More people are renting and for longer periods but the law has not kept up, tenancy advocates say. Innovation Minister Victor Dominello announced on Tuesday the NSW government had received 27 recommendations from Fair Trading NSW's review into the Residential Tenancies Act 2010. One reform - to allow domestic violence victims to terminate their tenancy immediately by providing evidence of an AVO, or court order - was immediately adopted by the government with broad support across the real estate sector. A spokesman for Mr Dominello confirmed the government was "committed to a range of amendments to the act arising from the statutory review". But the recommendations have largely underwhelmed advocates, who say the increasing proportion of Sydney residents who may never move out of the rental market is not being reflected in the state's laws.

"This was an opportunity to set renting laws up for the future, where more and more people are going to be renting for very long periods of their lives," Ned Cutcher, a senior policy officer with the Tenants Union of NSW, said. "The law we have at the moment is not designed for that in mind." Mr Cutcher said the union's "flagship issue" of insecurity in rental arrangements had been left largely unaddressed. In particular, the report recommended the "no grounds termination" provision, which allows landlords to terminate periodic leases without providing any reasons so long as they give 90 days notice, be left unchanged. "It undermines all the other basic rights and principles that are in the Act. It plays into the already unbalanced power dynamic between tenants and landlords and makes it even worse...on the basis they could be given three months notice at any time." This view was also backed by Greens MP Jamie Parker who said the report signalled a "bleak future for NSW renters" and slammed the "no grounds termination" provision as prioritising the profits of landlord-investors first.

Real Estate Institute of NSW president John Cunningham refuted this position, stating that any changes to the provision would be tantamount to "taking away [landlords'] rights of ownership of the property". "A landlord's decision on what they do with their property should be their right." The report also rejected tenant advocates' requests for limits on the number of times and frequency with which landlords could increase rent for periodic leases - that is, leases that have no fixed term. "It is theoretically possible for the landlord to increase the rent on a daily basis as long as the tenant is given 60 days' notice on each occasion," Mr Cutcher said. Under the legislation, tenants can challenge rent increases in Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and the union unsuccessfully lobbied for the onus to be reversed so that the landlord would have to prove that any rent increases above consumer price index were not excessive.

But Mr Cunningham said the status quo correctly balanced tenants' flexibility with periodic leases, with landlords' rights to control their properties. "The important thing is, if you've got the opportunity to sign a lease and be secure, I would certainly recommend taking that course of action." Mr Cunningham said he was surprised the review made no mention of Airbnb given it was one of the biggest disrupting business to enter the Sydney rental market in the last five years, and had "serious implications for both landlords and tenants", particularly with respect to insurance. "We felt there was an opportunity to tighten up the interpretation of those things." The report also made no mention of a perennial tenant complaint: the default "no pets" stance popular among landlords.

"It's essentially a landlord making a decision for a family about whether or not they can have a pet. It's an adult decision, that adults should be able to make," Mr Cutcher said.