COVID-19 | Residential Tenants affected by COVID-19 and Impact on Sale Contracts (QLD)

Controversial new laws giving temporary relief to Queensland residential tenants affected by the COVID-19 emergency came into effect on 24 April 2020[1].  The new laws override a number of provisions in the residential tenancies legislation[2] until 31 December 2020.

The new laws attempt to strike a fair balance between:

• the public health need of avoiding large numbers of people being forced into homelessness or to look for new accommodation while we are all being encouraged to “stay at home”;
• the rights of tenants who may have lost their income due to forced closures or ‘economic hibernation’ or who are suffering from COVID-19; and
• the rights of landlords, many of whom are reliant on the rental income to meet their expenses.

The central tenet of the new laws (and the guidelines which support them) is therefore to prevent termination of tenancy agreements where the tenant is experiencing extreme hardship as a result of the COVID-19 emergency and to encourage the parties to reach agreement on rent waivers or deferrals taking into account their respective circumstances.

This article sheds some light on key terms in the legislation and considers the impact these may have on a landlord who intends selling the property.

Click here to download the full article.

For details of all our COVID-19 tips and updates, visit the Gadens COVID-19 Hub.

Authored by:

Gail Black, Partner
Matthew Raven, Partner

[1] A vulnerable person is anyone over 70 or a person over 65 (or 50 if the person is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) who has an existing health condition or comorbidities

[2] On expiry of the declared public health emergency under the Public Health Act 2005