Western Plains real estate agents have weighed in on the the NSW government's plan to end no-grounds eviction early next year.

The changes will mean landlords can no longer evict tenants in order to increase rent.

Premier Chris Minns announced the reform last week at the NSW Labor Conference in Sydney, as well as the introduction of Australia's first portable bonds scheme.

Labor Duty MLC for Barwon, Stephen Lawrence, said the changes put downward pressure on rents and longer-term tenancies, although some local real estate managers do not agree.

Fiona Foodey from Halcroft & Bennett Real Estate in Coonamble said these recent changes will affect property investors big time. "I really think it will slow our market down," Ms Foodey said. "It certainly seems property owners will have way less rights."

Stephen Lawrence has a different opinion.

“Landlords will of course still be able to evict tenants who do the wrong thing and for a range of other reasons, including if they wish to sell the property or put family in," he said.

"Those exceptions are entirely valid, but this will put an end to landlords evicting people solely to increase the rent drastically and circumvent the provisions that prevent this being done to existing tenants. Only a Labor government would have undertaken this ‘tenant friendly’ policy and the renters of country NSW should be rightly question why the last government didn’t implement this reform given the housing crisis we face."

In contrast, Ms Foodey said that while it is currently very difficult to get a rental property, these changes will make things even worse, with investors potentially shying away from regional investment.

"Investors aren't going to want to be buying houses if they've got this additional pressure," she said. "A lot of investors come from the city, buying out here because of the high rental return and this change just makes things tougher. It's a worry - who's going to buy the houses?"

Currently, landlords in NSW are able to end rolling leases at any time without reason.

The only requirement is to give the tenant 90 days' notice.

Bond transfer a positive - Lawrence

 “Millions of renters will also soon be able to transfer their bond with them because we are investing $6.6 million to develop and deliver the nation’s first Portable Rental Bonds Scheme," Mr Lawrence said.

"This is being done in a particular context, around 330,000 tenancies turn over every year across the state, with the average tenancy 1.6 years. Moving house costs on average around $4,000 and people have to pay a new bond before their old one is returned. The new scheme will make it easier for renters when moving by allowing eligible tenants to digitally transfer their existing bond to their new rental home. I know this will be welcome news across country NSW where the housing crisis is hitting so hard”

While the impact of these changes remains to be seen, Ms Foodey says she expects the rental market to get worse.

"While my main responsibility is police and education housing, I think across the board things are going to get tough for everyone."

Mixed opinions on rental reform

Cameron McIvor, a property and rentals manager covering Bourke, Brewarrina and Narromine at Schute Bell Badgery Lumpy, said removing no-grounds eviction is "not a biggie" for investors.

"I think we can live with it," he said.

"It was more of a move taken by the state government to help people who are in a rental crisis where I understand it's quite difficult to find rentals in Sydney, whereas regionally it's not quite as hard."

"It's been spoken about for quite a while and I'm not too sure if it's going to help solve the rental crisis or not.

"Most of the properties that we deal in are purchased by investors and they're actually looking for a tenant or they want a continuing tenant in them.

"So, it's not going to be a biggie."

• Story by Kristin Murdoch and River McCrossen.