The Opposition has raised concerns a new rental incentive scheme could see tenants turfed out of properties so landlords can cash in on $13,000 payments.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The scheme, through Housing Tasmania, was established by the government to ensure low-income earners could move into affordable rental properties on 12-month leases.
Under the scheme’s eligibility criteria, a property must be vacant now or before June 30, 2019, to receive the payment.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White said there appeared to be no safeguards to stop current tenants being evicted from properties.
“This is state government welfare for property investors, not a scheme designed to help the homeless,” she said.
Housing Minister Roger Jaensch said landlords could not end leases to access incentives.
“We are now in May, working through a very detailed process of matching tenants to properties to ensure every property meets these strict guidelines; that they are not currently leased out and not going to be evicting somebody to put a new tenant in,” he said.
“The Residential Tenancy Act provides the safeguards we need.”
Mr Jaensch said there had been more than 200 expressions of interest in the scheme since it was announced.
Ms White said there was no clarity within the scheme’s criteria on whether parliamentarians were eligible to take part in the scheme.
She said the parliamentary Liberal party owned 20 investment properties between them: Health Minister Michael Ferguson and Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff owned two each, Treasurer Peter Gutwein owned five, Lyons MHA Mark Shelton owned four, and Braddon MHA Adam Brooks owned seven.
Labor on Wednesday attacked Mr Rockliff for having a property listed on short-stay accommodation website Airbnb.
He said on Thursday that he had abided by rules surrounding disclosure of interests and the ministerial code of conduct.
Mr Rockliff denied there was a conflict of interest in having sat in on cabinet discussions regarding regulation of the short-stays market.
The first week of Parliament has seen a camp of up to 20 tents form on Parliament House lawns to draw attention to the plight of homeless people in the state.
The camp has been ordered to move off the lawns by Friday.