Roller shutters in Fremantle

Over five years, Fremantle's burglary count is little changed. WA Police recorded 119 burglaries in 2021 and 112 in 2025, with a higher 135 in between, in 2024. The longer view shows a bigger fall: 2017 had 190, so the longer run is down by 41.1%.

The 2025 count works out at 12.1 per 1,000 residents, about three times the metropolitan rate of 4.0. Two things are worth knowing about that number. First, it covers homes and businesses together, and 21.0% of Fremantle's land is commercial or industrial. Second, it is calculated on the 2021 Census population of 9,251, and the suburb is estimated to have grown by 17.6% since that count, so the rate per current resident is likely lower than the figure suggests.

Motor vehicle thefts dropped more clearly, from 71 in 2021 to 33 in 2025.

A shutter does the same job in Fremantle as anywhere else. Rolled down, it is a physical barrier on a window or door that makes forced entry slower and noisier. It adds to, rather than replaces, the basics WA Police list, such as deadlocks on external doors and sensor lighting.

Fremantle's housing is far more mixed than the Perth average. At the 2021 Census, 39.9% of occupied dwellings were separate houses, against 77.8% across Greater Perth. Another 32.1% were semi-detached, terrace or townhouses and 27.4% were flats or apartments. Home ownership was 55.7%, compared with 70.4% for Greater Perth.

For many owners, strata comes first. WA's default strata by-laws require the strata company's written consent before you keep anything visible from outside the lot that is not in keeping with the rest of the building. Landgate notes that this approval is in addition to any planning or building approval that might also be required.

Separate houses and terraces suit residential roller shutters. Shops and offices are a different matter: commercial roller shutters in the city centre zone come under a specific City policy, set out below. Courtyards and balconies can be closed in with Ziptrak, Slidetrack or cafe blinds. The closest finished job on our list is a manual Ziptrak blind in Hamilton Hill, 4.0 km away.

Start with the state rule. Work on a single house is exempt from development approval only where the R-Codes apply, the work meets the deemed-to-comply provisions and the property is not heritage protected. In Fremantle that last condition carries real weight.

The City of Fremantle's heritage areas listing, LPP 3.6.1, names the West End, Fothergill Street and Memorial Reserve heritage areas in Fremantle. Its exemptions policy, LPP 1.7, treats every property inside a heritage area as heritage protected, contributory or not, and says works to those places need development approval unless the policy's table exempts them. Shutters and blinds are not named in that table. The heritage policy, LPP 3.6, adds that front verandahs and porches of contributory and listed homes are not to be enclosed, and it rules out external roller shutters in front of heritage shopfronts.

Businesses in the City Centre zone have their own policy, LPP 3.2. It counts roller shutters as security screens, says solid or mostly solid screening is not appropriate, asks for screens to be at least 80% visually permeable, and prefers them inside the building, behind the window or door.

Older owners may be able to offset part of the cost. The WA Seniors Card Safety and Security Rebate covers security window screens or window shutters, up to $400 per household.