Renting your own place or living with other people can be exciting. However, it can also come with responsibility. This page explains your rights and responsibilities if you are renting.
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The main rights you have as a tenant are:
The main responsibilities you have as a tenant are:
If you miss a rent payment or get behind in rent, it is important that you do not ignore this. Get in touch with your landlord as soon as possible to try and arrange a new date to pay or to negotiate a payment plan. If you get more than 14 days behind on rent, your landlord can give you a notice to vacate. If this happens, it is very important to get some advice from us or Tenants Victoria as soon as you can.
Your lease agreement may also include additional responsibilities, so it is a good idea to read through your lease carefully.
| Rent can be expensive. If you are behind in rent, sometimes there are support services that can help you catch up. Search Ask Izzy for organisations that can help with rent. |
If you are on a periodic or fixed-term lease, a landlord can only increase your rent once every 12 months. However, the law also says that if you are on a fixed-term agreement, the landlord cannot increase the rent at all before the term of your lease ends unless the written agreement includes a term about this.
If the landlord wants to increase your rent, they must give you 90 days’ notice using the correct Consumer Affairs Victoria form. The form has to say what the proposed rent increase is and how they have calculated this amount.
If you think the rent increase is excessive, you can apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria for a review within 30 days. This does not cost you anything.
After Consumer Affairs gives you their report, you have 30 days to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for an order that the rent increase is excessive. You can also go to VCAT within 30 days after receiving the rent increase notice without going to Consumer Affairs Victoria first, but you will need to have good reasons for this.
We recommend you get legal help if you need assistance with making an application to Consumer Affairs Victoria or to VCAT. If you are under 25, you can contact us.
| Before you apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria, it’s a good idea to try and negotiate with your landlord first. Do some research into the value of similar rental properties online to work out what you think is a reasonable rent increase (if any). |
You must tell your landlord in writing if there is damage to the property or if you need repairs as soon as you become aware of them. It is a good idea to send an email so that you have a record of raising the concern and asking for it to be fixed.
For urgent repairs, landlords are required to respond to them immediately. Urgent repairs include things like a broken toilet, serious roof leak, gas leak, dangerous electrical fault, flooding, a broken oven or heating system, serious mould or a pest infestation that makes the property unsafe, or a lack of electricity, water or gas supply.
If you have notified your landlord or property manager and the landlord does not carry out the urgent repairs immediately, you can arrange to have the repairs fixed yourself, as long as they don’t cost more than $2,500. The landlord must reimburse you the reasonable costs of repair within 7 days of you letting them know the cost.
If you cannot afford the urgent repairs, and your landlord is refusing to do them, you can apply to VCAT for an order requiring your landlord to carry out the repairs. VCAT should hold a hearing within 2 working days of making an application.
Non-urgent repairs are necessary fixes that don’t need immediate attention but are still important for keeping the property in good condition. For example, a leaking tap or broken bathroom tiles.
You must give your landlord written notice that non-urgent repairs are needed. If the landlord does not fix the repairs within 14 days, you can:
| Consumer Affairs Victoria has forms that you can use to submit a notice of repairs to your landlord. You can find them here: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/repairs-alterations-safety-and-pets/repairs/repairs-in-rental-properties |
If you caused the damage to your property or were at fault, your landlord can give you a written ‘repair notice’ asking you to repair the damage or pay for repairs. If you do not repair the damage in a proper and tradesman-like within 14 days, your landlord can organise for the repairs to be done at your expense.
You will need to pay back the reasonable costs of repair to your landlord within 14 days after the repairs are completed. If you can’t afford to do this because you are experiencing financial hardship, you can ask your landlord for a 14-day extension in writing. If you make this request, your landlord can ask you to provide proof of financial hardship.
Yes, you can keep a pet if your landlord has agreed in writing or VCAT has made an order giving you permission to keep a pet. Your landlord cannot unreasonably refuse to let you keep a pet at a property. This means they need to have reasonable and legitimate reasons for saying no.
If your landlord wants to say no to you keeping a pet, they need go to VCAT for an order refusing you permission. You and your landlord may try to negotiate rather than going to VCAT. For example, you might agree that the pet is not allowed inside.
If you have asked your landlord to keep a pet and they do not start a case in VCAT within 14 days, this is also treated as if they have said yes to your pet.
If your landlord finds out you are keeping a pet at the property without their consent, they can apply to VCAT asking for the pet to be removed.
If you have a pet at the property, you still need to make sure that you are following your responsibilities not to damage the property, to keep the property reasonable clean and to not disturb your neighbours (for example, with excessive barking).
If you want to ask your landlord if you can keep a pet, you must use the form on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website and give it to your landlord. You can access it here.
Your landlord may conduct an inspection after the first 3 months of the tenancy. After that, they can only do inspections every 6 months.
Your landlord must give you written notice if they plan to inspect or enter the property.
Landlords are required to give you the following amount of notice in the circumstances listed below:
Your landlord can only enter the property between 8am and 6pm on any day (other than a public holiday), unless you agree otherwise. It is an offence for a landlord to enter a property if they do not follow these requirements.
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