention to apply an owner or manager can only assess the information being provided to make sure that it meets the requirements as set out on the legislation they're not judging whether the dfa has occurred or not remember if there's a gap in the evidence provided they could be looking for more information as what's outlined under the act if the dfv tenant who is vacating has claimed their portion of the bond then the property manager or the owner can also respond to a notice of claim and dispute the refund if they do not agree so the normal bond process you know so you're going to get a notice of claim that time frame applies and if the manager or the owner disputes it it's going to go through the rta's dispute resolution service first so if there are any remaining tenants um the next step is for their property manager or the owner to issue what we call continuing interest notice and that's needs to be issued to them between 7 to 14 days after the person experiencing the domestic and family violence interest in the tendency has ended so there is a strict timeline for this process that must be followed so as a property manager or owner you can ask the remaining tenants to top up the rental bond balance and they'll have a month to do that the new dfa sections do have penalty provisions attached so this is really important particularly for the non-compliance of confidentiality in this situation so again looking at the owners the managers out there and also their employees so just quickly to help understand that process this diagram explains each step from when the process starts and that's seven days notice and the rent cover for that seven day period is paid so that next step is that about that decision whether that notice is going to be accepted or rejected and again if it's accepted then the vacating the vacating tenant needs to be informed of the date um that the owner the manager is going to be informing the remaining tenants remember this cannot be this cannot occur until it's day 7 to 14 after the tenancy interest notice has expired can also just say here too because we do have a lot of property managers um in today's session too that it would be probably a best practice to make sure that you are confirming the vacating tenant has safely left the property um and just documenting that also too when you're informing them of the date that you've chosen to issue the notice of um to the remaining tenants and that's is that 10 are that seven to 14 days after the expiry that nettie noticed so just clarifying some further information on the domestic and family violence situation so any bond co-contributors are not issued a notice of claim so if there's been a claim on the bond um it's only the property manager or the owner that is issued that notice the claim to respond to so it's really important that the tenant bank okay uses that form for a the bond refund not the standard form for so that we can actually follow that process the vacating tenant can be held for other breaches if money is owed so if there's rent or a water bill that's outstanding they can also be liable for that it's very clear they're not liable for damages caused by the domestic family violence they're also not responsible for like a lease break re-letting fees or costs with regards to qcat and the bond processes so you can potentially have two processes running at the same time so if the manager or the owner has applied to qcat to have the notice set aside well that's an urgent application with qcam and also if there is a dispute on the bond refund well that's a non-urgent matter so if it's not resolved through the rta's dispute resolution process and it proceeds to qcat it's a non-urgent matter so keep in mind too if the rta does receive an order from qcat um and they and it says that the interest in the tendency is to continue then the vacating tenant is not eligible for the claim on the bond and will act accordingly so over to you lauren i might just get you to come in and just talk through the scenario that we're going to be using today yeah thanks lynn so we've got vicky and joe vicki and joe are co-tenants in a rental property which is managed by sarah vicki is experiencing domestic and family violence from another person who does not live at the rental property she wants to end her interest in the tenancy so lynn can you step us through each of these what is vicky responsible for what is she not responsible for and what about joe what might be some of his concerns and options he has especially if he's not aware of vicki's situation um and lastly are there any points for sarah keep in mind though we do know that each situation should be treated on a case-by-case basis and you aren't giving us legal advice thanks lauren okay let's look at vicki first so vicky needs to submit that notice and her evidence to sarah to start the process so that has to happen first remember vicky does need to pay that seven day rank um to cover the notice period um but also too big is not liable for the cost relating to ending the tenancy any relating costs she's also not responsible any goods left at the property and any damage caused by the domestic and family violence now i know that probably there are questions already as well as what we have heard we are hearing like who will pay for the domestic and family violence damage and can i just say there are a variety of options here so remember too that joe is a co-tenant so as co-tenants uh they're jointly observably reliable in the tenancy under tenancy laws so it states that the tenant is to return the property in the same condition it was in at the start this fair wearing t if it is damage that's not caused by the domestic and family violence then both vicky and joe can be liable but if joe is held liable or say someone else has caused damage to joe's possessions he could pursue the person who did the damage for compensation via a civil court or potentially what we also see may be the outcome is that the owner of the rental property claims damages by their landlords insurance the police could also be notified and the person who caused the damage may be charged with willful damage and the owner may seek compensation from there so as you can see it may not necessarily be australian answer and it does need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis remember the two that there may not be property damage and also that remember that the laws are put in place to allow the person experiencing domestic and family violence to leave quickly and safely but let's have a look now to also what vicky is responsible for so she still responds for any damage that's as i said outside that domestic and family violence and also if there's any outstanding water bills um or if there's rental rates then vicki will need to pay for that um as vicky is a bond contributor again submitting that form 4a to the rta to have her portion of the bond refunded and also too to help determine what is or what is not damaged vicky could write a letter to the agent outlining what she knows about the property condition we do know that there are tennessee advocacy groups that maybe assist with like a template letter or something like that but remember any steps that sarah may take must not occur until after vicky has safely left the property so now let's have a look at joe who is vicki's co-tenant flatmate in this situation let's say joe's not aware of vicki's personal situation but no says vicki's moved out taken her possessions in this scenario we are saying that joe is not the person committing dfe however remember this is our current scenario in other situations he may be sarah once she knows the situation um and ensures vicky has safely left she needs to issue joe with a continuing interest notice and remember this is not done until day is 7 to 14 after the expiry of vicki's seven days notice sarah has requested also that joe needs to top up the bond so as i said joe's the co-tenant jointly responsible for the tenancy so that means he's responsible for paying the full rent paying any bills like water bills or anything damages cleaning as per tenancy agreement but joe's concerns could be um he's aware of the situation now can he afford the full rent can he get a replacement tenant to help him with the rent if he is struggling with the rent could he talk to sarah about a payment plan until he sorts a few things out um if he wants to move out will sarah agree to a mutual agreement to end the tenancy without penalties or if it's been treated as a lease break how long would it take to find a replacement tenant and also he needs to know what will the costs be involved joe could also apply to cucat on the grounds of hardship if particularly financial hardship um to have that tenancy ended as well if he couldn't continue to stay so jay does have a few options to consider and i guess the big question is whether he is staying or going and this may depend on whether he can afford the place get someone else in to share the property with him again we're talking about a case-by-case scenario but this may also help understand what might be happening for joe so let's have a look now for the owner or the property manager side of things so sarah's the property manager in our scenario um she's received vicki's notice and has assessed it appropriately and does not reject it she also confirms that biggie has safely left the property and noticed that she's paid that seven days range as well for best practice she documents her conversation with vicki that she has left the property on next date but what does sarah need to be aware of she needs to make sure that she's following those strict time frames that's um put in the legislation and sarah also will need to respond to the notice of claim on the bond claim within the required time frame as well sarah should also be aware that look a lot of the dfe cases have a level of complexities involved so whether that's physical mental health issues serious safety concerns there may also be children involved and so probably in the back of sarah's mind should be considering you know what would happen if this is you know your sister your friend or even a relative be aware of joe's options and whether he can or cannot stay at the property uh is it in his best interest to be leaving can he get a replacement flat mate what does joe what are joe's options and just keep that in the back of your mind as well maintain the confidentially confidentiality and make sure that you are speaking with the owner of the property about the options for any of the dfe damages it's probably a good idea to do an inspection communicate with joe maybe you need to reach a mutual agreement to inspect the property particularly if it's less than three months since the last inspection because remember there are rules about inspections of the property it is in everyone's best interest to determine what if there is damage what is um dfe damage versus what is the normal damage so remember case by case this is not legal advice but we're just outlining some options for everyone to consider um in this situation so the dfe forms are all available on the rta's website and we do recommend that you familiarize yourself with these i'll just get lauren to put in a link to on our chat there where you can access these forms on our website but let's have a just a quick look at a different scenario here what happens if the tenant experience in domestic family violence is actually going to stay in the rental property so they can change the locks without the owner's permission and and that is to ensure their personal safety they will need to use a qualified locksmith or a tradie and they will also need to pay for those locks and when it's practical to do so they do need to provide a copy of the new keys to the owner or the manager so with this i just want to quickly flag with you one of the new sections and this is in relation to that if the tenants do change the locks because of domestic and family violence and they do give a key to an owner or manager then under the new section 2114 the owner must not give a key for a change lock to any person other than the tenant without the tenants agreement or a reasonable excuse and this one does come with penalty provisions as well so for property managers this may be something that you might need to be looking at flagging in your property management systems if there has been a change of keys for residents in room accommodation this is different for residents if they choose to remain they can ask the provider or the manager to change the lock to secure their room so we recently released a four new domestic and family advanced flowchart resources they are both covering general tenancies so your houses and your units as well as for roomy accommodation so your boarding houses and your purpose-built accommodation these are a great resource for property managers and also to to assist tenants to understand the process as such and what steps need to be taken so lauren i might just get you to put a link in there oh you already have fantastic um for the fly charts and yeah and make sure that look they are a great resource to make sure that you do have so just a reminder too if there's any further questions please um put them in the chat so to help everyone in the round sector there's a lot of resources on this topic uh lauren i'll get you to launch our last poll before we do head into the questions um if that's okay we've got one more poll to ask and this one is based on the information you've received today do you have a better understanding of the domestic and family violence provisions of the rental properties perfect so while that's going i might run through some of the items we've got on the screen there as lynn mentioned we do have a lot of resources available for domestic and family violence provisions i find it easiest just to go on our website type in domestic into the search bar and then the first hit there will take you to the right page but i have uh throughout this session put in some links uh in the chat so please go to the relevant pages there if you want to as well we also do have um some resources available the podcast and also webinars that we've done previously have uh covered uh domestic and family violence too so i'm just looking at our results which i'll share um and a fair few people there are comfortable with their knowledge level if you aren't though as i said we do have some of those additional resources that you might like to view um and and go to as well so i'll just get lynn to tab over to our next slide for me and uh the first point they are does cover our e-newsletter you've probably already signed up and that's how you found out about today's webinar but if maybe some of your colleagues or your friends haven't signed up please get them to so they can come to these webinars and they can learn uh just like you are and so lynn what questions have come in what answers do you have for us thanks got quite a few questions coming in so we'll just see we've got some time so we should be right um okay so we do have a question in relation to with the boundary fund what if they have rent out standing for water and a valid question thanks colleen if there is money that's outstanding as i said before so if there is a claim on the portion of the bond um then and there's money outstanding then you can dispute that so again we're not saying that if there's a renter ears or water bills outstanding that the tenant backhanding is not held liable for them they are they can be held liable so that you could turn around and do a claim on the portion of the bottle respond to the um claim for that portion and be saying that there is water bills outstanding and it will most likely go through obviously dispute resolution if it can't be resolved through self-resolution another question here is can a property manager ask the or we try to avoid the word perpetrator but the person committing the domestic and family violence to pay for damaging the property as a tenant who experiences db is not liable for damages what is the procedure and this is where i went back through those options originally um in the presentation where we looked at is that yeah potentially the person who has caused the damage could be um you know you could go to the police and charge that um have the police charge a person with willful damage um again it could be it really does need to be done on a case by case basis um but if there is damage and you know the person has definitely caused damage um it really comes down to what sort of situation the tenancy is also set up so again we went through a few of those sort of scenarios but you can look at pursuing potentially the person who has actually caused that damage that's not a problem the other thing too the owner could look at pursuing that through his or her landlord insurance um and then that will be then up to obviously the insurance company to do any further action if they wish to pursue anything further does vicky need to provide proof that she's paid that seven days um look she may look to provide you with that evidence um that she has actually paid that rent and again it's probably more about the fact that when she's given that notice she's coming covering for um yeah to cover that unnoticed period as well [Music] if the rent is actually paid event it's more about that here's the notice and here's my seven days rent to cover um for the time that i've actually given that notice period um i know that you've sent through quite a few flowcharts there as well lauren which is great um so again any other questions please do pop them in um it is really challenging on the domestic family violence the damage side of it and as i said we cannot stress enough that it does need to be dealt with on an individual basis and i think one of the best practice things that we could also probably recommend is that to determine what is potentially maybe damage that's normal damage um versus what might be dfe damage and that's where it's that really good communication again making sure that you follow the steps that's outlined in the legislation when you can actually issuing the continuing interest notice to the remaining tenants and having a conversation with them about coming in and actually inspecting the property to determine what might be damaged um what isn't and just having like a baseline then and moving forward again too looking at our scenario if joe being in the property that's left behind whether or not he's staying or whether he's going and we don't say that you know the legislation is still there about the tent return the property in the same condition as fair wear and tear but again you need to look at each case vicky in the scenario that we talked about may not necessarily have a flatmate or co-tenant so it might be that vicky might be the sole tenant and he's vacating so again the same sort of rules still do apply that vicky is also covering that rent period and giving that extra notice um so yeah so there's a few things to um cover i know that shane is actually what what happens if joe is abusing um vicky does he just stay in the property and this comes down to the relationship the contractual arrangement that's in place in that tenancy so hypothetically here if joe is the person committing the domestic and family violence and his name is also on that tenancy then joe still can potentially look at staying in the property he still actually has those tenancy requirements as well um obviously if he's a co-tenant he's responsible for the rent he's also responsible the tenancy terms as well all the requirements under legislation so lauren i think we're just about out of time i don't see any other questions coming in so we might um [Music] just go to our last slide sorry we've got to do the questions though so our website's pretty easy to navigate and has a lot of information and as lauren said if you do a search function on our website on domestic there's a lot of information that does come up and that does come up so and also to our contact center our 1300 366 301 number we're available for any of those one-on-one conversations and assistance that you may need so thanks lauren for your assistance today and um also too thank you for attending everyone our webinar will now end and we look forward to you joining us on our upcoming sessions thank you