Standing in the kitchen of her North Perth rental, Alyssa explains the dilemma she and her partner faced when their landlord told them their rent would be going up.
Alyssa is working two part-time jobs while studying a social work degree, but is still struggling to make ends meet.
"I don't really do anything fun," said the 29-year-old, who doesn't want to be identified because she's worried her landlord will recognise her.
"I know that we have some repairs due at the moment for our cars, and that's something that I have to save for.
"When your rent is [more than] 50 per cent of your income, you just put the rest of that money into paying your other bills and living."
Alyssa is caught in one of the tightest rental markets in the country, with just 0.6 per cent of rental properties available, according to the latest CoreLogic data.
Mixed views on how to ease rental pain
Rental reform advocates say the state government could change the law to make things better for renters such as Alyssa.
However, others warn any changes could spook landlords into selling up, making the problem even worse.
The West Australian government has been reviewing the state's tenancy laws for more than three years and closed submissions to the review in mid-2020.
Over that time, the Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) says about 20,000 rental properties were taken off the market.
Research from Anglicare last month found an increasing number of rentals were becoming out of reach, with none in the state affordable for people on Commonwealth payments and even those on minimum wage being priced out of the market.
Renters forced to accept big price hikes
Alyssa said those pressures contributed to her accepting a rent increase of $105 a week in under a year.
In July 2022, the landlord of the North Perth home — that she shares with her partner — had planned to lift the rent from $470 a week to either $650 or $670.
After the pair said they couldn't afford that and faced leaving the property, the landlord reduced the increase to $80 a week, followed by another $25-a-week increase six months later.
Alyssa said that, while far from ideal, she and her partner decided it was better to take the offer and keep the place they already had instead of competing against dozens or more people to get another, potentially cheaper, rental.
'I didn't want them to say no'
"I didn't want to start a back-and-forth with them about the cost, because I didn't want them to say, 'No … we don't want you to stay now, you've asked too much of us'," she said.
"I felt like, if I knew where I was going to live, I would kind of just accept the terms that were dictated to me because it meant that I was in a house and that I knew where I was going to stay."
That was despite her contribution to rent now taking up about 60 per cent of her income, making it almost impossible to save for when she has to take around 13 weeks off work twice in the next two years to complete work placements that are part of the social work degree she's studying.
"With the legislation the way it is now, it is so easy for a tenant to lose their house or feel like they're trapped into agreeing to costs that seem unfair," she said.
Push for rent caps
She responded to a survey of more than 350 renters being run by the Make Renting Fair campaign, which found 85 per cent of renters would struggle if their rent increased by another 10 per cent in the coming year.
The group is using its findings to push for changes to rental laws, including capping how much rent can be increased by, and removing the ability for landlords to evict tenants without reason.
About 20 per cent of respondents had seen an increase above the average hike across the past 12 months.
Around 40 per cent had tried to negotiate the extent of their rent increase but were refused, while the same amount said they did not even ask, with many reporting fear of losing their lease and not being able to find another property as a key reason.
Of the survey's respondents, about two-thirds said they were concerned about rent increases or their lease not being renewed if they asked for maintenance on their property.
The campaign's push was supported, in part, by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre's latest Housing Affordability in Western Australia report, published this past week.
"Rental reform is absolutely essential," one of its authors, Steven Rowley, told the ABC.
"We need more security of tenure for tenants and we need more fairness when it comes to rent increases."
However, the property professor said, making those changes now, when the market was already so tight, came with a risk that investors could sell up and make it even more difficult for renters.
"There is evidence from other states that, actually, reform doesn't have a massive impact on supply, but there is always that potential," he said.
"The big one is no-grounds eviction. [It's] a really difficult position for a tenant to be in, but the landlord wants to maintain control over that property."
'Rent capping code for housing supply reduction'
With the rent on the minds of many Australians this week, including national cabinet, the Property Council of Australia emailed its members with similar messaging, saying "rent capping is code for housing supply reduction".
"Rental caps would reduce investment in the market — the same shrinking market where completions will be so much lower than the 2018 peak, due to poor state planning and populist overseas investor charges," chief executive Mike Zorbas wrote.
However, he did find common ground with reform advocates, joining their calls for the federal government to increase rent assistance and for state governments to significantly increase housing supply.
The Real Estate Institute of WA — which represents agents and property managers — has also raised concerns about tinkering with rental laws.
"Adding further restrictions on the market will exacerbate the problem, which is one of supply," the organisation said in a statement.
It said some of the proposed reforms had merit, including incentives for parties to enter into long-term rental agreements and the new proposed system for disposal of security bonds.
"However, property owners have voiced concerns about other proposals, including no-grounds terminations, tenants making modifications to a rental property without consent, pets without prior approval, prescribed minimum standards and dispute resolution," the statement said.
"Regulatory changes that diminish their confidence in being able to manage their investment will simply encourage those people to sell out of West Australian property and put their money into another investment where they have more control over the financial performance of their asset, in turn, putting further pressure on the rental market."
Government faces 'a balancing act'
While the government is under pressure to make cost-of-living support a focus of Thursday's state budget, relief for renters is almost certainly much further away.
In a statement, Commerce Minister Sue Ellery — who will be responsible for any changes — said she was considering the results of consultation undertaken by her department.
"Western Australia's tight rental market is a balancing act. We need to address the issues some tenants are facing and we also need properties to remain on the market," she said.
When quizzed on this issue this past week, Premier Mark McGowan said he was yet to see the results of the government's review, but indicated a willingness to consider limiting rent increases to once a year, rather than twice, and allowing pets as standard.
That falls short of what happens in the ACT, which Make Renting Fair describes as the ideal model for rental laws.
The territory recently banned no-grounds evictions and introduced a minimum standard for ceiling insulation, after passing a law in 2019 to cap rent increases at inflation plus 10 per cent.
Queensland has already put an end to no-grounds evictions and made it easier to live with pets, and has limited rent hike to once a year.
Mr McGowan said he was supportive of the latter idea, but almost completely ruled out a rent cap.
"The experience internationally when you do these things is often that it means less investment," he said last Monday.
"The main thing is we've got to get more houses and more rental properties and more apartments and units as rental properties.
"So, as more come online, you find that … the cost of rentals stabilises and becomes more affordable."
More action need amid 'cost of living crisis'
However, Make Renting Fair campaign spokesperson Alice Pennycott said Western Australia needed to act to steady the rental market.
"Limiting rent increases to once per year is a necessary, and overdue, reform to stabilise a volatile rental market that is compounding household insecurity during a cost-of-living crisis," she said in a statement.
"It shouldn't solely be up to the tenant to try to negotiate the amount of a rent increase, especially when they can be evicted without any reason.
"Unfortunately, while we know there are many landlords [who] choose not to impose unfair rent increases on their tenants, the current laws allow and even encourage worst practices to continue, to the detriment of tenants who simply have no power to refuse."
Alyssa said limiting increases to once a year would help give renters like her a greater sense of security, and that capping increases would help people plan for the future.
"I feel like, between now and when my lease is due to expire, I am just waiting to figure out what I'm going to do after that," she said.
"There is a chance that my rent will increase by a little and it still sits within our budgets and it's good for another year.
"But, if that's not the case, then between now and then, I'm thinking about where are we going to live six months from now? Will it be here?"
