Rent crisis: Eviction loopholes exposed

Aussie renters remain trapped in a postcode lottery of insecure leases, soaring rents and substandard homes, two years on from a national pledge to deliver a better deal for long-suffering tenants.

A report ranking each state’s progress has delivered a damning assessment of reforms following the national cabinet’s 2023 Better Deal for Renters, which promised to hold landlords to genuine reasonable grounds for eviction, limiting rent hikes to once a year, and minimum housing standards.

This house in Piara Waters, WA is available to rent at $820 a week

Released by peak bodies National Shelter and the National Association of Renters’ Organisations (NARO), the report ranked WA as the second worst performer in the country, just behind the NT.

Alice Pennycott, of Make Renting Fair WA, said families were facing unfair evictions, unreasonable rent increases, invasive application processes, and unsafe and unhealthy homes at the height of a housing crisis.

“Every day, we hear from renters who are paying through the nose to live in uninhabitable and unsafe homes,” Ms Pennycott said.

“Renters are enduring faulty appliances, broken locks, leaks, dampness, mould, and extreme temperatures in winter and summer, afraid that speaking up could trigger eviction or another rent increase.”

This Northern Territory unit rental is advertised at $680 a week

Alarmingly, eviction without genuine cause remained a live threat in several states, including Queensland and Tasmania where no-grounds evictions were allowed for fixed-term tenancies.

New South Wales introduced legislation ending no-grounds termination notices in May 2025, but swiftly “opened a loophole by reducing the evidence requirements for termination notices due to significant repairs or renovations” just five weeks later, the report noted.

Meanwhile, Western Australia and the Northern Territory had shown “no notable or visible movement” in ending no-grounds terminations, leaving renters in these jurisdictions among the least secure in the nation.

A four-bedroom home in Yarrabilba, Qld renting for $680 a week

Protections against retaliatory evictions, where tenants were kicked out for asserting their rights such as requesting repairs, remained weak.

Renters also faced a patchwork of rules on weekly price hikes, with the ACT standing alone as the only state or territory to implemented a rent cap at “110% of the housing component of CPI.”

In stark contrast, the Northern Territory “continued to make no progress and [allowed] rent increases every six months,” exposing households to double the shock of other states.

While most states now ban agents from soliciting rent bidding, the report highlighted concerns about enforcement. Victoria will make it an offence to accept an unsolicited offer of a higher rent from November 2025.

A one-bedroom apartment in Melbourne renting for $560 a week

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The report also slammed slow progress on minimum rental standards, despite widespread complaints from tenants living in unsafe or unfit housing.

Victoria had introduced new energy efficiency standards, but “unfortunately, the minimum standards legislated in 2018 still do not apply to all Victorian rental properties due to the impact of ‘grandfathering’ provisions.”

The ACT has only released a consultation paper, with “no announcements on any changes to the current provisions.” New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory had made “no change” in legislated minimum standards over the past year.

City views from this Sydney apartment renting at $2,150 a week

Vulnerable groups, including boarders, lodgers, students and those in group homes, also remain largely outside tenancy law protections.

“Across jurisdictions there are still significant numbers of renters who are not provided protections and access to adequate dispute resolution through coverage under tenancy law,” the report warned.

“No Australian should be disadvantaged by the jurisdiction in which they live.

“Two years on, the promise of a Better Deal for Renters is still far from reality.”

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