Western Australia stands apart from several eastern states on one important point: a landlord can still end a periodic tenancy without stating a reason.

Sixty days' notice on the periodic agreement, or 30 days to decline to continue a fixed term at its expiry. New South Wales removed that route in May 2025 and Victoria followed in November. Queensland closed it for periodic agreements back in 2022. WA kept it, and that single difference reshapes how a WA rent roll is managed compared with an eastern states one.

What WA did instead was reform in a different direction. Since July 2024, tenants have had enforceable rights to keep pets and make minor modifications, rent increases have been limited to once a year, and rent bidding has been banned. Then in March 2026 the bond system was rebuilt, moving bond release disputes from the Magistrates Court into the Commissioner for Consumer Protection's determination process.

This guide covers the position as at August 2026.

Key Western Australian Deadlines

1. The Reform Timeline

WA's reforms arrived in phases under the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024, which amended the Residential Tenancies Act 1987. Knowing which phase applies still matters for older agreements.

One transitional point still catches people. The 12-month rent rule applies to periodic agreements and to fixed-term agreements signed on or after 29 July 2024. Where a fixed-term agreement signed before that date contained a six-month increase clause, that clause could run its course, with the 12-month minimum applying once the fixed term ended. Those agreements have now rolled over, but the increase history they produced is still the baseline for the next notice.

On the March 2026 form changes, existing agreements do not need to be replaced solely because of the amendments. Any new periodic lease beginning after commencement must use the current Form 1AA, and terms in existing agreements that are inconsistent with the amended legislation are no longer enforceable from commencement.

The announced second phase is worth tracking rather than acting on. It reaches application processes and applicant data, which is where NSW, Victoria and Queensland have all already legislated.

2. Licensing and Trust Accounts

Real estate and business agents are licensed under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, administered by Consumer Protection within the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. Property owners themselves register nowhere. As across Australia, WA regulates the agent rather than the landlord.

Section 70(1) of the REBA Act requires every individual, body corporate or partnership carrying on business as a real estate or business agent to have its trust accounts audited. Unlike Queensland's licence-based calculation, WA runs on the calendar.

Two points matter operationally. The obligation is triggered by holding trust money at any point in the year, not by holding it at year end, so a single month of trading creates a full audit obligation. And the change-of-auditor window closes on 31 January, two months before the report is due, which means an auditor relationship that breaks down in February cannot be replaced in time.

Underneath the annual cycle sits the ordinary requirement every state imposes: client money reconciled continuously and evidenced to a standard that survives external examination. That makes reconciliation-grade reporting a standing operational requirement rather than something assembled each January.

3. Agreements, Forms and Documents

WA runs on prescribed forms, and using a superseded version is a common source of defective notices. Form 1AA was updated for the 2024 amendments and again in March 2026.

The property condition report carries weight at both ends of the tenancy. The landlord must inspect and prepare the final report within 14 days after the tenancy ends, and give the tenant a reasonable opportunity to be present. Since bond claims now run through an administrative determination rather than a court hearing, that report is doing more work than it used to. A final report prepared late, or without giving the tenant a reasonable opportunity to be present, can weaken the evidence supporting a later claim.

Routine inspections are capped at four in any 12-month period, with between seven and 14 days' written notice.

4. Bonds

Every WA bond is held by the Bond Administrator, a government body within the department. Neither the landlord nor the agent holds the money at any point.

Three features are distinctly Western Australian.

1. The high-rent exception:
   Above $1,200 weekly rent, the four-week cap does not apply. That figure is prescribed by regulation and can change, so check it for any property sitting near the line. A property crossing the threshold at its next increase changes its own permitted bond.

2. The pet bond survives, and grew:
   The maximum residential pet bond increased from $260 to $350 on 28 March 2026, and its permitted purpose now includes pet-related damage as well as fumigation. An existing pet bond can only be topped up to the new amount at the next rent increase or when an additional pet request is approved, so the difference cannot be collected on demand.

3. The release process changed shape:
   Previously a release needed an application signed by everyone, or a court order, and a disagreement meant the Magistrates Court. Since 28 March 2026, any party can apply for release. Bonds Administration will accept the form where at least one party has signed and the bond details otherwise match. The remaining parties then have 14 days to agree or dispute, and a disputed application is referred to the Commissioner for determination.

That last change matters more than it first appears. A tenant can now start a bond release without you, and if nobody responds within 14 days the process continues regardless. Bond release has become an inbound event you may not have initiated.

5. Rent Increases

Rent can rise once in any 12-month period, on at least 60 days' written notice using Form 10. Lease renewals with the same tenant do not reset the clock, which was the practice the amendment was written to stop.

There is no cap on the size of an increase, and rent bidding is prohibited in all forms. A property must be advertised at a set amount, and neither landlord nor agent may encourage or pressure an applicant to offer more.

Planning an increase runs backwards from the effective date. Confirm 12 months have passed since the last increase took effect, count 60 days back from when you want the new rent to start, and allow extra days if the notice is posted.

The rent increase is also the moment to deal with the bond. A bond increase needs its own 60 days' notice, requires at least 12 months since the tenancy started or the last increase, and is capped at four weeks' rent plus the pet bond amount. If an existing pet bond is moving to $350, this is one of only two opportunities to collect it. Miss the increase and you wait another twelve months.

6. Ending a Tenancy

This is where WA diverges most sharply from the rest of the country. A landlord can still terminate without stating a ground, for periodic agreements and for fixed-term agreements at their expiry, subject to the statutory notice periods. It is not a route to ending a fixed term early.

All landlord terminations use Notice of termination (Form 1C). A tenant ending a periodic agreement gives 21 days on Form 22.

Two mechanics deserve attention because they behave unlike Queensland's equivalent.

1. A fixed term does not end itself:
   Consumer Protection is explicit that fixed-term agreements do not stop at the fixed end date. Where no notice is given, the agreement automatically changes to a periodic agreement. It does not lapse, and the tenant does not have to leave. Missing the 30-day window does not merely delay possession, it changes the agreement type and pushes you onto the 60-day periodic notice period.

2. The tenant can stay through the notice period even past the fixed-term end date:
   Serving a 30-day notice too close to expiry means the tenancy continues beyond the date on the lease until the vacate date on the notice.

Where a tenant will not leave after a valid notice expires, possession is obtained through the Magistrates Court. Western Australia has no residential tenancies tribunal, so termination applications sit in the general court system rather than in the tribunals used across the eastern states. Around 4,500 tenancy matters reach WA Magistrates Courts each year, which is part of why bond disputes were moved out of that system in March 2026.

7. Pets and Minor Modifications

These two run on identical machinery, and it is machinery that punishes silence.

A tenant applies using the approved form. The landlord or agent has 14 days to respond. If nothing is done in that window, the request is taken to be approved.

Refusal is not simply a decision to make. A landlord can refuse a pet where a law specifically prevents it, such as strata by-laws. Otherwise, refusing generally requires establishing a good reason to the Commissioner for Consumer Protection and obtaining approval, with an unfenced property being the type of ground contemplated.

Reasonable conditions can be attached to a consent. A bird kept in a cage, or carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy, are the kinds of conditions the scheme allows.

Minor modifications follow the same 14-day rule and the same deemed-approval consequence, with refusal available only on limited grounds. Tenants generally must return the property to its original condition at the end of the tenancy unless the owner agrees otherwise.

Either party can take a disputed refusal or condition to the Commissioner, and either party then has seven days to appeal that determination to the Magistrates Court.

Fourteen days with an approval as the default is the shortest meaningful clock in WA property management, and it fires on an inbound request rather than on a date you scheduled. That is precisely the shape of deadline ordinary reminder systems handle badly.

8. What It Costs to Get Wrong

9. Building It Into a System

Four WA characteristics tend to break configurations built elsewhere in Australia.

1. Three important 14-day response windows can arrive from outside your calendar:
   Pet requests, modification requests and bond release applications each start a response window when an external event occurs, and letting any of them expire produces a procedural consequence you did not choose. Note the consequences differ: silence on a pet or modification request creates a deemed approval, while silence on a bond release lets the application proceed to determination. All three need escalation rather than a reminder, and all three need date-stamping on arrival.

2. Fixed-term expiry is a decision point, not an event:
   Because the agreement converts to periodic instead of ending, the 30-day window has to surface well before the lease end date. Miss it and you are on a 60-day notice period instead.

3. Bond limits move with the rent:
   The four-week cap depends on a $1,200 weekly threshold a property can cross at its next increase, and both the bond top-up and the pet bond increase to $350 are only available at a rent increase that is itself at least 12 months from the last one. None of that can be stored as a fixed figure per property.

4. Disputes split between two forums:
   Pets, modifications and bonds go to the Commissioner, with appeals to the Magistrates Court. Possession proceedings remain with the Magistrates Court directly. A case file built for a tribunal process maps cleanly onto neither.

Underneath all of it, condition reports, repair records and inspection history carry the evidential weight in both forums, which is why they belong in a structured work order and documentation workflow with dates attached rather than in an email trail.

Conclusion

Western Australia reformed on a different axis from the eastern states. It expanded what tenants can do inside a tenancy, giving them enforceable rights over pets and modifications backed by deemed approval, and then in March 2026 handed them the ability to start a bond release without the landlord. What it left untouched is the landlord's ability to end a tenancy without stating a reason.

Ending a tenancy is therefore structurally different here from the eastern states. Day-to-day tenancy administration, by contrast, is less forgiving, because three of the most common inbound events each carry a 14-day fuse with a default outcome attached.

The WA reform program also has a second phase announced but not in force, aimed at application processes and applicant privacy. That is the area where every other large state has already moved, so it is the most likely place for the next change.

Western Australia is one of eight Australian jurisdictions, and its rules are its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a landlord still end a tenancy without a reason in Western Australia?
Yes, for periodic agreements and for fixed-term agreements at their expiry, subject to the statutory notice periods. A periodic agreement needs 60 days' notice and a fixed term needs 30 days at expiry, both on Form 1C. It is not a route to ending a fixed term early.

2. What happens if I do not give notice before a fixed term ends?
The agreement automatically changes to a periodic agreement. It does not end on the lease expiry date, and from that point the 60-day periodic notice period applies.

3. How often can rent be increased in WA?
Once every 12 months, on at least 60 days' written notice using Form 10. Renewing the lease with the same tenant does not restart the 12-month period.

4. How long do I have to respond to a pet request?
Fourteen days. If you do not respond in that time, the request is taken to be approved. Refusal generally requires either a law that prevents the pet, such as a strata by-law, or approval from the Commissioner for Consumer Protection.

5. How much is the pet bond in WA?
Up to $350 for residential tenancies since 28 March 2026, covering pet-related damage and fumigation. Residential parks remain at $250 for fumigation only. An existing pet bond can only be increased to $350 at the next rent increase or when an additional pet request is approved.

Important Notice

This article applies to Western Australia only. Residential tenancy law in Australia is state and territory legislation, and the position differs in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Guidance written for another state does not apply in WA.

Information was checked against Consumer Protection WA, wa.gov.au, the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 as amended by the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024, and the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, available as at 31 August 2026. WA's reforms have been implemented in phases, with the new bond release process commencing on 28 March 2026 and a further phase announced but not yet in force. Prescribed forms have been revised, most recently in March 2026, so always check you are using the current version. The high-rent bond threshold, pet bond maximum and penalty amounts are set by regulation and can change.

Always check the current position with Consumer Protection before serving a notice of termination, a rent increase notice, refusing a pet or modification request, responding to a bond release application, or lodging a trust account audit.

This content is general information only and does not constitute legal, financial or accounting advice. RIOO is not a law firm. Termination proceedings and trust account breaches carry significant legal and financial consequences. Consult an Australian legal practitioner qualified in Western Australia before acting.