New! Family and domestic violence tenancy flowcharts for lessors and tenants 

When a tenant’s interest in a lease terminates due to family and domestic violence there are certain procedures that tenants and lessors must follow. To help you navigate the process, we’ve created flowcharts that step through what happens at each stage and how to count days to ensure required deadlines are met.

There are two lessor versions available: 

• Lessor chart 4 – When a tenant affected by family and domestic violence terminates their interest in a lease
• Lessor chart 5 – When the Court orders termination of a perpetrator tenant’s interest in a lease on grounds of family and domestic violence

There are also two tenant versions available: 

• Tenant chart 1 – Terminate your interest in a lease on grounds of family and domestic violence
• Tenant chart 2 – When your co-tenant has terminated their interest in a lease on grounds of family and domestic violence

Licence renewals and reminders

As mentioned in bulletin #193, our Licensing Services team now sends out digital renewal reminders exclusively by SMS and email: 

• Three months prior to licence expiry you’ll receive a text message reminding you to go online and ensure your contact details are up to date. 
• Two months prior to expiry you’ll receive a renewal reminder email. 

Unfortunately, up to 20 per cent of renewal reminder emails are bouncing back. This usually happens because agents provide us with their work email address, which they no longer have following a job change.

To ensure you continue to receive important licence reminders from us, we strongly recommend you provide a personal email address (that you will use for a long time) and a personal phone number rather than a work-issued email address or phone.  

You are responsible to ensure your licence remains current while you perform regulated work and you should ensure that your details are kept up to date with the Department.

Do you have employees or bona fide control of a business?

You are responsible for the supervision and control of employees, and to ensure the business is professionally conducted in accordance with the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, Regulations and the Code of Conduct. This includes ensuring all agents performing regulated work for your business hold current licences. 

We recommend you encourage your employees to provide updated personal contact details to ensure they receive licence renewal notices AND submit their renewal forms in plenty of time to avoid licence expiry.

It's tax time: Don't get scammed!

WA taxpayers are being warned about scams as losses increase. In the 12 months to the end of May 2019, 43 people reported to Consumer Protection losing a total of $205,250 to tax scams, representing a substantial increase on previous years. Tax scams usually peak between July and December as people are submitting their tax returns.

Information and advice on scams is available on the WA ScamNet website. Enquiries can be made to Consumer Protection by email or by calling 1300 304 054.