Over five years ago, the state government sought feedback about proposed rent stabilisation mechanisms as part of broader reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) (RTA). Following this consultation, the first tranche of reforms was introduced in 2024, which included a reduction in the frequency of rent increases from every six months to once per year. While this change provided some improvement, we were concerned that simply limiting how often rents can increase isn’t enough if there is no limit on the amount of the increase.
The findings in this report confirm that our concerns were justified. Weekly rents have continued to spiral, leaving hundreds of thousands of Western Australians with no option but to go into debt, take on another job, or cut back on essentials to keep a roof over their head.
With no limits on how much rents can rise, and very little protection against unfair evictions, WA renters face an impossible choice: accept rent hikes they cannot afford, or risk homelessness.
This is no longer just a housing problem; it is becoming an economic crisis. When families are forced to spend more and more of their income just to keep a roof over their heads, they have less money for everything else. This hurts local businesses and undermines the state’s economic stability and productivity. Mechanisms to stabilise rents are an urgent necessity for protecting both individual families and WA’s broader economic resilience.
We are urging the WA Government to make the following amendments to the RTA:
- Introduce a rent stabilisation mechanism that caps rent increases to CPI or a prescribed formula.
- Increase the length of notice periods for rent increases.
- Reverse the onus so landlords are required to justify higher rent increases, rather than tenants having to prove they are excessive.
- End “no grounds” evictions so tenants cannot be forced to move simply to allow landlords to raise the rent for the next tenant.
We are also calling on the WA Government to commit to continuing the WA Rent Relief Program for at least two years beyond its current end date of 30 June 2026, to provide rent relief for vulnerable WA renters until these legislative changes can be enacted.