Coronavirus crisis sees evictions banned but some tenants still don't know how they'll pay the rent

Tonight, Yianni Agisilaou should have been performing to a packed house at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and preparing to appear at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Key points: The National Cabinet meets today to discuss rental relief Landlords and tenants have been asked to cooperate but some agents are asking renters to access their superannuation before freezing payments The Real Estate Institute of Victoria is hoping for support for all parts of the sector But like many who work in the arts industry, which is essentially shut due to coronavirus restrictions, the comedian is among the 8 million renters struggling to smile and keep a roof over their head. "What it's trying to do is to say to landlords, tenants, commercial, residential, in the first instance, 'You guys, come to an arrangement, we've all got to share some pain here'," he said. Before the six-month eviction moratorium, Tasmania's Parliament pushed through a four-month stop on evictions, along with other measures including: Giving the Government power to stop landlords from increasing rents for commercial and residential tenants A halt to house inspections Tenants and owners would also have rights to break a fixed-term lease if they could prove continuing to rent a property would cause severe hardship Queensland's legislation could go even further, ruling no-one is entitled to compensation if the Government exercises power to, for example, freeze rents or stop payments for a period. Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak Download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest on how the pandemic is impacting the world 'We can't rely on goodwill' However, the biggest problem for both renters and the landlords who rely on their payments remains — if people cannot pay the rent, what happens when the six months are up?