Legislative changes for WA renters, miners RENTAL home tenants, landlords and property managers in Western Australia have new rights and obligations after an overhaul of the Residential Tenancies Act, which is about to come into effect. The state government said the changes, which come into force on Monday and apply to both privately and real estate agent-managed properties, were aimed at making current "best practice" in the industry the law. They include mandating property condition reports at the beginning and end of a tenancy, the use of a prescribed standard tenancy agreement that all parties can understand, and depositing all tenant bonds with the state government's Bond Administrator. "This will lead to greater transparency for tenants as to the handling of their bond monies," the WA government said. Other major changes relate to the provision of locks, pet bonds and capping of option fees. Another legislative change that takes effect on July 1 is the Mining Rehabilitation Fund Act 2012, which establishes a pooled fund, levied according to the environmental disturbance on a tenement on a prescribed date each year. Currently, tenement holders must provide bonds as security to ensure that they fulfil their environmental obligations, but this does not cover the true cost of rehabilitating abandoned mines. The state government took the view that increasing bonds to fully cover these costs would place a significant financial burden on the mining industry, tying up cash that could be used for developing a project. Tenements with a rehabilitation liability estimate below $50,000 will report disturbance data but will not be required to make a payment to the fund, which will initially be on a voluntary opt-in basis but will be compulsory from July 1 next year. "This provides companies with an early opportunity to have their bonds retired where approved by the Department of Mines and Petroleum against specific criteria, and allows other companies more time to establish administrative systems," the state government said.