The ban, announced on Sunday night by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, aims to ease stress for tenants unable to meet their obligations due to financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Renters, landlords and banks have been urged to negotiate ways to endure the pandemic, but property managers said the "vague" announcement left most stakeholders mystified.
Meanwhile other real estate agents claimed the real concern for local landlords was outgoing rates and urged Greater Shepparton City Council to lower costs in response to the crisis.
“Residential landlords I've chatted to haven't seen the flow-through of this yet, so they haven't been hugely concerned,” Kevin Hicks Real Estate principal Fiona Hicks said.
“But chatting to commercial tenants and landlords, I've been told the biggest issue isn't rent, but outgoings such as water rates, council rates and insurance.”
Ms Hicks said she spoke to one commercial landlord recently who paid almost $14 000 in rates a year.
“They've shut down now, they just couldn't afford it,” she said.
“Tenants and landlords can negotiate rent all they want, but rates are rates.
“How are they going to continue to meet outgoing payments in this financially stressful time?
“This is why they are begging for co-operation from local government.”
Senior property manager Tara Seach from Your Sold Real Estate said the prime minister's announcement on Sunday night left a lot to be explained.
“We've heard the rules could be different for commercial landlords as opposed to residential, but we're just not sure,” she said.
“The Real Estate Institute of Victoria normally gives us more information but we haven't heard anything yet.
“This could be a positive step forward, but we need more clarification.”
While local landlords are looking at ways to reduce rent as a helping hand to struggling tenants, Ms Seach was concerned banks would not be so supportive.
“It looks like they'll be sticking to their guns,” she said.
“While landlords may defer their mortgage payments for six months, it's likely it will cost them more in the end due to interest.
“If banks decide not to charge interest during this period, that would be great. But it's not looking likely.”
Ms Seach was also concerned about the effect the moratorium could potentially have on renters.
“If there are no evictions for six months, tenants could get way behind on their rental payments and have to pay back a massive chunk of money later,” she said.
“This could leave locals in huge amounts of debt, so even when we're ‘back to normal’, it could take a long time to fully recover.”
Shepparton tenant Helen Payne was similarly confused.
“We're still stuck in limbo because no-one has written rules on what we can and can't do and when this moratorium will actually come into effect,” she said.
“It's definitely a relief to know this moratorium is in place as a back-up.
“But it would be nice to have landlords and tenants all on the same page.”
