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WHAT IS THE PORTABLE RENTAL BOND SCHEME? · The Real Estate Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Cam, you may have heard a bit in the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: news recently about calls to bring in a portable rental
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: bond scheme here in Canberra.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, this idea has been around for a long,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: long time, and there's been a number of different versions
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: of it. But it's great having you working in the
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: newsroom through the week here at the radio station, because
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: when these sorts of news releases come through, it's just like, okay,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: you forward it on to me. And so this is
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: really important. There's lots of elements to this, isn't there?
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  Speaker 1: There's lots of elements to it. It was in the
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  Speaker 1: Assembly recently, so we're going to dig down and kind
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of find out a bit more about what it means
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  Speaker 1: and what happened in the Assembly there. And Maria Edwards
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  Speaker 1: is CEO at the Real Estate Institute of the ACT. Maria,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Renee, again.
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  Speaker 1: Now, look, for those who haven't heard about this, can
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you briefly explain the Portable Rental Bond Scheme and what
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it's aiming to achieve? Sure.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: So the Portable Rental Bonds, it's supposed to reduce the
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: double bond problem when a renter moves before their existing
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: bonds release. So you pay your bond when you move
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: into a property, then you move up, you've got to
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  Speaker 3: pay another bond before your other one's released. So it's
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  Speaker 3: supposed to save tenants from actually having to pay two bonds.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, gotcha. And so this was put forward in the
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  Speaker 1: ACT Legislative Assembly recently.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: What actually happened then?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so the motion was supported unanimously. So it's not actually,
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  Speaker 3: the scheme hasn't been approved. It's been approved to actually
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  Speaker 3: be investigated. So they definitely want to introduce it, but
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  Speaker 3: they want to make sure that they do it properly
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  Speaker 3: and investigate the options. And they've got nine months to
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: report back on the costs and the benefits and the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: risks and the possible unintended consequences.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, and so unintended consequences are to be avoided at
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: all time with anything that you do, right?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: So why, Marie, why are people saying this is a
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: good idea?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, definitely. I mean, cash flow, especially in the
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  Speaker 3: cost of living at the moment, and it costs thousands
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  Speaker 3: of dollars to move home when you're a renter. And
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  Speaker 3: so coming up with thousands of dollars worth of bond
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  Speaker 3: as well as, you know, potential cleaning fees and advanced
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: rent and all that sort of thing, if there's a
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: way to minimise that expense on tenants and make the
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  Speaker 3: process straightforward, then, you know, that's obviously a win for tenants.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: And as well, there's people in that basket, but then
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: also others who are saying maybe it's not a great idea.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: What's the thought behind that?
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  Speaker 3: I guess just around the administration. So often when you've
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: got a bond, not often, occasionally when you've got a bond,
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  Speaker 3: not necessarily the tenant and the landlord agree that it
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: should all be refunded to the tenant at the end
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: of the lease if there's some damage or there's cleaning
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: that needs done or some rent that's owing perhaps. So
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: there's questions around if there is damage or there's arrears
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: at the old property, what the administration process would be
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  Speaker 3: and if there's any eligibility and also recovering any debt
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  Speaker 3: because the government would actually be underwriting the debt for
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  Speaker 3: the bond on the old place if there was actually
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  Speaker 3: anything owing. So just understanding what the complexity around those
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  Speaker 3: things would be important.
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  Speaker 2: And there's a number of levels to it, like we've said.
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  Speaker 2: And so when this sort of first came back into
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: the news, because as I said, it's been around for
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: a while now, And there's different versions in the states
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and territories as well. When it came back into the news,
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  Speaker 2: what were some of the conversations that you're having with
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  Speaker 2: property managers or anyone else that came to you to
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: speak to about this?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, I mean, most people are generally in favour
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  Speaker 3: as long as the administration, it's very clear that the
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: back end, so the bonds, rental bonds office, has got
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: some really straightforward processes and information about how it's supposed
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  Speaker 3: to roll out. Often with these processes, like the ideas
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: are really good, but not necessarily the back end is
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: ready to go as soon as the legislation's announced. So
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  Speaker 3: I guess it's one of those things to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that the processes are in place, it's really clear, and
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  Speaker 3: that it doesn't hold up You know, a landlord, if
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  Speaker 3: they are owed money because the property is damaged or
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: there's rent owing, it doesn't get held up because of
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  Speaker 3: administration on the back end. Yeah, sure.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: And okay, so nine months to look into the feasibility
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  Speaker 1: of it. We'll see kind of, I guess, what comes
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  Speaker 1: out of that and probably touch base with you then
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  Speaker 1: as well, Maria. Thank you so much for explaining that
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  Speaker 1: for us.
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  Speaker 3: No problem. Thanks for having me.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Cheers.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Maria Edwards, CEO at the Real Estate Institute of the ACT.