South Australia introduced major reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 in stages between March 2024 and January 2026, in the first comprehensive review of the Act since it was written. No-grounds terminations went in July 2024. Notice periods lengthened. A standard application form became mandatory. Penalties rose, in some cases sharply.

Two features of the result will catch out anyone working from an interstate process.

Ending a tenancy in SA is not one procedure with variable notice. It is three separate procedures with different notice periods, different forms and different available grounds, and picking the wrong one may render the notice ineffective rather than merely delayed. And serving a non-renewal notice also gives the tenant an early-exit right. Once notice is given, a tenant can leave early on seven days' notice and stops being liable for rent from that point. The notice you serve to regain the property in 60 days can empty it, and the income, considerably sooner.

This guide covers the position as at September 2026.

Key South Australian Deadlines

1. The Reform Timeline

The reforms arrived through the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2023, commencing in stages, with the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2025 replacing the 2010 Regulations along the way.

You can follow the current position through Consumer and Business Services, which maintains the reform pages and updates its fact sheets as stages commence.

The January 2026 rent change is subtler than it looks. It was already unlawful to increase rent twice in twelve months. The amendment closed the workaround of agreeing a schedule of smaller increases in advance, which some agreements had used to stay technically compliant. Any lease containing a stepped rent schedule inside a twelve-month window needs review.

2. Licensing and Trust Accounts

Land agents are registered under the Land Agents Act 1994, administered by Consumer and Business Services. Property owners register nowhere. As across Australia, SA regulates the agent.

An agent maintaining a trust account must have the accounts audited for each audit period set by the regulations, and lodge an audit statement with the Commissioner. Where no trust money was held during a period, a declaration is lodged instead. Where no trust account was maintained at all, the same applies.

That failure-to-lodge row deserves more attention than the dollar figure below it. The consequence of not remedying a default within 28 days of the Commissioner's notice is not financial. It is cancellation of registration, and with it the ability to trade.

Because the audit period is tied to your registration cycle rather than a common date, there is no industry-wide deadline to work backwards from and no generic compliance calendar that will carry it. It has to be entered from your own renewal documentation.

Monthly reconciliation to bank, cashbook and ledger is an ongoing part of the trust account compliance framework rather than a year-end exercise, which is why reconciliation-grade reporting on client money needs to hold up continuously.

3. Applications and Documents

Since 1 January 2026, residential landlords and agents must use South Australia's standard rental application, Form A1, to consider prospective tenants. It was introduced by regulation on 1 September 2025 and became mandatory four months later.

Three practical points follow. A separate application must be completed by each prospective tenant who will be named on the resulting lease, so a couple submits two forms rather than one. Applicants can now indicate a preferred tenancy duration on the form. And penalties now apply to prospective tenants who provide false information, which gives the form evidential value it did not previously have.

If your application process runs through a portal or a third-party platform, check that what it collects matches Form A1. The obligation sits with the landlord or agent regardless of the tool used to collect the information.

4. Bonds

Bonds are held by the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs in the Residential Tenancies Fund. Neither the landlord nor the agent holds the money.

Two features are worth flagging.

1. The lodgement deadline depends on who you are:
   A landlord has two weeks under section 62(2); a registered agent has four under the regulations. A single agency process built to the shorter deadline is safe, but a self-managing owner working from agency guidance will be working to a deadline twice as long as the one that binds them.

2. The threshold is a hard line at $800 a week:
   Below it, four weeks. Above it, six. A property crossing $800 at its next rent increase changes its permitted bond, and the same thresholds govern topping up older bonds established before April 2023.

5. Rent Increases

Rent can rise once in any twelve-month period, measured from the last increase or from the start of the tenancy, on at least 60 days' written notice using the CBS notice form. The notice must state the new rent and the date it takes effect.

Since 15 January 2026, it is expressly prohibited to agree in advance to a schedule of incremental increases falling within that twelve months. The rule now catches the agreement as well as the increase. Rent bidding is banned and properties must be advertised at a fixed amount rather than a range. A tenant who considers an increase excessive can apply to SACAT within 90 days of receiving the notice.

That 90-day challenge window runs from receipt of the notice, not from the date the increase takes effect. An increase served 60 days ahead can still be challenged a month after the higher rent has started being paid.

6. Ending a Tenancy

Since 1 July 2024, every termination requires a prescribed ground. A notice that states no reason, or states a reason outside the prescribed list, is ineffective. The tenant does not have to leave, and SACAT will not make a possession order.

South Australia then splits termination into three separate routes.

Breach terminations, drug contamination and frustrated agreements run on their own forms and timeframes, with Form 5 for breach, Form 6 for drug contamination and Form 10 where the agreement is frustrated.

Three rules then shape what happens around the notice.

1. Evidence has to accompany the notice:
   Where a possession-required ground is used, specified evidence requirements apply, and CBS publishes what is needed for each ground. This is not material produced later at SACAT.

2. A six-month re-letting prohibition applies:
   Where a tenancy ends on a ground of demolition, renovation, occupation by the landlord or family, contract of sale or sales agency agreement, the premises cannot be let for use primarily as a residence within six months after the date the notice was given. Note the trigger: the date of the notice, not the date the tenant left.

3. The termination date cannot precede the end of a fixed term:
   A Form 9 notice can be served well ahead, but the tenancy still runs to the last day of the term.

Then there is the consequence that changes the economics. Once a tenant receives notice that the tenancy will not be renewed, they can give seven days' written notice and vacate early, and they are not liable for rent after they leave. Serving a 60-day notice can therefore produce a vacancy in eight days rather than sixty, with the rent stopping at the same moment.

That reverses the usual assumption about notice periods. Ordinarily a long notice period protects the landlord's income while the tenant arranges to move. In South Australia, serving the notice is what starts the tenant's clock, and the landlord carries the vacancy risk from the moment it lands.

7. What It Costs to Get Wrong

8. Building It Into a System

Four South Australian features break configurations built for other states.

1. Termination is a routing decision before it is a date calculation:
   The ground determines the form, the form determines the notice period, and periodic and fixed-term tenancies draw on different lists of grounds. Storing a single "notice period" field per tenancy cannot represent this. What is needed is the ground, the tenancy type, the matching form and the evidence pack, captured together before service.

2. Serving notice creates a revenue event, not just a date:
   The tenant's seven-day early exit right means a served notice can end the rent within a fortnight. Forecasting that treats the notice period as guaranteed income will be wrong, and the exposure is largest exactly when the notice period is longest.

3. Two clocks run from the notice date rather than the vacate date:
   The six-month re-letting prohibition starts when the notice is given, which means it is already running while the tenant is still in the property. So does the tenant's ability to leave.

4. The trust audit deadline comes from your registration cycle:
   No shared industry date, no generic calendar entry, and a failure to remedy cancels registration rather than attracting a fine.

Underneath it, condition reports, repair records and the evidence supporting a termination ground all carry weight at SACAT, which is why they belong in a structured work order and documentation workflow with dates attached rather than in an email trail.

Conclusion

South Australia's reform went further than lengthening notice periods. It restructured termination into three routes with different grounds, forms and timeframes, attached evidence requirements to the notice itself, imposed a six-month re-letting ban running from the notice date, and gave tenants an early exit that starts the moment a notice is served.

The effect for an operator is that the expensive errors in SA are not missed deadlines. They are wrong-route errors: the right ground on the wrong form, the right form with the wrong notice period, or a notice served without the evidence that makes it valid. Each of those may render the notice ineffective, and the discovery usually comes when SACAT declines to make an order.

CBS publishes updated fact sheets as each stage commences, and given the reform ran to January 2026 with technical amendments still landing, checking the current form before serving is worth the two minutes.

South Australia is one of eight Australian jurisdictions, and its rules are its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a landlord end a tenancy without a reason in South Australia?
No. No-grounds terminations were abolished from 1 July 2024. Every termination, including declining to renew a fixed term, requires a ground prescribed by the regulations. A notice without a valid ground is ineffective and SACAT will not make a possession order.

2. How much notice do I have to give?
It depends on the route. Sixty days on Form 7 for a periodic tenancy where possession is required for demolition, renovation, family occupation or sale. Ninety days on Form 8 for a periodic tenancy on other prescribed grounds. Sixty days on Form 9 for declining to renew a fixed term.

3. Can a tenant leave early after receiving a termination notice?
Yes. Once notice is given, the tenant can give seven days' written notice, vacate, and stop being liable for rent from that point.

4. Can I re-let after ending a tenancy for renovation or sale?
Not within six months, where the ground was demolition, renovation, occupation by the landlord or family, a contract of sale, or a sales agency agreement. The six months runs from the date the notice was given.

5. How often can rent be increased in SA?
Once in any twelve months, measured from the last increase or the start of the tenancy, with at least 60 days' written notice. Since 15 January 2026 it is also prohibited to agree in advance to incremental increases falling within that twelve-month period.

Important Notice

This article applies to South Australia only. Residential tenancy law in Australia is state and territory legislation, and the position differs in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Guidance written for another state does not apply in SA.

Information was checked against Consumer and Business Services, the South Australian Law Handbook published by the Legal Services Commission, the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2025 and the Land Agents Act 1994, available as at 1 September 2026. SA's reforms commenced in stages between 1 March 2024 and 15 January 2026, and CBS fact sheets have been updated at several points during that period. Prescribed forms, grounds, evidence requirements, thresholds and penalties may change. Trust account audit periods are tied to the registration cycle and should be confirmed from your own renewal documentation.

Always check the current position and the current form with Consumer and Business Services before serving a termination notice or a rent increase notice, and before lodging a trust account audit statement.

This content is general information only and does not constitute legal, financial or accounting advice. RIOO is not a law firm. Termination proceedings and trust account breaches carry significant legal and financial consequences. Consult an Australian legal practitioner qualified in South Australia before acting.