Tenants in rental moratorium will have to pay rents: Housing Minister

The minister for housing Michael Sukkar's has clarified what the six month moratorium on evictions means .

The ABC's Patricia Karvelas asked if people can stop paying rent if there's a moratorium.

"The short answer to your question is of course not", Sukkar said.

"There is a moratorium on evictions, but there's not a moratorium on the requirement to pay rents", Sukkar added.

The housing minister said it's useful to separate commercial and residential.

"From a commercial perspective, I know that our national cabinet will have more to say further to their principles that were outlined last week on how, particularly states and territories, are going to deal with it.

"As the PM has said, we need landlords and tenants to come together, and there must be an element of sharing the pain."

Sukkar said it's not in any landlords interest to lose a great tenant who may be going through short term difficulty.

"We are seeing a lot of landlords and tenants working closely together but we need to put in some minimum standards and that's what I'm confident the national cabinet will do."

Sukkar's clarification has been welcomed by the Real Estate Institute of Australia.

“A moratorium on evictions doesn’t mean rent is not payable, it is", REIA president Adrian Kelly said.

"If circumstances mean that payment in full is not possible it is a holding off from payments, not a cancellation.

“It is for people who cannot pay at this time not for those that can.

“If you can pay your rent now, you pay it.

“If you can’t pay your rent now, you have been given grace for six months, but will have to catch up when you are able to pay it again.”