Today is World Consumer Rights Day and the theme this year is Consumer Justice:   Click here for more information about it.

Got us thinking about tenants as consumers. Even though having a home is a fundamental human right, since the evolution of modern tenancy laws in the 1970s, tenants have been framed as consumers.  The private rental market consists of tenants as consumers and landlords & real estate as the industry.

As consumers, tenants get a rough ride. When you consider who pays for tenancy dispute resolution, it is clear tenants are getting a raw deal. Tenants’ bond money is used in Queensland to fund the entire operations of the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA).

The RTA provides their services completely free to the industry part of the private rental sector: landlords and real estate agents. This means that landlords and real estate agents are able to access information, dispute resolution and resources without contributing a single cent. Yet tenants, by foregoing the interest on their bonds, handed over $35.5 million dollars the last financial year.

In almost every other essential aspect of our lives -: water, energy, banking & financial services,telecommunications – the industry foots 100% of the bill for the dispute resolution process.

On this World Consumer Rights Day with the emphasis on consumer justice – we wonder what other group of Australian consumers fund a free dispute resolution service for industry?

So where is the consumer justice for tenants?