The meeting gave the agents an opportunity to discuss concerns those within the industry currently have, including tenancy disputes, VCAT delays, investors moving out of Victoria and property taxes.
Ms Cleeland said that tenancy disputes continue to be a major problem for real estate agents and property owners due to what she described as a “broken VCAT system”.
“What used to be a straightforward system now is met with delays, a lack of consistency in decision-making, and exorbitant amounts of paperwork,” Ms Cleeland said.
“One of our local agent’s cases has now had five separate hearings, another involves a 14-month delay for a bond claim for unpaid rent, while another case has reached 136 days without rental payments as VCAT proceedings continue to drag on.
“These are not massive corporations owning several properties, these are regional homeowners that rely on this income.
“While the establishment of Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria is set to take this burden away from VCAT, it still is yet to have an impact on ongoing delays and current issues that agents are dealing with.”
Mr Mulholland said that continued pressure on homeowners and the real estate industry was impacting renters too.
“Despite continuous promises, after almost a decade in office, Victoria’s housing crisis has only worsened, with a shortage of stock for owner-occupiers, falling vacancy rates for rental properties, and investors looking for other markets,” he said.
“With rental properties scarce and Labor’s massive increase in land tax on property owners are resulting in rents being pushed up further and further.”
Data from March this year showed that just under 60,000 Victorian households are currently waiting for social housing on the Victorian Housing Register.
