NSW to help renters avoid added app fees and make it easier to keep a pet

New South Wales renters will no longer be made to pay extra fees when they pay the rent and will have greater rights to keep a pet in a suite of reforms to be announced on Monday.

The state government plans to introduce legislation to modernise the state’s rental regulation into parliament in October.

Under the rules landlords will have to offer a convenient alternative to “rent tech” platforms that charge a fee on top of rent. Options might include bank transfer or the commonwealth government-run Centrepay.

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The law already requires landlords to offer at least one means of paying rent without added fees. But Guardian Australia’s Hot Property series has reported on the loopholes that some use to discourage users from avoiding the fees.

For instance, the OurProperty app offers paying rent in cash at Australia Post as its fee-free option, and Ailo makes renters enter their bank details anew each month.

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The government will argue that offering only an inconvenient alternative way to pay effectively forces renters to pay the fees on an agent’s rental app.

Fees are often charged as a percentage of the rent and have therefore been rising.

Critics say these apps often “clip the ticket” and put the burden on tenants to hand over personal details and extra cash in a tight rental market when they have little power to say no to their landlords or agents.

About 41% of renters told Choice they “were pressured” to use a third-party platform by their real estate agent of landlord, according to a 2023 report.

The laws will also make it more difficult for a landlord to refuse an application from a renter seeking to keep a pet.

Owners will no longer be able to refuse pets without giving a reason, and will only be able do so on specific grounds, such as that having the pet would breach a council regulation. Refusals must be submitted to the NSW civil and administrative tribunal.

The legislation will also include previously announced reforms to ban no-grounds evictions and charges for background checks for renters applying for a property.

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said the bill would make things “a bit less stressful for renters”.

“You don’t pay additional fees every time the mortgage comes out, and you shouldn’t have to pay to pay the rent,” he said.

The minister for housing, Rose Jackson, said reforming the rental system was “a vital step to rebuilding our housing system in NSW”.

“We want to ensure sure that the growing number of renters in our state have the stability and transparency they deserve,” she said.

Sydney is the most expensive city in the country to rent, with an average weekly rent of $1,039, and vacancy rates at near-record lows of 1.6%.