September 2018

No place for family violence

Did you know WA has the worst rates of family and domestic violence (FDV) in Australia?

Sadly, family violence is a growing problem in our community and the abuse, whether physical or psychological, often occurs in rental homes. That’s why changes to Western Australia’s tenancy laws have been proposed – the Residential Tenancies Legislation Amendment (Family Violence) Bill was introduced into Parliament on 15 May 2018. The legislation passed the Lower House in June and is set to take effect in December.

The new legislation gives tenants who are living in fear options to stay or go; either by applying to the courts to have a violent family member removed from the tenancy agreement or by providing evidence of FDV to their landlord so they can leave safely.

While the legislation is victim-focussed, Consumer Protection believes there will be clear benefits for landlords, including less abandonment of premises, which can leave the landlord having to deal with the problems of abandoned goods and taking former tenants to court.

Over the last year Property Managers in WA have been learning about the FDV tenancy law changes in their Compulsory Professional Development (CPD) training, and next year licensed Real Estate Agents will also have CPD training.

Consumer Protection has been liaising with REIWA during the development of the Bill and a Senior Policy Officer will be at the REIWA Connect Conference in October.

Landlords Making a Difference

A recent Shelter WA Homelessness Week Event gave people the chance to learn about ways to help tenants experiencing family and domestic violence (FDV) and other serious problems.

For those who weren’t able to attend, we filmed a presentation by the Senior Policy Officer from Consumer Protection who developed really important proposed changes to Western Australian tenancy laws, to help tenants affected by FDV.

Watch the video to find out more or read about the upcoming changes on our website.