Shane Rattenbury hopes rental reforms, including no-cause evictions, will be passed in early 2023

Feedback also showed rent bidding was a common market practice, and tenants in the ACT regularly offered more than the advertised price to secure a rental property. However, views were mixed on whether this should be regulated.

Shane Rattenbury said the community feedback showed a series of quite different opinions, but he thought it was possible to strike the right balance between ensuring security of tenancy for renters and allowing landlords to fairly and effectively manage their properties.

"We've tested that question of if we end no cause evictions, the consultation said we'd need to be then more explicit about what's grounds for evictions - and that's received quite good support from stakeholders," Mr Rattenbury said.

The ACT government has previously committed to banning no-cause evictions in the territory.

Mr Rattenbury said the ACT government might also look at promoting longer-term tenancies as more Canberrans were forced to lease places to live for longer periods of time.

"I guess that's the thinking behind a lot of these questions we're posing at the moment: a recognition that people potentially are renting for longer periods of time. A property needs to be a home, not just a rental," he said.

Mr Rattenbury said there was no barrier to longer fixed-term periods in rental agreements, which he acknowledged some tenants would value.

"I think it is an emerging issue, much more than it has been in the past," he said.

The government opened community consultation on potential changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in August last year, which included its commitment to end no-cause evictions.

A report on the consultation process released on Wednesday showed views were mixed between those respondents who identified as tenants and tenants' advocates, and landlords.

"The majority of those who argued against the removal of no cause terminations from the Act identified as either landlords or real estate agents," the report said.

"Several respondents argued that the existing no cause termination provision gives them important flexibility when dealing with their asset. Many indicated they consider the current no cause ground is fair and that 26-weeks' notice is a reasonable time period for a tenant to find another property."

The report noted there was strong overall support for introducing new termination clauses into the act when no-cause terminations were removed.

"Views on whether a new termination clause for the end of a fixed-term tenancy should be introduced were strongly divergent. Many landlords argued strongly that termination at the end of a fixed term should be allowed while many tenants or tenant advocates argued vehemently against the introduction of this ground, saying that it would still allow a landlord to terminate the tenancy without providing any reason to the tenant," the report said.

The consultation process found the overall majority of respondents agreed landlords or agents should be prevented from asking prospective tenants to pay more than the advertised price.

"However, views on whether tenants should be prevented from offering to pay more than the advertised price for a property were more mixed," the report said.

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About 90 per cent of tenants agreed that landlords and agents should be banned from asking prospective tenants to pay higher than the advertised rent, while around 40 per cent of landlords thought the same.

"Several landlords and agents were strongly opposed to preventing tenants from offering more than the advertised price for a property, arguing that rent bidding is a legitimate means to achieving the market price for the property," the report said.

The report found 41 per cent of respondents supported introducing safety and security minimum standards for rental properties first, following by sanitation standards (38 per cent), amenity (11 per cent) and physical accessibility (10 per cent).

Respondents said minimum standards needed to be clearly defined and specific so compliance was easy to determine, and the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal needed to be able to review any disputes between tenants and landlords.

Respondents who opposed the introduction of minimum standards said a prospective tenant who did not like the condition of the property could choose to rent elsewhere, the government's report said.

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