Reforming the Private Rental Sector: Challenges in the 2020s and Beyond

Abstract

Researchers, policy-makers and the media all highlight a crisis in the Australian private rental sector. Often, proposed rental reforms that centre tenants are claimed to cause property owner disinvestment and have a negative impact on the rental market. Recent research which we co-authored found these claims are not substantiated by evidence. In this article, we argue that further reforms are needed to improve the functioning of the rental market for tenants. We examine some of the most contentious issues in rental regulation and assess the evidence of their impacts, drawing from our own research as well as that of others.