Posted: 2024-07-03 20:37:23

As a property manager and investor, Lucinda Morgan has dealt with plenty of perfect tenants.

However, she has had her fair share of difficult ones too.

They might be late with rent every fortnight, but not so late as to trigger an eviction.

"They just continually play that game where they're constantly 10 or 12 days in arrears, which is making it really hard for the landlord to be able to make their home loan repayments," she said.

A professionally-dressed woman in a grey blazer stands on the property of a one-storey suburban home

Albury-based property manager and landlord Lucinda Morgan says some tenants "play the game" to avoid paying rent. (ABC News: Jason Katsaras)

Or they might keep the property in a poor state or cause damage, but not enough to warrant a difficult eviction during a fixed term.

"It needs to be severe damage to the property," she said.

However, once a tenant is no longer covered by a fixed-term lease or is living in the property under a rolling lease, they can be evicted without a reason.

Tenants at the end of a fixed-term lease get 30 days to move out, while those on rolling leases get 90.

However, under the Minns government's long-promised changes to rental laws, "no-grounds evictions" will be banned.

Houses under construction on a bright, sunny day

The Tenants' Union says "no grounds evictions" create an unfair power dynamic between the tenant and landlord. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)

Ms Morgan, who manages hundreds of properties around Albury, said the ban would rob landlords of the right to decide.

"If they don't have the ability to move that tenant on when the tenancy is starting to go sour, then the landlord could end up being stuck with them, essentially," she said. 

"It's the landlord's property. They should be able to have that right to choose who remains in their [home]."

'It will backfire'

The Tenants' Union argues the ban is urgently needed and wants it to apply to both fixed-term leases and rolling leases.

Union boss Leo Patterson Ross said renters were often devastated by an eviction.

"If we're going to do that to a person, we should at least give them basic respect of telling them why," he said.

He said without a ban, landlords could churn through tenants to circumvent rules about rent rises and avoid property maintenance.

"Unlike other consumer relationships, the provider can just avoid dealing with it," he said. 

"The power dynamics within the market are such that [landlords] aren't having to create a customer experience that's a positive one."

However, Ms Morgan said tenant-churn was bad for business.

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