New changes to the Queensland Residential Tenancies and Room Accommodation Act will commence on 1st October 2022. Amongst these changes, are changes to an owner’s ability to refuse pets in their units and changes to a tenant’s right to initiate emergency repairs.

As at 1st October 2022 an owner will no longer be able to unreasonably refuse an occupiers request to house a pet within a rental property. Simply stating that the property or landlord has a “not pets” policy will no longer be sufficient for an owner to refuse a pet application. Once a tenant has submitted an application to an owner to have a pet the owner will have 2 weeks to respond and, if a response is not provided in this timeframe, the decision will automatically default to an approval for the pet.

The good news is that Lot Owner approval will still be required and Body Corporate approval will also be required if the By-Laws require approval. This gives the Lot Owner and the Body Corporate ability to put approval conditions in place to ensure that any pets within the property are on their best behaviour.

To ensure that you are able to respond to any pet requests within the necessary timeframe it is important to consider this matter in advance and be prepared with any approval conditions that you would like to have in place for your property.

It is recommended that owners and Bodies Corporate carefully review your Body Corporate By-Laws to ensure that the Body Corporate has sufficient By-Laws in relation to pets and that all owners and residents are on the same page when it comes to pet ownership within your scheme. If the Body Corporate does not have a Pet By-Law then the tenant is not obliged to obtain Body Corporate approval. It is also important to communicate these By-Laws and the approval process to your Property Manager.

As every scheme is different you should contact your Body Corporate Manager for a copy of your By-Laws and/or recommendations in relation to approval conditions if you have any queries regarding this. More information in relation to Animal By-Laws can be found here.

Keep an eye out for our September 2022 edition for more information on the changes to a tenant’s right to initiate emergency repairs!