Victorian landlords become eligible for $420 million in tax relief to help them offer rent discounts during the coronavirus pandemic, as one renter urges landlords to do the right thing and help tenants during this humanitarian crisis.
Updated
April 15, 2020 17:00:20
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced a $500 million package to assist commercial and residential landlords and tenants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Key points:
- The Government is allocating $420 million in land tax relief to landlords who give discounts to their tenants and $80 million for residential renters facing hardship
- A special sitting of Parliament will be held next Thursday to pass legislation for the measures and to introduce temporary bans on evictions and rental increases
- Landlords and tenants unable to come to an agreement will be able to use a fast-tracked dispute resolution process
The package will include $420 million in land tax relief for landlords who provide tenants with rent discounts, while $80 million will go towards rental assistance for Victorians experiencing rental distress.
Mr Andrews said landlords would receive a 25 per cent discount on their land tax if they provided tenants impacted by the coronavirus crisis with rent relief, with any remaining land tax able to be deferred until March 2021.
A new Coronavirus Relief Deputy Commissioner will be established at the State Revenue Office to manage claims.
The Government is also setting up a fast-tracked dispute resolution process for tenants and landlords, to be mediated by Consumer Affairs Victoria or the Victorian Small Business Commission.
Mr Andrews said the Government wanted landlords and tenants to have “good faith” negotiations and he was “very confident there will be agreements”.
“It’s in everyone’s interests,” he said.
But “even with a good faith agreement” there would be many Victorians under rental stress, he added.
The $80 million rental assistance fund will be for renters facing hardship due to the coronavirus crisis. These payments will be capped at $2,000.
To be eligible, renters will need to have registered their revised agreement with Consumer Affairs Victoria or gone through mediation, have less than $5,000 in savings and still be paying at least 30 per cent of their income in rent.
Mr Andrews said the Government was also introducing a temporary ban on evictions and pausing rental increases for six months.
The six-month ban on evictions was something agreed upon at National Cabinet on March 29, which was then up to each state to implement individually.
The changes required for the measures will be legislated during a special sitting of Victoria’s Parliament next Thursday.
Treasurer Tim Pallas said his expectation was for landlords and tenants to work together
“And what that means is essentially you have to sit down together and go through your arrangements,” Mr Pallas said.
Mr Pallas said he expected more than 10,000 landlords would access the land tax relief.
“You have to have reached an agreement,” Mr Pallas said.
Landlords should ‘do the right thing’
Amy is a self-employed photographer who lives with her seven-year-old son in the Dandenong Ranges.
She told the ABC her landlord and property agent were unwilling to budge on her rent, even if she offered to pay 60 per cent.
She said she was unable to work and had contacted her property agent in the Dandenong Ranges to explain her financial situation.
“I got the response that if I didn’t pay my rent in full that I would be evicted,” she said.
“It seems that you know, in the chain of tenant, property agent and landlord, the tenant is wearing the full brunt of this and it feels really unfair.”
Like her, many tenants only deal with the property manager.
So she said there needed to be some incentive for the property manager to facilitate the conversation with the landlord about revising her rent.
Amy had this advice for landlords.
“Just do the right thing,” she said.
“Stop treating this as a business and start looking at this as a humanitarian crisis.
“These are real people in real homes, who need to stay in their homes.”
For others in the same situation, Amy’s advice is to be upfront with your landlord.
“So keeping a paper trail making sure that everything is done in writing,” she said.
“So that down the track, if things escalate and go further, you’ve got some sort of record of your transparency and honesty with your landlord about trying to make something work.”
Measures welcomed by tenants’ advocates
Tenants Victoria chief executive Jennifer Beveridge said the land tax relief would be a good incentive for landlords to enter into mediation with renters and the moratorium on evictions and rent increases was urgently needed.
“Tenants Victoria especially welcomes the $80 million identified to provide relief for renters who are in rental stress,” Ms Beveridge said.
“Every day of this crisis we are hearing stories of distress, including in one share house where three of the four renters have lost their jobs.
“This issue has particularly impacted on young people and families who just don’t have the savings to get them through this period.”
Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said the new measures gave renters strong and necessary protections.
However, Ms King said the detail of how negotiations would work was yet to be explained.
“It’s also unclear whether renters who accept a payment deferral will end up saddled with a mountain debt at the end of the pandemic,” Ms King said.
“That would be a tragic and dangerous outcome.”
Property Council Victoria executive director Cressida Wall also welcomed the announcement, which she described as a “substantial package to respond to this unprecedented time”.
But she said that relief from financial institutions was a “crucial, missing piece of the puzzle” as loan repayments were a landlord’s biggest fixed cost.
“Commercial landlords acknowledge the pain many tenants are facing but without support from banks, commercial landlords face extreme pressure and some cannot survive prolonged significant discounting,” she said.
She added that safeguards were needed to ensure the moratorium on evictions did not lead to “opportunism by commercial tenants”.
‘Vast majority’ of people doing the right thing
During a press conference this morning, Mr Andrews said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state had increased by eight since yesterday to 1,299 but the death toll remained at 14.
He said 21 people were in hospital with a further 18 in intensive care.
Vic COVID-19 snapshot
- Confirmed cases so far: 1,299
- Deaths: 14
- Suspected community transmissions: 132
- Cases in hospital: 39
- Intensive care patients: 18
- Recovered patients: 1,137
- More than 72,000 Victorians tested
Updated Wednesday, April 15Latest information from the Victorian Government
“All in all these numbers are stable, the strategy is working,” he said, and thanked Victorians who were “following the rules”.
“These numbers are the product of people doing the right thing,” he said.
He said “every single Victorian” would be “touched by tragedy” if the situation unfolded like it has in other countries.
A statement from Victoria Police earlier said officers had conducted 824 spot checks and issued 52 fines for breaches of coronavirus restrictions in the 24 hours to 11pm on Tuesday
The statement said examples of breaches included:
- Multiple instances of private gatherings at residential properties
- Ten youths gathering at a skate park in Greater Dandenong
- Six people playing tennis together on closed public tennis court in Maribyrnong
- Eight youths socialising together at a closed school
During the press conference, Mr Andrews said the “vast, vast majority of people” were doing the right thing.
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He defended Victoria Police’s handling of fines and said while some mistakes had been made, the force had been doing a good job.
He said fines were not issued for “trifling matters” but were matters of “life and death”.
“You can have tens of thousands of warnings given out, well that just means that you’re telling Victorians you don’t need to follow the rules,” he said.
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First posted
April 15, 2020 10:49:22
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