Landlords are, understandably, feeling vindicated and excited about the RTAA 2019 which now makes tenants liable (up to a certain extent) for carelessly damaging the property.
But Parliament being Parliament, its legislative language leaves much to be desired. It should come as no surprise then that various hot-takes arrived
at different conclusions as to exactly how will the tenants be liable.
Our view is that until disputes arrive in front of the Tenancy Tribunal or unless the Legislature or the Executive is to issue a compendium giving context
to the concerned sections, it is too early for anyone to give a definitive take on some of the more nuanced issues that are currently being debated.
Any such position-taking is, for the time being, academic at best.
In the interest of transparency, we feel compelled to disclose to the readers our reluctance to put too much commentary out there in the meantime for fear
of confusing our members. Had not there been the volume of information and online discourse that is already out there, we perhaps would not have put
this piece together on this day. Still, all things considered, we feel that it is appropriate to put forth our views. It should go without saying that
we do not hold our views out as legal advice though we have sought out Kristine King from
Duncan King Law for her opinions (which are provided as general information rather than legal advice):
On the matter of whether the tenant is liable for careless damage on a per-tenancy or per-event basis, we feel that it must be on a per-event
basis. The purpose of the RTAA 2019 vis-à-vis tenant damage is to ameliorate the inequitable outcome cased by...
