A politician who earns a salary of $167,000 has found himself homeless in a sign that Australia’s housing and cost of living crisis is out of control.
Independent Western Australia MP Wilson Tucker is living in hotels and his car after being handed a no-grounds eviction notice at the end of April.
Though he wasn’t given a reason as to why his fixed-term rental contract was ended, Mr Tucker suspects it was all about re-letting the property at a higher rate.
‘In WA, the frequency in which a landlord can increase rents has been changed from six months to 12 months, but it doesn’t stop a landlord from terminating a contract using no-grounds evictions,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
He said this then allows the property owner to ‘reissue it at a much higher rate because we don’t have any rental caps’.
Independent Western Australia MP Wilson Tucker (pictured) is living in hotels and his car after being handed a no-grounds eviction notice at the end of April
Mr Tucker said he sees himself as nomadic rather than homeless, and acknowledges that with his high salary he is much more fortunate than others in a similar situation.
But the existing law around evictions in Western Australia makes things more difficult for renters there than in other parts of the country.
‘No-grounds eviction has either been removed or is in the process of being banned and removed in every other state and jurisdiction in Australia except for WA,’ Mr Tucker said.
He said that though the state Labor government recently introduced some rental reforms, ‘WA still has the weakest rental protection laws in the country’.
‘The balance of power resides with landlords and property managers, so a lot of renters don’t feel like they can speak up, exercise their rights or make basic repair requests.
‘They feel like the axe could fall and they could face eviction and homelessness as a result. And given how tight this market is, an eviction notice could mean that you’re out of your house and you’re on the street.’
Mr Tucker said he has looked at a lot of places since he got his eviction notice six weeks ago, but has not yet been able to find a place to rent.
‘There’s certainly a lot of fear and desperation in the market. There’s literally hundreds of people showing up (to view rentals), competing over a handful of properties … it has been incredibly frustrating.’
As he represents the mining and pastoral region of Kununurra in WA’s upper house, Mr Tucker has ‘decided to basically pack up and live out of my car up north’ during the weeks that parliament isn’t sitting.
He said he will stay in hotels when he needs to be in Perth, and spend the rest of the time living out of his Prado and in a tent while he goes around his electorate, which is 2,205,281 square kilometres.
‘There’s some days where it makes sense if you’re in a more remote location to pull up a tent. If I’m staying in more of a regional town like Kununurra, I’ll probably grab a motel.’
The WA government banned rent bidding in its recent reforms, with Commerce Minister Sue Ellery saying it means ‘stronger rights for tenants’.
‘Sending undercover officers to rental property inspections is one way Consumer Protection will ensure that changes to rent bidding will be adhered to.’
Ms Ellery said the changes will also ’empower renters to challenge unfair treatment by landlords.
‘Tenants can now seek relief in the Magistrates Court if they believe their landlord retaliated for exercising their rights, such as requesting repairs or filing complaints.’
A politician who earns a salary of $167,000 has found himself homeless in a sign that Australia’s housing and cost of living crisis is out of control. A property for rent is pictured
But Mr Tucker said the new laws don’t go far enough and that ‘It’s incredibly disappointing that the WA government has sided with the property industry to the detriment of the 700,000 renters.’
He said he wants the state government ‘to rethink their position’ on rental protection.
‘The elephant in the room, the low hanging fruit here is to remove no-grounds evictions and bring WA in line with the rest of the country.’
Daily Mail Australia has approached the WA government for comment.