The Queensland government recently cut funding to all 23 free tenant advice services statewide effective October 31, despite the majority of funding for them coming from interest generated on tenants’ bonds and not from taxpayer monies.
The Tenants’ Union of Queensland (TUQ) will lose 60% of its resources and 22 local tenant advice services statewide will close if the decision is not reversed. Qld tenants will virtually be left with no free tenant advice services. Your help is needed NOW.
Please help to have this decision reversed by contacting your local member of parliament, the Minister for Housing and the Premier to let them know that tenants’ need these services.
Tenants collectively forego any interest on their bonds and should benefit with services targetted to their specific needs. After all, landlords, agents and the government already gain from tenants’ bond interest because the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) is exclusively funded from this source.
Please restore funding to all 23 free tenant advice services
It is not Qld government to cut – these services are needed as they assist tenants to help themselves
Well done to everyone involved in getting this together
I’ve used the Newcastle/Hunter service. It’s phone only and manned for 1/2 days 3 days a week, but a great service.
As a long term tenant I’m astounded that my money can be taken away from services supposed to benefit me, without my say. I truly can’t understand why the government would them take away, it’s not even their money. Tenants deserve these services but even using a purely economic argument, they surely save people from becoming homeless and therefore save the government money?
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This service is necessary and the people that utilise this service are intilted to advice and assistance by the dedicated people that operate from these NGO’s I am disgusted that so many organisations are having there funding stripped and agreements NOT being honored by this Newman regime.
Its not theirs to take away! How dare they! There are so many people out there being taken advantage of in rental properties. They are paying for this service and the Govt has no right to take it from them. It is theft! These services are needed. Or it this the plan to make the rich richer. When us poor tenants can not get legal advice then the rich land lords are in a position of power. This is an injustice.
The private rental market is the only housing choice for many households in Qld. Without access to tenant advice and advocacy in relation to tenancy law, many people will lose their private rental housing. What is the government going to do for this new group of homeless people? Surely it will cost more to help families who have lost their homes, than it currently costs to provide tenancy assistance to help them keep their homes!
Tenants need this service do not remove it
This decision is bad economics, bad policy and bad news for tenants. We have a right to services that are funded by our bond investment. I am a tenant and I am quite angry that my money will not being used to provide support for other tenants who need advise and suport.It’s time to”evict” the majoroty tenants at Parliament House!!
Although I have never used these services, I have been quite lucky. There are many people in QLD who are not as fortunate as myself and require these services. Perhaps the cut should be re-evaluated.
The Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service and Tenant’s Union Queensland provide valuable advice and assistance for both public housing tenants and those in the private rental market. The RTA will not be able to advocate on behalf of a tenant, ever. The decision to cut funding for tenant’s services is extremely ill informed and short visioned.
I think this is discusting, sometimes through no fault of their own people find themselves in circumstances where they need help and without the Tenant Advice Services would not know where to get the help and therefore end up homeless.
This appears to me as a case of taking money and increasing the risk of disadvantaging queenslanders who need the support and advantaging those that are already in a place where they can afford to have investments in real estate. Money cannot underpin all decisions any government makes, people should always be the higher priority. Throw this on the money first pile along with the NDIS.
I can’t believe the Newman goverment will cut funding to this program! I was recently living in Cairns far away from my home state going through a domestic violence situation. As much as i tried to see out the lease it got to a point six weeks before it ended i knew after being left alone with my three kids i had to return to family support.
Now while i know anyone can go to court and lodge the forms needed to break a lease under these circumstances, i cannot stress enough the help i recieved from Jill West at the Cairns office who spared me so much more additional stress i was already buckling under.
Just to have the paperwork prepared in such detail and show that under any other circumstance i would not seek to break a lease. Wanting to protect myself from being listed on the TICA database, in having access to this service and the succesful outcome of the court hearing is i believe the only reason i have been able to find a rental in my home state in a good suburb close to family.
Had it not been for the advocacy service, and Jill’s exceptional kindness and support, feeling how i was from something i was trying to get control back from, i might have just exhausted myself in trying to get the forms right and just had given up. Facing then leaving not just myself but three great kids in a worse situation.
The very thought of honestly to potentially be listed because of what had happened to me, and then only having access to apply for run down cheap investment properties in unsavory neighbourhoods, (which we all know are out there!) is what i believe would have happened if i didn’t get the help i honestly needed.
I know times are tough for everyone, and there would be people who may slip through the cracks and abuse help that is out there, but when we are talking about trying to protect people with housing issues this service should be expanded perhaps incorporating financial councellors available in addition to the tenancy advocates!
Finally having lived in QLD during the election campaign i am so dissapointed with not only the Newman Government for the promises they were already back tracking out of while i was there, but also in Gavin King! He personally (if he hasn’t already) should get off his high horse and fight to keep this service. If he knows Cairns as well as he think he does, in fact if any of the members who were voted in who approve to cut an advocacy service such as this should go face anyone in a domestic violence situation, or having a landlord abusing their power putting families at risk of homelessness and hang their heads in shame, because who will be there to help them?
Who will assist the disadvantaged members of our communities to have a safe and secure place to live.
Homes are our CASTLE, tenanted homes are our families and future generations that will change our Australia.
Where are our rights?
What is our responsibility?
Who will help us make our future = community organisations that are responsible to stand up and take a stand for the individual that is struggling to understand the law of Australia.
Tenancy Advice and Advocacy enables our law to be understood between two parities: one that offers accommodation and the other that pays for the short or long term use of a dwelling, which provides both with an Australian Lifestyle…
How will the future be shaped for all Australians when a Tenant Advocate is not around to explain the rights and responsibilities of being a tenant and a landlord without oppression towards another Government misunderstanding of what is working and what is not.
Free tenant advice services are needed so those who cannot afford to buy their own home can continue to rent, knowing that advice regarding their rental property is available. Without this service, many Australians will be left in the dark.
The defunding of the TAAS program is absolutely disgraceful, to take away an essential free service for tenants is lunacy. The Gov states the RTA can give advice, they cannot give advice to tenants, they can state the Act and how it applies and the process, they cannot and will not listen to a lengthy individual case and give individual advice, nor can they assist clients to complete the correct forms or attend a QCAT hearing with them like the TAAS service can. There are many tenants out there completely oblivious to the tenancy act, the laws and how they can go about sorting out the tenancy related issues, the TAAS service provides a well informed, friendly service whereby tenants can get the right advice and be empowered to negotiate and exercise their rights at tenants. Most of the funding comes from interest generated from tenants bonds anyway so it only seems fair that this funds a service for tenants. Without this service there is a massive power difference between lessors/agents and tenants and will create an unjust tenancy system. Please reinstate the TAAS program
This is exactly the type of user-pay option that creates efficient front line services directly to the community at a local level. Someone will have to provide this assistance to renters and governments are hopelessly inept at doing so. It’s tenants’ money and should used for their benefit. The government and broader community will have to also deal with the many disadvantaged, immigrant and other individuals who need help with obtaining and maintaining a tenancy in the private market.
It is gratifying to see so many people in support of TAAS and the Tenants’ Union and so much understanding of what valuable services these are. Without TAAS and TUQ the flow-on effect will be homelessness with less people able to maintain their housing in both private and public tenancies. What most people don’t know is that these services provide assistance to people in spite of their income and while those in highest need are prioritised that all tenants gain advice and are losing out by this decision. One in three Queenslanders lost out by this call and how much was truly lost will take time to be seen by those making the decision.
Losing the TAAS service is un-Australian, it is alright for members of parliament to sit in there government paid for mansions while the rest of Queensland lives without any tenanacy rights, shame on the government.
this service is vital part of the community and without their hands on approach, I would never have had the courage to stand up to a real estate agent.
TAAS has also assisted a number of my family members with ememrgency accommadation and provided face to face advice on tenancy matters
The government is putting tenancy rights back 20
What will become of tenants of all socio-economic backgrounds now they will soon have no voice? I am a soon to become a redundant Tenancy Advice (TAAS) Worker. I have grave concerns for the possible outcomes in relation to Tenants understanding their rights and obligations. Will it be free rein for any unscrupulous Real Estate Agents and Private Lessors who either dont know/understand or dont care about the Residential Tenancies & Rooming Accommodation ACT (2008)? Unless the QLD LNP Government starts to re-consider this decision that in the end will rob the voters who are tenants of QLD of their democratic right in the 21st centuary to acess not for profit TAAS & Tenants Union QLD assistance when their facing a housing crisis in their lives. At our service we never hear the good news stories of renting in QLD we only hear the stories of concerned, worried, fed up tenants who need advice on matters ranging from lack of maintenance to Warrent of Possessions. In fact the whole range of issues covered under the Legislation. As a free service to QLD Tenants we are funded with money from the interest of Tenants Bonds.
Well stated!
This simply amounts to theft as the services are funded by interest on rental bonds.
The tenants rights for Wynnum /Manly area are a pack of bullies all they do is go out for lunch have cuppa mornings all on the expensive of Housing
Thank you for the free services we have! And now, please do not let us lose them!
Sincerely, Caitlin Kemble.
I am a tenant. My partner and I moved to Brisbane over a year ago and have dealt with two property agents so far. Both were more interested in keeping our landlord as their client than doing the right thing by us, as tenants. Because we choose to live in a unit with affordable rent, we have been treated as if we don’t deserve basic upkeep, such as the repair of a leaking roof.
We found that TAAS was the only organisation which could give us (free) legal advice for the ongoing issues we had with our landlord, who is counting on his tenants (of the 30+ houses he owns) to be misinformed about their rights. And he’s clever, because it isn’t easy to find out your rights as a tenant in Queensland.
After contacting the RTA, all I got was: ‘all the information is on our website’ (which for our particular issue was not true). The RTA would not say over the phone whether our landlord was acting in accordance with the law or not and in a later dispute immediately believed our estate agent (but she was misrepresenting the facts).
However, when I contacted the TAAS I was assisted by a friendly lady who could immediately tell me that the landlord was breaking the law and what we could do against it. Through her we found out that the rental increase of nearly 6% that our landlord demanded, could legally not be carried out for another two months because we hadn’t been given enough notice. Our estate agent’s advice, basically ‘take it or leave it’, was not doing us justice and I’m glad we had the TAAS on our side.
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/tenancy-service-falls-victim-to-budget-cuts-20120724-22mkm.html#ixzz23J5teUdg
My first response when I heard this latest cut from Can Do Campbell was the same as many other people in the comments posted – it’s not the government’s money, it’s the tenants’ money that funds this absolutely necessary service. Since moving to Queensland in 2010, we have had to ask the Whitsunday TAAS to assist us also. It is true, the RTA is not user friendly when you have to deal with unscrupulous landlords and real estate agents. Luckily, we found the local TAAS at Proserpine and although the whole thing was extremely stressful, the expertise with which the ladies at the service helped us navigate our way through an extremely nasty tenancy issue was nothing short of fantastic. They really knew their stuff when time and time again the real estate agent, and the landlord, tried to pull the wool over the Court’s eyes. I am fortunate in that I have quite a long employment history within the legal system in New South Wales so together we were quite a formidable team, however, most people would not be as informed as I am. Without a service specifically tailored to assist tenants, as TAAS is, tenants in Queensland are going to find themselves in dire straits. This service has proven its worth and must be retained and I repeat, don’t touch tenants money Campbell Newman.
I’m not very computer savvy, but I get petitions emailed sometimes, this is one I’d definitely put my name to. Is there one out there?
A lot of the things this government are doing seem retarded to me.
What clown thought of this “money saving measure?! I’m making use of this service as we speak and the thought of it going belly up due to political posturing sickens me!!
We have recently used this service due to having a retaliatory Landlord. We were not familiar with our rights as tenants and we were given sound advice from this service. To think that people have nowhere to turn to for advice is ludicrous in the extreme.
Take everything away and you’ll end up paying more in the long run. This will not do anything to assist with the housing shortage. It’s already difficult enough to find a rental and to deal with land lords. This is a great service and is greatly needed. So what is going to happen with the interest from the rental bonds? Will we get that back with our bond?
Wouldn’t make sense for full funding to be drawn from the interest earned from bonds being held by the RTA, after all this is the tenants money not the Govt, after all even banks give you interest on your money.