Helping tenants endure disaster

TOWNSVILLE landlords have been urged to provide rent relief to tenants unable to live in their homes as the city faces a housing crisis.

Housing and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni said the State Government had on Friday taken the step of waiving rent for all public housing tenants forced to leave their homes due to flood damage.

“And we’re asking private landlords, where possible, to provide the same sort of relief to their tenants,” he said.

Mr de Brenni said the Real Estate Institute of Queensland has been asked to urge property agents and landlords to be “flexible” in new lease terms.

“Most leases are normally for six months, most people in Townsville are looking for a much shorter lease while their home is repaired,” he said.

The Government has relaxed access to support for rental grants and bond loans. Affected residents can borrow mortgage insurance of up to $20,000 interest free for 10 years.

“Clearly there’s a huge deficit of appropriate accommodation with up to 20,000 homes flood affected and still 7000 without electricity,” he said.

“The focus for the department is making sure every per- son in Townsville has somewhere safe, secure and dry to sleep at night.”

He said locals would get priority for self-contained accommodation in Townsville, while visiting tradespeople were being placed outside the city where possible.

“We’re making sure the influx of recovery workers will be accommodated wherever possible outside of Townsville City, being put up in towns like Ayr and Ingham,” he said.

Mr de Brenni urged residents seeking repairs to ensure the tradespeople they hire were registered with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC).

“It’s important to make sure the tradesperson is properly licensed,” he said.

Mr de Brenni said local tradespeople who wanted to help with the recovery could register on the QBCC website.

“We want to ensure the Townsville economy rebounds as quickly as possible,” he said.

“Therefore we’ll encourage households to use that register to find local tradespeople as will insurance companies.”

Mr de Brenni said the Rental Tenancy Authority (RTA) would be open all weekend to provide tenants and property owners advice. The RTA and REIQ will join the Government for community and industry information sessions at The Ville Resort-casino at 10am and 1pm on February 13.

For further details and support, call 13QGOV (13 74 68).