Western Australia's rental laws have been moving steadily since the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024 passed, and 2026 has brought the most practically significant batch yet for landlords. Some of it is administrative. Some of it carries real consequences if you get the timing wrong.

This guide walks through what is now in force, what it means day to day for a Perth landlord, and what is still on the way.

This article is a general summary written for Perth landlords, not legal advice. Tenancy law changes and the detail matters. Consumer Protection WA is the official source for current obligations, prescribed forms and dates.

First, a quick recap of the 2024 changes

The reforms that arrived with the 2024 amendments are now well embedded, but they still catch out landlords who have not leased a property in a few years:

• Rent increases once every 12 months. This applies to both fixed-term and periodic tenancies, and renewing a lease with the same tenant does not reset the clock.
• No rent bidding. Properties must be advertised at a fixed amount, and landlords and agents cannot invite or encourage offers above it.
• Pets permitted in most cases. Tenants request permission, and refusal is only available on limited prescribed grounds.
• Minor modifications permitted in most cases. Again by request, with refusal limited to specified grounds.
• Retaliatory action can be challenged. A tenant who believes action was taken against them for exercising their rights can take the matter to court.
• Commissioner determinations. Disputes about pets and minor modifications are decided by the Commissioner for Consumer Protection instead of the court.

What changed on 28 March 2026

The March 2026 changes finished off the first phase. Four of them matter most in practice.

1. A new bond release process

This is the biggest operational change, and it replaces a process that had frustrated both sides for years.

• Any party on the bond — tenant, landlord or agent — can now apply for its release independently. You no longer need everyone to sign a single joint form.
• A landlord making a claim against the bond must set that claim out under specified categories rather than describing it freely. Property damage and unpaid rent are still claimable, but they need to be stated in the prescribed way.
• Bonds Administration notifies everyone else on the bond and gives them the opportunity to agree or dispute.
• If everyone agrees, the bond is paid out as applied for.
• If the application is disputed, or nobody responds within the required timeframe, the matter is referred to the Commissioner for Consumer Protection for a determination based on evidence from both sides.
• There is a seven-day window to appeal the Commissioner's decision to the Magistrates Court.

The practical consequence for landlords is that evidence quality now decides outcomes. A determination is made on what each party can show. A thorough entry property condition report with dated photographs, a matching exit report, and quotes or invoices for any claimed damage are what carry a claim. A vague assertion that the property was left in poor condition will not.

2. Pet bond changes

• The maximum pet bond has increased to $350.
• It must be lodged with the Bond Administrator like any other bond — it cannot be held by the landlord.
• Its purpose has broadened. It can now be claimed against damage caused by the pet, not only fumigation.
• If a tenant acquires a pet part-way through a tenancy, the landlord can request the pet bond either when the pet request is approved or at the next rent increase.

3. A hard 14-day deadline on pet and modification requests

This is the change most likely to cost an inattentive landlord something. When a tenant submits a pet request or a minor modification request, the landlord has 14 days to respond and, where they want to refuse it or impose conditions on it, to apply to the Commissioner within that same window.

If the landlord does not respond and, where required, apply in time, the request is automatically approved without conditions. Not approved subject to the pet being kept outside. Not approved on condition the modification is reversed at the end of the tenancy. Approved, on the tenant's terms.

If you self-manage, the message is simple: diarise the date a request arrives, that day. Fourteen days disappears quickly around a holiday or a busy work period.

4. A new ground for refusing a pet

A pet request can now also be refused where the landlord can demonstrate that allowing it would cause undue hardship to another tenant — for instance a co-tenant with a serious phobia of the animal in question, or a shift worker who would be significantly affected by a noisy bird. As with every other ground, the burden is on the landlord to demonstrate it, so documentation matters.

Updated tenancy agreement forms

New versions of the prescribed forms apply to agreements entered into on or after 28 March 2026, including the rent agreement (Form 1AA) and the accompanying information for tenants (Forms 1AC and 1AD). Using a superseded form on a new agreement is an avoidable error — always download the current version rather than reusing a saved copy.

One deadline still ahead: paper bond forms

Bonds Administration will accept the older Joint Application for Disposal of Security Bond paper forms until 31 December 2026, and those applications continue to follow the old process — meaning the bond is only paid out if everyone on it has signed, and a dispute goes to the Magistrates Court. Anyone on the bond can instead choose the new streamlined release application.

If you have been using paper, this is the year to move across.

Phase 2: what is coming, and what is not law yet

The WA Government has announced a second phase of reforms implementing the remaining recommendations from the review of the Act. These are announced, not yet in force, and the detail and timing are still to be settled. The areas covered are:

• Replacing without-grounds termination with a list of reasonable grounds for ending a tenancy, building on the grounds already in the Act. This is the headline item and the one most likely to change how landlords plan around vacancies and sales.
• Minimum standards for rental homes.
• Maintenance and repair obligations — likely to formalise timeframes and responsibilities.
• Information that must be provided to prospective renters before a lease is offered.
• Tenancy application processes and tenant privacy, covering what personal information can be collected, how it is used and how it is disclosed.
• Boarding, lodging and room-by-room accommodation, which sits largely outside the current framework.

None of this requires action today. It does mean that if you own a rental property in Perth, the compliance picture is going to keep moving for at least the next couple of years.

What Perth landlords should do now

• Use current forms. Download the prescribed forms fresh for every new agreement rather than reusing an old template.
• Tighten your condition reports. Under the new bond process, the entry and exit reports are your case. Dated photographs and specific written comments, not general remarks.
• Diarise every request. Fourteen days from receipt, for pets and modifications alike.
• Get your pet position clear in advance. Decide how you will handle requests, on what grounds you would refuse, and what evidence you would need — before a request lands.
• Time rent reviews properly. Once in any 12 months, with the prescribed written notice given ahead of the effective date.
• Subscribe to updates. Consumer Protection publishes a landlord bulletin. If you self-manage, it is the cheapest compliance tool available.

Where a property manager fits

None of this is beyond a diligent self-managing owner, but the margin for error has narrowed. The 14-day window has an automatic consequence attached to it. Bond outcomes now turn on the quality of documentation rather than on who is more persistent. And Phase 2 will add more.

If you are weighing up whether to keep doing it yourself, our guide to self-managing versus using a property manager in Perth sets out the trade-offs honestly, including the cases where self-managing still makes good sense.

A Wiser Choice is a family-owned agency where the Principal manages your property personally and stays across these changes as they land. You can read about our property management services, see the suburbs we cover, or request a free rental appraisal if you would like a current view of your property's position.