30 September 2020
From today (30 September 2020), the Queensland Government has introduced changes to some COVID-19 residential tenancy arrangements.
The amendments are designed to help the Queensland residential rental sector transition back to normal tenancy arrangements and processes under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008.
These changes are outlined in the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Amendment Regulation 2020, which was approved and notified last night. You can also find more information in the regulation’s explanatory notes.
An updated version of the Residential Tenancies Practice Guide will be published shortly on the Queensland Government’s Residential Rental Hub website. This guide will provide simple and practical information on the changes, including a range of useful case studies.
The key change to note is that the six-month eviction moratorium to protect COVID-19 impacted tenants, which has been in place since 29 March 2020, will cease to apply from today.
Tenants, property owners and managers are encouraged to continue to work together in good faith and agree on solutions. The RTA’s free, independent and voluntary dispute resolution service will continue to be available to help all parties resolve issues.
You can read about what support measures will continue to apply until 31 December 2020 on the Queensland Government’s Residential Rental Hub website.Form changes from 30 September 2020
In line with these changes, the RTA has updated and removed a number of general tenancy and rooming accommodation forms, which will be in effect until 31 December 2020.
Please ensure you download and use these latest form versions.
| Updated forms | Removed forms |
|---|---|
| Notice of lessor's intention to sell premises (10) | Show cause notice for rent arrears - Tenancy agreement |
| Notice to leave (12) | Show cause notice for rent arrears - Rooming accommodation |
| Notice to leave (R12) | COVID-19 Dispute Resolution Web Service* |
| Notice of intention to leave (13) | COVID-19 Dispute Resolution Request (16a)* |
| Notice of intention to leave (R13) | General tenancy COVID-19 variation agreement (18d) |
| Pocket guide for tenants – houses and units (17a) | Rooming accommodation tenancy COVID-19 variation agreement (18e) |
| Pocket guide for tenants – caravan parks (17b) | Moveable dwelling tenancy COVID-19 variation agreement (18f) |
| Dispute resolution request (16) |
*The COVID-19 Dispute Resolution Web Service and COVID-19 Dispute Resolution Request (16a) will be removed from 2 October 2020. This is to allow time for customers to access these priority services during a short transition period in case they were served the wrong notice on or before 29 September 2020.
In coming days, the RTA will continue to produce and update existing resources in line with these changes as a priority.
To find out more about how the RTA can help you during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit rta.qld.gov.au/covid, read the Residential Tenancies Practice Guide, call 1300 366 311, Monday - Friday, 8.30am - 5pm (excluding public holidays).
Note: While the RTA makes every reasonable effort to ensure that information on this website is accurate at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after publication may impact on the accuracy of material. This disclaimer is in addition to and does not limit the application of the Residential Tenancies Authority website disclaimer.