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Landlords are soon to be banned from evicting NSW tenants without "reasonable grounds" under long-promised reform to protect renter rights.
Premier Chris Minns will unveil the new laws at the NSW State Labor Conference today, following last year's election promise to "transform" the state's housing system.
Under the proposed changes, landlords will need to have a "commonsense" and "reasonable" cause to end a tenancy for both rolling leases and fixed-term leases.
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They will need to include evidence of these with a termination notice or face penalties.
The proposed new laws will also make the notice period for terminating a periodic lease 90 days.
For fixed-term agreements of less than six months, termination notice will be increased from 30 days to 60 days while fixed-term agreements of more than six months will increase to 90 days.
The changes will bring NSW into line with other states including the ACT, South Australia and Victoria.
In a statement today, Premier Minns assured "bad tenants" were still subject to eviction.
"But anyone who rents in NSW knows just how anxious and challenging renting can be at the moment.
"We've all seen the lines on a Saturday morning with hundreds of people waiting to inspect new properties.
"We believe this reform gets the balance right, but importantly, this will give both homeowners and renters more certainty, more peace of mind, so they can build a home and a life on surer ground."
Housing and Homelessness minister Rose Jackson said the reforms would bring certainty for renters.
"For too long renters have faced an unprecedented amount of uncertainty – making it harder to secure jobs, start families and develop community links," Jackson said.
"Renters who do the right thing – pay their rent, look after the house – should not have to be in a constant limbo with the possibility of an eviction for no reason just around the corner."
The proposed laws offer a sign of relief for renters as rent prices continue to rise across NSW.
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Data from Domain showed Sydney's median price for rental houses stayed at a record $750 for June 2024, up 7.1 per cent from last year.
Few governments have introduced policies to reduce rental costs in the short term, instead largely focusing on the national goal of building 1.2 million homes in the next five years to increase supply and gradually ease housing prices.
The federal government did increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance in May's budget, while the ACT remains the only jurisdiction that places some kind of a limit on rent increases: landlords there must apply for special permission to raise prices by more than 10 per cent of rental inflation.
The ACT is the only state or territory in Australia where rents dropped over the past 12 months, albeit by a slight 0.14 per cent.
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