The opportunity exists during the PAMD Act review for Queensland tourism to get a further boost from having sensible agency laws that relate to all stakeholders. 

In recent years QRAMA has been constantly reminding administrators, politicians and bureaucrats that in the self-contained holiday rentals sector, where many of our members practise, there should also be a strong focus on the needs of the guest. 

In the past, legislation and regulations have been focussed on the rights of the owner and the regulation and accountability of the resident manager. 

Under the old Auctioneers and Agents Act the legislative thrust was for the policing of the real estate industry and the protection of the owners. 

The PAMD Act now gives our industry the opportunity to broaden the stakeholder group on which it should focus and we intend to make this one of the pivotal parts of our submission to the review process. 

We want to be able to work with the Office of Fair Trading and our members to develop a greater recognition of the rights of guests. 

We need to be realistic. Tourism is now Queensland’s second largest industry with a turnover reported to be $14 billion annually. 

Our guests who use managed self contained accommodation properties make a contribution estimated to be $500 million to $600 million annually and provide many thousands of full time and part time jobs for regional Queenslanders. 

There are some parts of the legislation which need improvement and can help deal with issues such as developing smoother transitional arrangements when a new manager is appointed, particularly in relation to licensing and establishment of a trust account. 

In the past, disputes arose when a guest makes a long term booking which is not relayed to the new owner during the sale negotiations. The new owner might move the property out of the letting pool or occupy the property. These steps cause a significant problem for the manager and for the guest who is deemed by the Office of Fair Trading to have no rights. 

Some of the other areas that QRAMA will be contesting will be to look at the ambiguous requirement of multiple licences in section 111, which we believe are poorly defined and the source of much conflicting advice. 

We are hopeful that in the review that there will be clarification of who needs to be licensed within the residential accommodation team. 

To this end we would like to see a separation of the educational and licensing requirements, including a review of continuing education over topics other than trust account matters.  Too often, the Office of Fair Trading currently sees tourism only in terms of the operation of the trust account. 

We agree with the requirement of continuing education for letting agents. But this education must extend beyond the PAMDA trust account requirements and embrace those many other issues of marketing a tourism support that are vital to sound business in Queensland. 

Other points which we will be addressing include the recognition in the Code of Conduct of the problems caused by poaching of letting appointments by real estate agents and the complexity of licence renewal using a nine-page  Form 2 and an annual photograph. 

Unregulated commissions by wholesalers and the lack of protection of funds held by booking agents are other areas that need review. 

Finally in the 21^st century and with the growth of the industry, the requirement to live on site (or provided services after hours) should be a body corporate matter and the body corporate should outline responsibilities rather than be a PAMDA requirement. 

We at QRAMA will also be looking for a closer partnership with the inspectors from the Department of Fair Trading to help us and our members improve performances, rather than see them just as enforcers of the legislation. 

They too are part of the Tourism portfolio and hopefully will work with our members to boost business not just for managers but also for owners, investors and other businesses in the region where we operate. 

ENDS