Perth Voice Interactive

RENTERS’ rights in WA remain flimsy despite home ownership increasingly out of reach. Many tenants are reluctant to complain about glaring maintenance issues worried rents will be hiked up or they’ll be given a bad reference.

With the WA Residential Tenancy Act up for review this year, WA Greens housing spokesperson Tim Clifford recently held a survey with 700 respondents to find out the major issues around renting.

Concerned with what he heard he’s hosting a public forum on May 2: “With a third of Western Australians renting their home, and increasing numbers of people unlikely to ever own…it’s time to put a spotlight on the fairness of current laws,” he says.

Renters’ rights minimal

“Stories have been shared with us by older people who seek home security but due to the high cost of housing compared to wages, will never own a home,”

“Renting is the norm in other parts of the world, yet in those countries laws provide lease security and fairness for renters, whereas here renters’ rights are relatively minimal.

“Long-term leases in WA are rare and at the end of a six or 12-month lease, a renter can be made to leave without a landlord giving a reason.

“This places strong disincentive on renters to raise maintenance or seek permission to hang a picture or plant a flowerbed, because landlords could perceive this as a nuisance.”

Maylands renter Brendan Abrams has lived in rentals in the eastern states and Japan, and reckons WA is one of the toughest places for tenants.

Long term stability is hard to come by, making it hard to plan for simple things like having a pet (his daughters would love a dog) but even if the current landlord agreed there’s no guarantee the next one will.

There’s a stigma associated with renting in WA, the 43-year-old white collar worker says: “That you’re young or a no-hoper.”

But with home ownership increasingly out of reach: “[It’s] professional people like myself renting these days,” he adds.

The situation for renters was even worse during the boom period, when landlords offered three month releases, then put the property up for a ‘rental auction’ to whoever could pay more.

Mr Abrams says people worry that if they make a fuss their rent might get bumped up.

Gemma, a 31-year-old Inglewood-based renter, has had some bad experiences with landlords not maintaining their properties: “One in particular stood out… we didn’t have hot water for three weeks.”

The real estate agent was reluctant to spend the landlord’s money on a professional. Instead he’d come over unannounced (not allowed under the current act) and unsuccessfully tinker with it himself.

She and her housemates were reluctant to complain, because when they moved they’d need a reference, and didn’t want to be seen as troublesome tenants: “You have no power. You’re a second class citizen,” Gemma says.

The forum is on 6pm to 8pm Wednesday May 2 at the Perth Library Auditorium, 573 Hay Street, it’s free but RSVP Tim.Clifford@mp.wa.gov.au or call 9274 8484. 

Also speaking are Kate Davis, principal solicitor Tenancy WA and Greens WA senator Jordon John-Steele.

Note: when this reporter was renting a rundown flat in Cottesloe, we asked for curtains because people could see our nudity through the bare windows. The landlord said no, then increased the rent $30 a week.

by DAVID BELL

OFTEN eaten by cats and foxes and forced out of their habitat by urbanisation, a population of quendas still manages to survive in Lightning Swamp in Noranda.

Bayswater council is currently in the midst of a four week study of the little marsupial to ensure the population’s health.

Nocturnal and solitary critters who like to fight each other, they’re also known as the southern brown bandicoot and are sometimes mistaken for a rat in the darkness.

Along with introduced feral predators, they also get eaten by barn owls, snakes and even quolls, making for easy prey because they apparently make no effort to avoid those animals’ scents.

Quendas are important for the ecosystem, because in digging up their favourite foods (bugs, spiders, fungi and worms) they also aerate the soil and help seeds to germinate.

You can sometimes tell they’ve been digging in your garden if you find small conical-shaped holes.

The existence of bandicoots is indicative of a healthy ecosystem, Bayswater mayor Dan Bull says

“Their presence highlights an area is likely home to a range of other species with similar needs, as well as those linked to them through the food chain.

“With the bandicoot population in Perth gradually under threat from development and land clearing we need to ensure we protect them.”

As part of the study the Lightning Swamp bandicoots will be microchipped and monitored: “This will assist us in determining if they are under threat and if we need to take steps to protect them.” Cr Bull says.

by DAVID BELL

COUNTRY folk are well acquainted with states of emergency, but with 200,000 people in the city on an average day the City of Perth is focusing on emergency planning in the big smoke.

Last year the council compiled an emergency management strategic plan to coordinate a response in the case of a disaster–natural or man-made.

But a gap analysis found the message still needed to get out to the average citizen.

To address the gap they’ve now released educational material for residents, businesses and visitors, and are hosting two emergency preparation seminars for residents to learn what to do in a SHTF situation.

“There are approximately 26,000 people living in the City of Perth and as the local government authority, we have a responsibility not only to them but to the thousands of workers, visitors, students and tourists who are in the city each day,” City of Perth commissioner Eric Lumsden says.

“While many Western Australians are aware of the significant threat of emergencies such as bushfires, it’s critical for people to understand the risks unique to high rise buildings and prepare accordingly, which is why the City has focused on emergency awareness resources.”

Held by Red Cross, the first seminar is at the City of Perth library Tuesday, May 1, 6pm to 7.30pm. The second is at Citiplace Community Centre (at the train station) Thursday, May 24, 9.30am to 11am.

They’re free but RSVP at info.city@cityofperth.wa.gov.au, or call 9461 3333, and head to perth.wa.gov.au/emergency to read up on what you should do if your day in the city goes pear shaped.

TAKING a break from the pressures of exams and assignments, 45 teens came down to Morley Library to de-stress with the combination of cats and yoga, with a litter of kitties on loan from Cat Haven.