Submitted 25th May 2026
This submission from the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) responds to the NSW Government’s investigation into the introduction of minimum energy efficiency rental standards (MEERS). It outlines industry concerns and practical recommendations to ensure any potential reforms are measured, practical and aligned with overarching input from all relevant stakeholders across the rental sector.
REINSW’s submission supports, in principle, practical measures that improve the safety of any person (including tenants, landlords and property managers), habitability and energy affordability. However, the submission highlights REINSW’s significant concerns about the lack of detail provided in the Consultation Paper, the methodology behind the research and consultation conducted, the limited demographics consulted and the correlation between MEERS and the outcomes sought by Government. In particular, REINSW has lobbied for Government to consult tenants, landlords and property managers more broadly and publish detailed findings on the forecasted impacts of MEERS on costs, rental supply, rent prices and compliance burdens before any reform is settled.
On an implementation level if MEERS were to be introduced, REINSW lobbied for MEERS to apply consistently across the whole rental sector, including social and community housing, and not just private rentals. This is because the MEERS objectives and outcomes sought by Government should apply to all types of tenants regardless of their socio-economic status and housing type, and not limited to the private residential rental space. In addition, REINSW’s position is that any MEERS framework must be evidence-based, proportionate, flexible and non-retrospective. REINSW lobbied against a one-size-fits-all model and instead calls for standards that account for climate zone, building type, property age, construction method, regional and rural trade availability, strata constraints and technical feasibility. The submission also outlines that, across the board, any MEERS introduced must avoid exceeding the Building Code of Australia’s standards and that any application to existing properties must only be through staged, funded and proportionate end-of-life replacement requirements (rather than forced immediate retrofits of appliances, energy efficiency measures, etc).
REINSW has also lobbied for practical safeguards to ensure any MEERS framework is workable in practice. This includes appropriate financial support for landlords through grants, rebates, tax incentives, low-interest finance, cost caps and technical support, together with a clear position that owners should not be prevented from recovering genuine improvement costs through rent adjustment. REINSW has also called for a Government-led education campaign, workforce training and sufficient trade capacity before implementation of MEERS and the imposition of any penalties, as well as clear exemptions where compliance is technically infeasible, disproportionately costly or outside an owner’s control (for instance, heritage and/or strata buildings). REINSW recommended a slow, staged rollout with at least a five-year transition period, education-first compliance approach and protections to ensure property managers are not expected to function as technical certifiers or energy-efficiency compliance officers.
Overall, REINSWs submission aims to ensure the proposed reforms are workable, proportionate and reflective of real issues occurring within the rental sector. REINSW continues to encourage all members to participate in any future public consultations from Government, as they provide unique opportunities for real estate industry voices to shape reform outcomes.
REINSW maintains a strong commitment to lobbying and advocating on behalf of its members, particularly in view of the rapidly increasing number of reforms affecting the real estate industry.