The Housing Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (Qld) (HLAA) will introduce various amendments to the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) (RTRAA), Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2009 (Qld) (Regulations) and the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Regulation 2020 (Qld) (COVID Regulations).

Critically, the HLAA implements significant changes to the manner in which a Form 12 Notice to Leave may be issued in respect of a residential tenancy agreement.

Amended notice periods

The HLAA introduces new notice periods which will apply when issuing a Form 12.  The new notice periods which will take effect from 1 October 2022 will be set out in the new Schedule 1 of the RTRAA.

Relevantly, the RTRAA will no longer allow a Form 12 to be issued on a ‘without grounds’ basis.

However, new grounds for the issuing of a Form 12 are to be introduced and will include:

• demolition or redevelopment (2 months and not before end of fixed term);
• significant repair or renovations (2 months and not before end of fixed term);
• change of use (2 months and not before end of fixed term);
• ending of entitlement to student accommodation (1 month);
• State government program (2 months and not before end of fixed term); and
• owner occupation (2 months and not before end of fixed term).

Where the property is to be sold, the notice period will increase to 2 months (having previously been 4 weeks) and, where the property which is to be sold is subject to a fixed term tenancy agreement, the handover date stipulated in the notice must not be before the end date of the fixed term.

Periodic agreements

Following the commencement of the new legislation, a lessor’s ability to bring a periodic tenancy to an end will be far more onerous given the removal of the right to end a tenancy ‘without grounds’.

Therefore, where a property manager has, under their management, a rental property which is currently subject to a periodic agreement, the property manager should take early steps to seek their lessor clients’ instructions as to whether they wish to:

• require the tenant(s) to now enter into a fixed term agreement; or
• issue a Form 12 without grounds,

prior to the commencement of the new legislation coming into force on 1 October 2022.

Sourced from https://www.reiq.com/articles/legislative-amendments-to-affect-the-issuing-of-notices-to-leave-from-1-october-2022/