Housing Improvement Act

Consultation has concluded

About


This consultation has closed - thank you for your interest. View the outcome here.

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The Housing Improvement Act 1940 provides for minimum standards for existing houses in South Australia. It has recently been reviewed and a draft bill prepared that ensures the Act meets the needs of today's housing environment.

During consultation undertaken as part of the Act’s review, strong support was received for:

  • the need for minimum standards for all of South Australia to ensure existing houses remain safe and suitable

  • a General Duty for both owners and occupants to ensure residential premises remain safe and

About


This consultation has closed - thank you for your interest. View the outcome here.

_____________________________________

The Housing Improvement Act 1940 provides for minimum standards for existing houses in South Australia. It has recently been reviewed and a draft bill prepared that ensures the Act meets the needs of today's housing environment.

During consultation undertaken as part of the Act’s review, strong support was received for:

  • the need for minimum standards for all of South Australia to ensure existing houses remain safe and suitable

  • a General Duty for both owners and occupants to ensure residential premises remain safe and suitable to live in

  • rent control for poor quality housing, to ensure that people pay fair rent.

These elements have been incorporated into the draft Housing Improvement Bill 2012. An explanatory paper is also available which outlines the key guiding principles used in preparing the Bill:


People interested in commenting on the draft Bill were asked to make written submissions before 31 August 2012. Where permission has been received, information identifying the author has been included in the submissions published below.

Permission for the publication of names not received for the following submissions:

Permission received for the publication of names for the following submissions:

For further information provided in response to points raised during public consultation, download our overview document here (PDF, 52KB).

Consultation has concluded

  • Outcome

    The Housing Improvement Bill 2015 (PDF, 2.8MB) has been released, which provides measures to address housing that is unsafe or unsuitable for human habitation; controls the rent of unsafe or unsuitable housing; amends the Residential Parks Act 2007 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1995; repeals the Housing Improvement Act 1940; and other purposes.

    You can also download the Explanatory Paper (PDF, 426KB) that accompanies the Housing Improvement Bill that helps to explain the key guiding principles used in preparing the Bill.

    A guide to some common scenarios (PDF, 176KB) has been produced to provide comparisons in four common situations, between action which may occur under the Housing Improvement Act 1940, and action which may occur under the provisions of the Housing Improvement Bill 2015. This document also includes definition of the application of the Housing Improvement Bill to different housing types that are being used as a place of residence, which also includes retirement villages and public housing.