Renting to the highest bidder: calls for federal laws to ban practice amid Australia’s cost-of-living crisis

Lack of available properties is leading to rent bidding, where prices are negotiable and prospective tenants sometimes offer more to secure a dwelling. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Peak housing bodies are calling for nationally consistent rental laws to crack down on bidding wars putting pressure on tenants in a shrinking market.

Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have introduced reforms to ban rent bidding – the process of negotiating the price of a rental by advertising a property within a “range” or without a fixed cost.