Is it possible to be content renting long-term? This is what Australia can learn from housing around the world

Abstract

Germany’s laws are broadly in favour of the tenant, with long leases and strict eviction requirements allowing renters to stay put long-term.

Housing experts say Australia is falling behind in providing a coordinated policy structure that offers stronger renter protections, long-term stability, and adequate funding for social housing.

“We haven’t had a national coordinated housing policy in Australia since 1992,” said Swinburne University professor of housing policy Wendy Stone.

Although there’s no model that can just be “picked off the shelf of another country”, there are a range of approaches that Australia could look to in order to reduce rental stress and improve the housing market overall.

Australia is one of the few developed countries that allows no grounds evictions.

Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT have recently made changes to eviction laws, but across much of the country booming rental prices have led to an increase in tenants being evicted without cause.

In recent months, Ireland, Scotland and Spain announced rent controls and laws that cap annual rent increases.

In 2020, South Korea also introduced a range of stronger tenant protections, including limiting rent increases to 5 per cent, amid a staggering rise in real estate prices.