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Katie Woolf spoke with REINT CEO Quentin Killian · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com for all
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  Speaker 1: the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point nine one
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  Speaker 1: hundred percent NT.
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  Speaker 2: The Northern Territory News is reporting that the Territory's COVID
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  Speaker 2: nineteen rental measures have been extended, despite the Attorney General
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  Speaker 2: Selena Rubo being told it was no longer necessary by
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory's peak real estate body. Now, in an
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  Speaker 2: email that The Northern Territory News has obtained, the Real
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  Speaker 2: Estate Institute of the Northern Territory are Their chief executive,
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  Speaker 2: Quentin Killian, told members that Misubo decided not to repeal
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  Speaker 2: the residential Tendancy's COVID nineteen mortification notice from twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 2: Now joining me on the line to tell us a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more about the situation is Quentin Killian, who
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  Speaker 2: is indeed the chief executive of the Real Estate Institute
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  Speaker 2: of the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Quentin, Morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin, tell us about this change and why the I
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  Speaker 2: guess you know why you believe the government's decided not
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  Speaker 2: to repair it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, first and foremost, it's interesting that every other jurisdiction
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  Speaker 3: in Australia has decided to remove their moratoriums on rent,
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  Speaker 3: some quite early in the peace, including Tasmania, and others
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  Speaker 3: later in the peace, including South Australia, which is due
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  Speaker 3: to remove theirs in May. But every other jurisdiction in
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  Speaker 3: Australia has recognized the fact that the emergency legislations that
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  Speaker 3: they put in place have done their job. They've protected
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  Speaker 3: people through the pandemic, through the height of the pandemic,
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  Speaker 3: and they are no longer required. And that's our argument here,
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  Speaker 3: and it's also the argument of our own department that
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  Speaker 3: it has done its job. And by their own admission,
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  Speaker 3: the government has noted that the territory has perhaps survived
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  Speaker 3: the pandemic better than any other jurisdiction, so there has
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  Speaker 3: been a lot less impact on how market. Fact the
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  Speaker 3: impact on our market was negligible right through twenty twenty. Therefore,
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  Speaker 3: there isn't a need to have emergency legislation in place
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  Speaker 3: anymore that actually impedes on a private market.
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  Speaker 2: So Quentin, what exactly does the legislation mean right now
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  Speaker 2: for those renting a unit or a home in.
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  Speaker 3: The territory well well, in particular, the things that we
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  Speaker 3: see that now an impediment that we're meant to as
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  Speaker 3: a safeguard during the pandemic, which are now an impediment
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  Speaker 3: is the inability for a landlord to move on acouncil
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  Speaker 3: than tenant. So under the normal legislation you would have
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  Speaker 3: a fourteen day notice period by either party for the
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  Speaker 3: cessation of elease at the end of a lease. But
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  Speaker 3: under the modification notice that extends out the sixty days. However,
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  Speaker 3: before a landlord can place a recouncil ten for non
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  Speaker 3: rent payment on notice, that rent also has to be
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  Speaker 3: in arrears for sixty days, so now one hundred and
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  Speaker 3: twenty days before they can give a notice instead of
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  Speaker 3: fourteen days. Wow, this is a real deterrent because it's
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  Speaker 3: stopping people who are coming up from down south. It's
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  Speaker 3: stopping landlords from being able to move on their prop
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  Speaker 3: onto their properties. It's stopping people moving into properties that
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  Speaker 3: they've purchased because of course you can't see sealise if
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  Speaker 3: a lease is in place to move a person in.
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  Speaker 3: We have an example that was given to me by
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  Speaker 3: one of our members the other day that unfortunately a
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  Speaker 3: tenant wanted to move in. They did actually get the
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  Speaker 3: dates wrong on it. But now the new tenant has
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  Speaker 3: to actually camp out by camping equipment and camp out
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  Speaker 3: for the next two months while they're waiting for that
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  Speaker 3: property to become available for them. Goodness, it's a major
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  Speaker 3: deterrent to invest and that was highlighted in Western Australia.
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  Speaker 3: The Western Australian government actually recognized what a deterrent their
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  Speaker 3: moratorium was to their investment market, which is moving along
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  Speaker 3: quite nicely, and that's one of the reasons that they
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  Speaker 3: took their moratorium off.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you think that the government's gone down this
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  Speaker 2: path despite what other states are doing and despite the
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  Speaker 2: advice of the Real Estate Institution.
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  Speaker 3: Well, look, the reasoning we were given was that it
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  Speaker 3: aligns with the Emergency Health Declaration, which is in place
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  Speaker 3: until the twenty first of June. Now, we accept that
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  Speaker 3: the Emergency Health Declaration is important because that controls a
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  Speaker 3: lot of other things, not just real estate. That controls
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  Speaker 3: the ability to do vaccinations, to do masks at airport
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  Speaker 3: and all sorts of things. But this legislation, or this
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  Speaker 3: piece of legislation is while it's in place during emergencies,
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  Speaker 3: it is separate to it, and it is the Minister's pleasure,
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  Speaker 3: so the Minister can choose whether or not that piece
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  Speaker 3: of legislation remains in place. It is not absolutely tied
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  Speaker 3: to the Health Declaration. It is there at the behest
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  Speaker 3: of the Health Declaration, but it is not tied to it.
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  Speaker 3: So my concern, my big concern is that this is
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  Speaker 3: market control by still that the emergency legislation is being
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  Speaker 3: used to manipulate the market when there isn't an emergency
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  Speaker 3: in place, and that would be very very wrong if
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  Speaker 3: that was the intent.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin, does it prevent a landlord from putting the you know,
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  Speaker 2: from putting rent up and that kind of thing as
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  Speaker 2: well or.
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  Speaker 3: No, there are no restrictions around that. But there are
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  Speaker 3: general rules about increasing rent. So you can't increase the
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  Speaker 3: rent of course in the in the middle of a
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  Speaker 3: tendency or part way through a tendancy unless you have
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  Speaker 3: already agreed with the tenant at the beginning of that
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  Speaker 3: tenancy agreement on a rent increase and how that will
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  Speaker 3: be done, So you actually have to put in very
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  Speaker 3: specific details about how that rent would increase. There are
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  Speaker 3: other rules that you can't do it within two years
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  Speaker 3: of another rent increase, et cetera, etc. But certainly, at
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  Speaker 3: the end of a tendancy, a landlord is quite entitled
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  Speaker 3: to put their rent up. But interestingly, I did some
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  Speaker 3: differentials just the other day, and people are talking about
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  Speaker 3: rent increases, But when I look at the September to
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  Speaker 3: December quarter, the rent increase between September quarter and December
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  Speaker 3: quarter was just thirty three dollars per week for houses
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  Speaker 3: and twenty two dollars per week for units. So, yes,
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  Speaker 3: the rent has increased in the last couple of quarters,
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  Speaker 3: but it's not dramatic considering that if you go back
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  Speaker 3: over the last four to five years, we saw rent
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  Speaker 3: decrease by nearly forty percent across the board. So landlords
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  Speaker 3: have been doing it fairly tough for about the last
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  Speaker 3: five years.
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  Speaker 2: Is it I mean, is it a strange situation that
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  Speaker 2: we're in though, where you know, rental prices are going
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  Speaker 2: up despite the fact that then I guess, on the
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  Speaker 2: other hand, we've got the government sort of keeping the
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  Speaker 2: keeping you know, this legislation in place due to COVID.
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  Speaker 3: Well, no, because if you look at it somewhat cynically
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  Speaker 3: and say that this is because they're trying to protect
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  Speaker 3: a cohort of people who don't really need protection, but
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  Speaker 3: perhaps are struggling to pay rent, and that would be
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  Speaker 3: market manipulation. That would be rent control, and rent control
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  Speaker 3: never works. Rent control is a very very bad thing
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  Speaker 3: because it will manipulate a market and in the end
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  Speaker 3: it will actually hurt the people that it's trying to protect. Now,
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  Speaker 3: logically the legislation was there during an emergency period. Well
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  Speaker 3: that by all signs that emergency period as it stands
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  Speaker 3: doesn't exist any longer. There really wasn't an emergency, not
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  Speaker 3: to the extent that we saw in say Victoria or
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  Speaker 3: New South Wales. You know, we did not suffer to
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  Speaker 3: that extent. In fact, we've done surveys which we've provided
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  Speaker 3: to the Minister that show less than one per cent
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  Speaker 3: of the entire rent role across the Northern Territory was
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  Speaker 3: affected by COVID nineteen And from what we've done with
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  Speaker 3: the survey with our members, we also note that almost
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  Speaker 3: everybody that is still claiming that they were once affected
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  Speaker 3: by COVID nineteen and therefore claimed assistance, has made an
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  Speaker 3: attempt to repay or to continue on with their rent payments.
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  Speaker 3: So there really isn't an issue in the marketplace that
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  Speaker 3: requires that level of protection.
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  Speaker 2: We've got a few text messages coming through. I will
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  Speaker 2: get to those in just a moment. But Quentin, what
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  Speaker 2: have you been told by the government at this point
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  Speaker 2: in time? Is this legislation? How long is this legislation
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  Speaker 2: going to stay in place?
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  Speaker 3: At this point, we've been given absolutely no end date
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  Speaker 3: on it at all. The Attorney General told us that
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  Speaker 3: it would remain in place aligned with the Health Emergency Declaration,
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  Speaker 3: which is currently in place, until the twenty first of June,
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  Speaker 3: and that we'll just wait and see how things pan out.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin. A couple of messages here from listeners, and hopefully
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  Speaker 2: they're ones you can answer, but if not, let us
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  Speaker 2: know one that says, Katie, can you please ask quintin
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  Speaker 2: my rent has increased twice in the last six months,
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  Speaker 2: and the real estate tried to increase the rent twice
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  Speaker 2: during the signing of the last renewal. Is that okay?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I wouldn't like to get into individual situations, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: I think that would be wrong. I think if they've
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  Speaker 3: got a question like that, one of the best places
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  Speaker 3: that they can turn to is consumer affairs, who can
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  Speaker 3: assystem on an individual basis.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, all right, good call, Quentin. The other one is
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  Speaker 2: quite similar as well, so we might advise to those
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  Speaker 2: listeners to get in contact with consumer Affairs Quentin. Just finally,
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  Speaker 2: what impact is this legislation staying in place going to
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  Speaker 2: have on territories that own either a home or a
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  Speaker 2: rental or a unit.
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  Speaker 3: Sorry, well, we think longer term, if it remains in place,
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  Speaker 3: it is actually going to be quite a disincentive to
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  Speaker 3: people purchasing into the rental market. Now, we know we
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  Speaker 3: have a rental shortage at the moment. That's obvious because
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  Speaker 3: we've got a lot of demand and a diminished supply,
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  Speaker 3: and that's the reason why we're seeing rent increases and
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing vacancy rates dropping down to one and two percent.
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  Speaker 3: So we need to encourage more investors to come into
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  Speaker 3: that marketplace, to add more stock into that rental market
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  Speaker 3: to meet that demand that is there and is growing. Now.
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  Speaker 3: The reality is that the more impediments and the more
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  Speaker 3: legislation that you put in front of investors, the more
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  Speaker 3: the elternal square. They've got plenty of choices. We're not
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  Speaker 3: the only market in Australia that is even quickly at
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  Speaker 3: the moment, so investors have a lot of choice Australia
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  Speaker 3: wide to invest into the property market. We want them
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  Speaker 3: investing here, So the last thing we want is barriers
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  Speaker 3: in their way that say don't bother coming here, because
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  Speaker 3: we're the only state or territory left in Australia that
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  Speaker 3: decides to put this legislation in place.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin, just very quickly, I know that it is being reported.
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  Speaker 2: Mattie Hepworth mentioned in the local news just a little
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  Speaker 2: while ago that apparently new data has shown that our
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  Speaker 2: house prices in the territory are still on the rise.
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  Speaker 2: Is that the situation from your perspective.
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  Speaker 3: We're about we're just putting to bed the quarterly figures
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  Speaker 3: for the March quarter and I don't have the full
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  Speaker 3: data set to hand, but anecdotally, yes, we are seeing
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  Speaker 3: prices still increasing. Certainly demand is very very strong. We're
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  Speaker 3: seeing you for once a lot of turnout it auctions
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  Speaker 3: and we are still seeing quite a lot of demand
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  Speaker 3: on the rental market. So yes, it is still a
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  Speaker 3: very buoyant and very healthy market at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory Chief Executive Quentin
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  Speaker 2: Killian always good to speak with you. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: your time.
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  Speaker 3: Today, I'm with you, Katie, thank you,