23 November 2022

Western Australia Consumer Protection has advised they will be conducting community consultation on changes to residential tenancy laws that came into effect in April 2019. The aim of the consultation campaign is to seek feedback as to the effectiveness of the family and domestic violence provisions that currently exist, while assessing the impact they have had on affected tenants and landlords.

The consultation will take place from 25 November to 10 December 2022.

Simone McGurk, Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, expressed her views, stating "Last year, more than 24,000 Western Australians sought assistance from specialist homelessness services, with 41 per cent needing these services because they were experiencing family and domestic violence.

"I encourage people to give us feedback on whether the laws have been effective or give us suggestions on how they could be improved, from the point-of-view of tenants, landlords, tenant advocates, support workers, real estate industry and community groups. Your opinions and comments will be valuable in allowing us to assess if changes are necessary and, if so, to what extent."

Commerce Minister Roger Cook commented on the upcoming review, saying “The laws have been in force for three years now so we are keen to make sure they are working as intended for victim-survivors, as well as getting landlords' feedback on these provisions, to determine if any fine-tuning is necessary.

"Family and domestic violence is an extremely serious issue in our community and we need to ensure that we have the right laws in place that will support victim-survivors and keep them and their children safe."

View the consultation paper on the tenancy laws via the Consumer Protection website. Have your say and complete the short online survey. The closing date for the survey is Friday 16 December 2022.