Subletting & Shared Tenancies in WA: Landlord Rules, Bonds & Housemates
Can a WA tenant sublet or add a housemate? Learn the rules for landlord consent, co-tenants, subtenants, bond changes and who is liable for rent and damage.
Your tenant sends you a message:
“My housemate is moving out next month and my friend wants to take their room. Is that okay?”
That sounds simple. Remove one name. Add another. Done.
Except there are several different legal arrangements that can sit behind the phrase “new housemate”.
The incoming person might become a co-tenant on the existing rental agreement, a subtenant of the existing tenant, a tenant under a separate rooming arrangement, or simply an occupant who is not actually a tenant.
Those arrangements are not interchangeable. They affect who owes the rent, who is responsible for damage, who holds the bond, who deals with maintenance, whose name belongs on the tenancy agreement, and what happens when someone moves out.
For WA landlords, the first question should therefore not be “Do I like the new housemate?” It should be:
“What tenancy arrangement are we actually creating?”
Important: This article provides general information about residential tenancies in Western Australia and is not legal advice. Shared-tenancy arrangements can become legally complex, particularly where tenants change during a fixed-term agreement.
What is a co-tenancy?
A co-tenancy is where two or more tenants are named on the same rental agreement with the landlord.
Consumer Protection says co-tenants are jointly responsible for the tenancy, including the full rent, bond and condition of the property.
This is important because rent is not legally divided into isolated personal portions simply because tenants privately agree to split it.
If three co-tenants rent a house for $750 per week and one stops paying their $250 share, the landlord is still owed $750. If one co-tenant misses a payment, the others may need to make up the shortfall or the tenancy as a whole may be in breach.
For the formal arrears process, see LandlordLogic’s Form 21 rent-arrears guide.
Does each co-tenant have their own bond?
No.
Co-tenants on one tenancy agreement contribute to one bond. All tenants named on the rental agreement should also be named on the bond record.
Co-tenants should privately keep track of who contributed what amount, because those private contributions are not the same thing as separate bonds.
That distinction becomes very important when one housemate wants to leave halfway through the tenancy.
What happens when one co-tenant moves out?
Do not simply delete their name from your spreadsheet.
Consumer Protection recommends that co-tenants obtain the owner or agent’s consent when tenants move in or out during the term of the rental agreement.
If an outgoing tenant is being replaced, there are really two records to deal with: the tenancy agreement and the bond. Both should reflect the actual arrangement.
A casual message saying “Yep, Sarah can replace Ben” is poor tenancy administration if the formal documents still say Ben is a tenant six months later.
How does the bond work when a co-tenant leaves?
Consumer Protection’s current bond guidance gives a practical process.
When a tenant leaves a shared tenancy, the tenants should settle the outgoing tenant’s bond contribution between themselves; the incoming tenant can pay the departing tenant directly; the landlord completes a bond variation involving the incoming and departing tenants; and the departing tenant should receive their agreed share before signing the variation.
Once a tenant has been removed from the bond record, they cannot later claim part of that bond when the tenancy eventually ends.
You generally should not try to become the accountant for the tenants’ private bond split. Your job is to make sure the official bond record correctly reflects who the current bond parties are.
For broader bond handling, see LandlordLogic’s rental bond guide.
Does a new co-tenant need a property condition record?
This is worth taking seriously.
Consumer Protection recommends that someone taking over a lease should receive an ingoing property condition report. It also says a tenant leaving a share house should still be given a final PCR even where the other housemates remain.
Suppose a wall was damaged six months before the new tenant moved in. If there is no record of the property’s condition when that person joined the tenancy, arguments at the end become much harder.
A clean handover record protects everyone. LandlordLogic’s tenancy evidence and timeline guide is a useful companion.
What is subletting?
Subletting is different from co-tenancy.
A subletting arrangement exists where the existing tenant — usually called the head tenant — rents some or all of the property to another person.
The subtenant’s landlord is effectively the head tenant, not the property owner.
The head tenant becomes responsible for matters including collecting the subtenant’s rent and bills, lodging any bond they collect, conducting property condition reports and inspections, and organising repairs and maintenance through the actual landlord or agent.
That is a very different relationship from simply adding another person to the owner’s rental agreement.
Can a tenant sublet without asking the landlord?
Check the tenancy agreement.
Section 49 of the Residential Tenancies Act allows a residential tenancy agreement to say that the tenant may assign or sublet, may not assign or sublet, or may assign or sublet only with the landlord’s written consent.
If the agreement says nothing about assignment or subletting, the Act treats the agreement as though written landlord consent is required.
So a tenant should not simply advertise a spare bedroom and move someone in without first checking the lease and obtaining any required consent.
Can a WA landlord refuse a request to sublet?
Sometimes.
But where the agreement allows assignment or subletting with the landlord’s written consent, section 49 says that consent must not be unreasonably withheld.
That means “I never allow subletting because I don’t like it” may not be enough where the contract uses the consent model.
On the other hand, the Act also allows a tenancy agreement to expressly prohibit assignment or subletting.
The lease matters. Check the agreement first, then assess the actual proposed arrangement.
What might a landlord reasonably consider?
Where consent is required, consider the request on its facts rather than treating it as an automatic rejection.
Practical questions include:
- Who is the proposed person?
- Will the number of occupants remain appropriate for the property?
- Is the proposal actually a co-tenancy change rather than a sublease?
- Are there strata or community-title rules affecting occupancy?
- Does the proposed arrangement create insurance issues?
- Is the tenant proposing to leave entirely or remain?
- Is the head tenant intending to rent one room or the whole house?
Understand the arrangement before approving it.
Can a landlord charge a subletting or assignment fee?
Not as a profit-making consent charge where section 49’s written-consent regime applies.
The Act says the landlord must not charge for giving consent other than reasonable expenses incidental to the consent.
That is different from inventing a “$350 tenant-change administration fee.”
Any claimed expense should be genuinely connected to the process and reasonable.
What is assignment of a tenancy?
Assignment is different from subletting.
Subletting: the original tenant remains the head tenant and creates a tenancy underneath their own.
Assignment: the tenant transfers their interest in the tenancy to another person.
Section 49 applies to both assignment and subletting.
This distinction matters where someone wants to leave permanently. Calling every tenant change “subletting” can create unnecessary confusion.
What is a rooming arrangement?
A rooming arrangement is another model entirely.
Consumer Protection describes this as an arrangement where each tenant has their own rental agreement with the landlord and rents a particular part of the property, usually with rights to use common areas.
For example, Tenant A rents Bedroom 1, Tenant B rents Bedroom 2, and both use the kitchen and lounge.
Under this structure, each tenant is responsible for their own rent and obligations rather than being jointly liable for the entire household’s rent. Each separate rooming tenancy also has its own bond.
That can provide clearer liability than a co-tenancy, but it also means the landlord is administering multiple residential tenancy agreements.
Is a housemate automatically a subtenant?
No.
The label people use socially does not determine the legal structure.
Someone saying “My mate is moving in” does not tell you whether that person is becoming a co-tenant, becoming a subtenant, entering a separate rooming tenancy or merely occupying the property.
The safest approach is to clarify the arrangement in writing.
What paperwork does a head tenant need for a subtenant?
A head tenant should not treat subletting as an informal cash-in-hand arrangement.
Consumer Protection says a head tenant should use Form 1AA for the subtenant’s rental agreement and must provide the subtenant with a written agreement and property condition report.
Current guidance states that written residential tenancy agreements must use the prescribed Form 1AA, and two copies of the property condition report must be given to the tenant within seven days of occupation.
Your tenant may be about to take on genuine landlord responsibilities of their own.
What happens if the head tenant takes a bond?
If the head tenant collects a security bond from the subtenant, they must lodge it with Bonds Administration.
The head tenant should identify the subtenant as the tenant and themselves as the landlord.
A subtenant bond is separate from the bond held for the head tenant’s own tenancy.
Current WA bond rules require residential tenancy bonds to be lodged with Bonds Administration as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after payment.
What happens to the subtenant if the head tenancy ends?
This is one of the most important differences between subletting and co-tenancy.
Consumer Protection says the subtenant’s tenancy depends on the head tenant’s right to sublet and will end when the head tenant’s tenancy ends.
So if the property owner lawfully ends the head tenancy, the subtenant does not obtain an independent right to remain simply because they have been paying the head tenant rent.
Who is responsible if the subtenant damages the property?
From the property owner’s perspective, the original tenant remains highly important.
Section 50 of the Residential Tenancies Act provides that a tenant is generally responsible for conduct by people lawfully on the premises through the tenant’s permission where that conduct would amount to a breach if the tenant had done it themselves.
So “My subtenant did it, not me” does not necessarily solve the head tenant’s problem with the landlord.
What if one co-tenant stops paying rent?
If all occupants are co-tenants on one lease, they are jointly responsible for the full rent.
The landlord does not have to reconstruct the tenants’ private agreement about who normally pays which share.
If the full rent is not received, the tenancy may fall into arrears.
See LandlordLogic’s Form 21 guide and WA rent-payments guide.
What if the co-tenants are fighting among themselves?
Consumer Protection says disputes between co-tenants are generally private matters and recommends that housemates make their own written agreements about matters such as rent, bills, bond contributions, cleaning, shared belongings and common areas.
That private housemate agreement does not replace the residential tenancy agreement. It simply helps co-tenants manage their obligations to each other.
Should a landlord screen an incoming co-tenant?
It is sensible to apply a consistent tenancy-relevant assessment where you are being asked to add someone as a legal tenant.
You are potentially making that person a party to the rental agreement.
Apply the same lawful, non-discriminatory principles you would use when assessing another rental applicant.
If you search a prospective tenant on a residential tenancy database, WA’s separate database notification requirements apply. LandlordLogic’s tenancy-database guide covers that process.
Don’t forget the tenancy agreement itself
A common administrative mistake is updating the bond but not the lease — or changing the lease but forgetting the bond.
If a co-tenant changes, review:
- names on the tenancy agreement;
- the bond record;
- contact details;
- rent payment references;
- key records;
- property condition evidence; and
- emergency contact information.
All of those should tell the same story.
A practical landlord process when a tenant asks to change housemates
When you receive “Can my friend move in?”, use this process.
1. Ask what they actually mean. Are they proposing a new co-tenant, a subtenant, or simply another occupant?
2. Check the tenancy agreement. Look specifically at assignment and subletting provisions.
3. Identify whether written consent is required. If the section 49 consent model applies, remember consent cannot be unreasonably withheld.
4. Assess the proposed person and arrangement. Apply consistent, lawful criteria.
5. Decide whether the existing agreement is being varied or a separate tenancy is being created.
6. Document your decision in writing. Record exactly what you are consenting to.
7. Update the tenancy records.
8. Deal with the bond correctly. For a co-tenant replacement, process a bond variation. For a genuine subtenancy where the head tenant takes a bond, the head tenant must manage that separate bond properly.
9. Document property condition.
10. Keep the whole transaction together. Emails, consent, updated agreements, bond variation and PCR evidence should all be easy to retrieve later.
Common landlord mistakes with shared tenancies
Treating every additional occupant as the same thing. A co-tenant and subtenant have very different legal relationships.
Automatically refusing all subletting. Whether you can refuse depends on the tenancy agreement and section 49.
Charging an arbitrary tenant-change fee. Where statutory consent rules apply, only reasonable incidental expenses can be charged.
Changing the bond but not the tenancy agreement. The records then contradict each other.
Leaving an outgoing tenant on the lease indefinitely. That creates unnecessary uncertainty about liability.
Letting tenants sort everything out verbally. Their private arrangement does not update your legal tenancy records.
Assuming each co-tenant only owes their personal share of rent. Co-tenants on one agreement are jointly responsible.
Assuming the property owner manages a subtenant’s bond. In a genuine subletting arrangement, the head tenant is effectively the subtenant’s landlord.
Skipping the PCR when tenants change. That makes later damage disputes much harder.
Shared housing works best when the structure is clear
Most shared-tenancy problems are not caused by the idea of sharing a rental property. They are caused by unclear arrangements.
The landlord thinks “I approved another occupant.”
The tenant thinks “They’re now on the lease.”
The new housemate thinks “I’m subletting the room.”
Six months later someone moves out, the bond is disputed and nobody agrees who was legally responsible for what.
That is avoidable.
Before anybody moves in, establish:
Who is the tenant?
Who owes rent to whom?
Whose name is on the agreement?
Who holds the bond?
Who is responsible for the whole property?
What happens when one person leaves?
Once those questions are answered and documented, the tenancy becomes much easier to manage.
For current official guidance, see WA Consumer Protection — Shared tenancy rights and responsibilities, Changing a bond, and the Residential Tenancies Act 1987.
Managing your own WA rental? Explore LandlordLogic’s practical guides and free resources for bonds, rent, tenant changes, evidence and notices — so changes in who lives at the property are documented properly before they turn into disputes.