On March 29 the Australian Government announced a six-month moratorium on evictions for people who are suffering financial hardship as a result of Coronavirus.
The specifics of this moratorium and how it will affect residential tenancies is currently unclear and will depend on the individual states and how they chose to legislate these changes. Currently, there is no clear date on when the Queensland Government will legislate these measures.
However, the Queensland Government has announced that the moratorium will only be available for tenants who are unable to pay their rent due to the direct or indirect financial impacts of Coronavirus. Stressing that you must be genuinely impacted by the virus for the moratorium to apply and that it will not act as a blanket prohibition on all residential evictions. They have also indicated that they intend the legislative measures to be back dated to March 29, 2020.
In addition to the moratorium on evictions, the Queensland Government has also announced a Coronavirus Rental grant targeted at relieving rent pressures of Queenslander’s. The grant is a one-off payment of up to four (4) weeks of rent (maximum of $2,000.00).
In order to be eligible for the grant a tenant must:-
- Live in Queensland;
- Have their bond registered with the Residential Tenancies Authority;
- Be an Australian resident, permanent resident or have a temporary or permanent protection visa or possess a bridging visa;
- Provide evidence that they have attempted negotiations with their landlord or representative regarding a rental payment plan;
- Have recently loss their job and have since applied to Centrelink; and
- Are currently awaiting approval from Centrelink.
This grant is available through application from the tenant and will be directly payable to the landlord.
We will continue to keep you update on these issues as information is released.
