The available evidence is patchy but indicates that many of the rent relief schemes were significantly undersubscribed compared to original estimated costs. The NSW land tax scheme paid rebates on just 4,800 residential properties – equivalent to 0.6% of private tenancies in New South Wales. The total expended on residential rebates was $10m: less than five per cent of originally estimated expenditure (while $86m was expended on rebates for commercial properties: 40% of the original estimate) (NSW Parliament, 2021). Victoria, with its long 2020 lockdown, made cash payments to 33,640 applicants – equivalent to about 5% of Victorian private tenancies – totalling $73m (91% of the original estimated expenditure); however, its total land tax rebate expenditure was $111m, much less than the $400m originally estimated. After a significant underspend in the WA scheme, its terms were changed to pay where a landlord is offering a new fixed term tenancy at an increased rent . The ACT reports in its 2021-22 Budget that residential rebate take-up was ‘lower than expected’ (ACT Government, 2021: 105). Tasmania, having supplemented its original rent relief scheme with the landlord support scheme in late 2020, appears to have made the most extensive provision of relief, reaching a reported 3,400 recipients – equivalent to about 8% of private tenancies in that state.
