To rent or to buy? That is the question on the lips of many people, young and old. Not many people can afford to buy a house outright or even want to. It is for these reasons that renting may be seen as the ideal option for many.
The Residential Tenancies Act of 1994 enacted by Queensland Parliament was introduced as an amendment of the former Act of 1975. The Residential Tenancies Act of 1975 was developed as tenancy law reform was seen at the time of high priority. However, the Act was later declared to be failing to meet the issues faced by lessors, their agents and even tenants in residential tenancies. Dispute resolution services were labelled: inefficient, complex, cumbersome and inaccessible.
The new Act was then introduced and covered residential tenancies including:.
o Houses.
o Share houses.
o Units.
o Townhouses.
o Flats.
o Caravans.
o Mobile homes, and.
o Houseboats.
However, this legislation continued to disregard boarders and lodgers.
The Residential Tenancies Act 1994 established the Residential Tenancies Authority (otherwise known as the RTA) that administers the legislation, including setting out the rights and responsibilities of the tenant and of the lessor or agent. The Act goes on to dictate the consequences of failing to comply with such responsibilities, as well as offering services with particular regard to dispute resolution.
The following case shows the effect the Residential Tenancies Act has had on disputes between tenants and lessors.
Knockholt Pty. Ltd. V. Graff (1945) refers to a case where the lessor, Knockholt Pty. Ltd. was looking to recover property it had leased to Mr and Mrs Graff when their rent became overdue. The Graffs claimed that they had been obliged to spend money on necessary repairs that should have been done by the lessor. The premises in question was used to run a business and the Graffs, under a term in their lease, were entitled to renew their lease if they were found not to have breached the agreement.