Everyone should have safe, secure housing. It's time to Make Renting Fair!

The Make Renting Fair Alliance is a coalition of Western Australia’s peak housing bodies and stakeholders, and people who rent their home. 

We are working together for secure, affordable and healthy homes for more than 700,000 West Australian renters.

New reforms proposed in Western Australia will make renting fairer for everyone. For three years the WA government has been consulting on changes to the Residential Tenancies Act which governs the WA rental system, and some sensible and overdue changes will bring WA up to speed with other states that have already made these reforms. 

Amendments to remove “no reason” evictions and tighten fixed term tenancies will enhance security of tenure, while allowing pets and minor modifications as standard and limiting rent increases to once a year will simplify renting for everyone.

These moderate and sensible reforms will bring WA into line with other states such as Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania which have already made similar changes in recent years.

The recommended reforms, which follow an extended public consultation process led by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS), are especially timely given the acute rental crisis we face in Western Australia, compounded by an ongoing cost of living crisis generated by national and global factors.

As the social housing waitlist continues to grow across Western Australia, rental vacancy rates remain at record lows following the pandemic while increasing numbers of families find themselves in rental stress.

In 2019, we issued a major survey of more than 800 WA renters that informed the ‘Tenancy Ten‘ recommendations to make renting in WA more stable, secure and fairer for landlords and tenants. The Make Renting Fair campaign is currently updating our renters’ survey to reflect the changes that have affected Western Australia since the consultation commenced for these reforms three years ago. What has not changed is the importance of a secure and stable home for families to safely raise their children.

We are confident that the package of moderate and sensible recommended reforms currently before the government will enshrine basic protections that are long overdue and guarantee a safe and strong rental market for all West Australian families moving forward. This is good news for landlords and tenants, and means a fairer go for our whole community.