Page 480 - Week 02 - Thursday, 3 March 1994
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Landlord and Tenant Legislation
MR STEVENSON: My question is to Mr Connolly and concerns tenant and landlord leases. As members know, there have been many concerns expressed by small business tenants about their lease conditions and there have been cases where large landlords have taken advantage of their monopoly in certain situations. I received a letter from the Belconnen Community Council - it was addressed to all members - which says:
The Council and the Belconnen Small Business Association strongly support the speedy passage of the Code of Practice as approved by CARTA.
Would the Minister be good enough to give us an update on what is happening with this vital matter?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Mr Stevenson for his question. The Government has been working very hard and for a very long time to reach agreement on this controversial area with BOMA, the Building Owners and Managers Association, representing landlords, and with CARTA and small business interests to try to reach agreement. Unfortunately, at the very death knell, on the last day of the negotiation process, when we had had agreement up to there, BOMA walked away from the table and rejected the landlord and tenant code of practice which the Government had spent over three years developing. I think that was very unfortunate and very regrettable; but I will not let the process stop, for the reasons that you indicated.
This is an area where a lot of unfairness has been occurring for a long time. A small business person who establishes a business in Canberra is at a disadvantage compared to small business people in other parts of Australia. The centralised nature of the Canberra planning system, the very benefits of the Canberra planning system, mean that, if you set up in a set of shops in suburb A or in the district shops and you fall out with the landlord, there is nowhere for you to go. In effect, if the landlord says, "Your lease is coming up and I demand a 50 per cent increase in the rent", your choice often is either to lose the goodwill of your business or to pay up. The Government is aware, Madam Speaker, at the moment of cases where business people are facing demands of 30 and 50 per cent increases in their rent at a time when, economically, rents are quite stable. Indeed, ACT commercial ratings last year recognised an easing in commercial property values in this Territory.
I think it is unacceptable that BOMA has walked away from the table, but that is their decision. I make it very clear that I will be bringing into this Assembly a legislative package to implement either the code of practice as it stood and had been negotiated with BOMA, or possibly something that may be even tougher and even more in the interests of small business people in the Territory. BOMA has walked away from the table and the Government now finds itself in this position. The Liberals have nailed their colours to the mast with press releases saying that they want the New South Wales code of practice, which CARTA absolutely rejects as being a woefully inadequate way of protecting small business. The Government will negotiate with Independent members of this Assembly who may be interested in advancing the interests of small business to bring in a workable code of practice for this Territory as quickly as we can.
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