The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its promises and saving renters money by returning illegal fees to renters and cracking down on compliance with accurate bond lodgements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One year on from the Government\u2019s landmark rental reforms, the NSW Rental Taskforce has returned almost $180,000 to renters stung by illegal rent payment and background check fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through a robust compliance crackdown, the Taskforce discovered more than 3,000 renters were charged illegal fees for dishonoured payments and illegal background checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One agency alone was found to have issued 2,071 illegal dishonour charges to 795 tenants between July 2020 and April 2025, despite such penalties issued by landlords or real estate agents for late payments being illegal in NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investigation resulted in the agency entering a voluntary enforceable undertaking, with NSW Fair Trading ordering tenants be refunded more than $124,000 \u2013 with 371 tenants charged multiple charges amounting to a refund of $2,400 in one case. The agency also agreed to make $10,000 contribution to the NSW Consumer Law Fund for the purpose of providing education to the sector on rental legislation and compliance obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another investigation found nearly 2,400 applicants were illegally charged $19.95 each for background checks through an online rental platform. The company refunded tenants the more than $48,000 in charges and disabled the background check function on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past year, the Taskforce has also used Rental Bonds Online data to identify landlords or agents charging more than four weeks of rent as a bond. A compliance program is now underway to issue penalties for serious and multiple breaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backed by $8.4 million, the Taskforce has investigated almost 8,000 rental matters in its first year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These results are part of the Government\u2019s reforms to make renting fairer. The Government has: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any rental applicants who have been charged for a background check should lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading by visiting: https:\/\/www.nsw.gov.au\/departments-and-agencies\/fair-trading\/complaints-and-enquiries\/housing-and-property<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter one year of the Minns Labor Government\u2019s game-changing rental reforms, we are seeing outstanding results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a dedicated compliance and enforcement team, the NSW Rental Taskforce has recovered almost $180,000 worth of renters hard-earned money and cracked down on irresponsible actors trying to take them for a ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd we\u2019re not done yet. The Government is also rolling out Smart Rental Bonds later this year, so renters can transfer their bond between properties, saving about $4,000 each time they move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Government is delivering on its promises to save renters money and help alleviate the cost-of-living pressures so many people are feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRenters can\u2019t afford a Liberal government. Only a Labor Government delivers for renters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile the NSW Fair Trading Rental Taskforce\u2019s enforcement shows work is being done to provide a fair and balanced marketplace it also shows renters are becoming more aware of their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen renter awareness jump from 33 to 80 per cent in our recent customer survey, and that\u2019s critical to making sure people know their rights and where to access help when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its promises and saving renters money by returning illegal fees to renters and cracking down on compliance with accurate bond lodgements. One year on from the Government\u2019s landmark rental reforms, the NSW Rental Taskforce has returned almost $180,000 to renters stung by illegal rent payment and background check … Continue reading “The Minns Labor Government is saving renters money”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39107,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39106\/revisions\/39107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}