Western Australia has become the latest Australian state to advance sweeping rental market reforms centered on a full ban on no-grounds evictions, a policy shift that has ignited sharp disagreement between state government leaders, housing industry representatives and tenant advocacy groups amid an ongoing national housing affordability crisis. The proposal comes as Western Australia grapples with one of the country’s tightest rental markets, with plummeting available supply and soaring rental costs that have put unprecedented strain on low- and middle-income renters across the state.
Under the planned changes to Western Australia’s Residential Tenancies Act, private landlords will only be permitted to end a tenancy if they can demonstrate a legally valid reason for eviction. Acceptable reasons outlined in the reform package include the property owner or an immediate family member planning to move into the home, the need for major structural renovations or full demolition of the property, repeated breaches of tenancy terms by the renter, sale of the property, consistent non-payment of rent, and documented illegal activity occurring on the premises. Beyond the ban on no-fault evictions, the reforms also introduce new limits on what personal background information landlords and real estate agents can request from prospective tenants, along with a mandate that requires property owners to offer at least one rent payment option that does not charge extra processing fees to renters.
State officials confirmed that the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety will launch a public consultation period to gather feedback on the fine details of the legislation as the drafting process moves forward. In a formal announcement of the reforms, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook emphasized that the changes are designed to reinforce rental security and build a more equitable housing market for all residents. “Ending no-grounds terminations and replacing them with commonsense, clearly defined reasons for eviction makes Western Australia’s rental market far fairer,” Cook said. “This next wave of residential tenancies reforms builds on our previous changes, which included a ban on competitive rent bidding and limiting rent increases to no more than once every 12 months.”
Commerce Minister Tony Buti added that the reform package responds directly to growing cost-of-living pressures that have left many private renters at constant risk of unexpected displacement. “The government is committed to reform that ensures fairness across the board, and that includes making sure no Western Australian loses their private tenancy amid rising cost-of-living pressures,” Buti said. “This has flow-on benefits for the entire community. At the same time, the next phase of tenancy reforms demonstrates our commitment to providing stronger protections for renters and a fairer, more secure housing system for all.”
Not all stakeholders have backed the plan, however. The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has emerged as the policy’s most prominent critic, with president Suzanne Brown warning that the change will backfire for both landlords and renters, leaving “no winners” in the already strained rental market. Brown stressed that the organization’s opposition is not rooted in anti-tenant bias, but in concern for the long-term stability of Western Australia’s rental supply. “Across the state, the rental market has not fully recovered from the mass exodus of investors that followed the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brown said. “Western Australia cannot afford to lose any more rental properties. Another drop in supply will see the vacancy rate fall even further, competition for available properties increase, and put even more upward pressure on rent prices that are already out of reach for many families.”
Tenant advocacy groups have pushed back strongly against these warnings, arguing that data from other Australian states that have already implemented no-grounds eviction bans shows no measurable negative impact on overall rental supply. Jesse Noakes, a campaigner with the End Unfair Evictions coalition, noted that even if some property investors choose to exit the market following the reform, existing properties do not disappear from the housing system entirely. “Even if a property investor sells a house, it is not as if it disappears into a puff of smoke. Either it houses someone who was previously renting, or it returns to the rental market shortly after,” Noakes said. Citing data from Anglicare, he added that available rental supply in Western Australia has already collapsed from more than 14,000 available properties in 2018 to just 3,000 in 2024, meaning the market cannot get any tighter than it already is. “The rental market can’t get any worse – this can only make things better for renters across the state,” he said.
While some progressive political leaders have welcomed the announcement as a long-overdue win for tenant rights, the Western Australian Greens have argued that the proposed reforms do not go far enough to address the state’s housing crisis. Tim Clifford, the Greens’ WA housing spokesperson, called the ban a historic step forward, but warned that similar legislation in other Australian states contains significant loopholes that still allow landlords to carry out de facto no-fault evictions, such as through extreme rent hikes that force renters to leave voluntarily. “We’re still going to introduce our rent cap bill this week, because we do know the government will walk back from any reforms if we do not maintain pressure on them to deliver stronger protections,” Clifford said.