Victoria's rental sector has changed rapidly, and the reforms are not finished. No-fault evictions ended in November 2025. Rent increase notices went from 60 days to 90 at the same time. Prescribed application forms arrived in March 2026. Portable bonds launched in July. A further tranche lands on 13 October 2026, and energy efficiency standards begin phasing in from March 2027.

Victoria also uses different words for everything. The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 refers to a rental provider rather than a landlord, a renter rather than a tenant, and a rental agreement rather than a lease. Agencies operating across state lines should not assume that terminology, forms or processes used elsewhere will match Victoria's requirements.

This guide covers the position as at August 2026, with deadlines, notice periods and evidence requirements set out for reference.

Quick Reference: Every Victorian Deadline

1. The Reform Timeline

Victoria's changes are staged, and knowing which stage applies matters more here than in most states. Notices issued before a commencement date are generally governed by the old rules.

Announced but not yet in force: proposed legislation would cap certain lease-break costs at a maximum of four weeks' rent. This is not current law and should not be relied on.

You can track the current commencement position with Consumer Affairs Victoria, which is worth doing before relying on any date here.

2. Licensing and Trust Accounts

There is no landlord register in Victoria. The state regulates the agent and the property standard rather than the person who owns it.

Trust accounts. Money received on behalf of a client sales deposits, rent, advertising or maintenance funds must be deposited into a trust account with an authorised financial institution. Under section 64 of the Estate Agents Act 1980, any agent who carried on business during a financial year must have those accounts audited.

The audit deadline works in two stages, which is a real difference from other states:

The second deadline is the one that catches agencies out. It does not begin on a fixed calendar date it begins the day the auditor's report arrives, and a late lodgement carries a substantial penalty regardless of whether the audit itself was clean. Where no trust money was received or held during the audit year, check the current myCAV declaration requirements, as a confirmation may still be needed.

3. Documents You Must Provide

Since 31 March 2026, rental providers and agents must use the prescribed rental application form and comply with the rules governing what may be requested from applicants. The change reaches further than replacing a template: application questions, supplementary requests and the retention of applicant information all need to follow the current requirements, and unsuccessful applicants' information cannot be held indefinitely.

Application data has become a compliance liability rather than an asset.

4. Minimum Standards

Victoria's minimum rental standards cover 15 categories: bathrooms, electrical safety, heating, kitchens, laundries, lighting, locks, mould and damp, structural soundness, toilets, ventilation, vermin-proof bins, windows, window coverings, and window covering anchors.

The specifics are concrete rather than aspirational. External entry doors need functioning locks. Kitchens need a working stovetop with at least two burners. Bathrooms need hot and cold water. Rooms must be free of mould and damp caused by or related to the building structure. The heating standard has applied to relevant new agreements since 29 March 2023 and generally requires a fixed, energy-efficient heater in the main living area.

Two dates matter. Since 25 November 2025, a property cannot be advertised unless the rental provider or agent reasonably believes it meets the standards. From 13 October 2026, records must be kept sufficient to show the property complied at the time it was advertised or offered for rent.

What those records look like in practice: gas and electrical safety certificates, service invoices, condition reports and receipts, held against the property with the dates they were issued.

That requirement changes the nature of the obligation. Believing a property complies is a judgement. Evidencing that it complied, at a given date, is a filing system.

5. Bonds

The October change creates two obligations, not one. At the end of a rental agreement, a rental provider intending to claim on the bond must notify the renter in advance, and that notification must include the evidence supporting the claim.

The practical effect is that the evidence has to exist before the conversation starts. Damage needs documenting with photographs, quotes and invoices as it is found, not assembled after a claim is contested.

The Portable Rental Bond Scheme

The scheme launched on 1 July 2026. It is optional for renters, and the core process for rental providers and agents is unchanged.

One lodgement setting matters. To be eligible, the renter must pay the bond directly to the RTBA rather than through the rental provider or agent. Industry guidance describes this as selecting the Renter Pay option at lodgement. Ask the renter at the outset how they intend to pay, and check the current RTBA lodgement instructions before submitting, since a different payment arrangement may affect their eligibility to port the bond later.

Claims and disputes otherwise run as before, and a rental provider at the first property can still claim after a transfer has happened.

6. Rent Increases

How to raise the rent, in order:

1. Confirm 12 months have passed since the last increase took effect.

2. Count 90 days forward from your intended service date. That is the earliest the new rent can apply.

3. Prepare the notice setting out the new amount and a clear calculation of how it was reached. Vague notices can be declared invalid.

4. Serve it, allowing extra days where the notice is posted.

5. Expect a possible rent assessment request within 30 days of service.

Since 31 March 2026, Consumer Affairs Victoria, RDRV and VCAT can weigh additional factors when assessing whether an increase is excessive, including CPI for Melbourne, rent rises over the previous 24 months, the condition of the property, and whether the increase exceeds the market range for comparable properties.

That list rewards preparation. An increase justified only by market movement, on a property whose condition has not changed and which was already increased last year, has more to answer for than one supported by documented improvements.

7. Ending a Tenancy

Since 25 November 2025, a rental provider cannot end a tenancy without a prescribed reason. Sections 91ZZD and 91ZZDA were repealed, removing the ability to end an agreement at the expiry of a fixed term. Allowing a lease to run out is no longer a route to vacant possession.

Notice periods by ground

Notices given before 25 November 2025 remain governed by the previous 60-day periods. Check current periods and evidence requirements with Consumer Affairs Victoria before serving, and allow extra days where posting.

Three rules that invalidate notices

1. Documentary evidence is a validity requirement for the grounds it covers:
   Under s91ZZO(e), a notice to vacate given under sections 91ZW to 91ZZC must be accompanied by documentary evidence supporting the stated reason. For those grounds, the evidence is part of the notice, not something supplied later at a hearing.

2. Fixed terms still run:
   Where the agreement is for a fixed term, the termination date on a 90-day notice must fall on or after the last day of that term.

3. The prescribed form is mandatory:
   Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes the "Notice to vacate to renter/s of rented premises" form, and it must be used.

After the Notice

Under s91ZZH, where a renter vacates because the property is to be demolished, used as a business, sold, or occupied by the rental provider or a dependent family member, and that does not then happen, the property cannot be re-let for six months without VCAT's permission. The six months runs from the date the notice was given, not the date the renter left. Penalties apply for re-letting inside that window, and renters can complain directly to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Disputes now run through Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria before reaching VCAT.

8. Pets

Victoria's pet process has an unusual procedural feature: a rental provider who wants to refuse consent must apply to VCAT within the required timeframe. The decision is not theirs to make alone.

A renter requests consent to keep a pet. The rental provider then has 14 days to consent, or to apply to VCAT for an order that refusal is reasonable.

It creates a 14-day tribunal deadline, and missing that deadline results in consent being taken to have been given. Any workflow that treats a pet request as a routine approval task will fail this one.

9. Repairs and Safety

Victoria splits repairs into urgent and non-urgent, and the two run on very different tracks.

Urgent repairs

Urgent repairs include a burst water service, a blocked or broken toilet, a serious roof leak, a gas leak, a dangerous electrical fault, flooding or serious flood damage, serious storm or fire damage, a failed or unsafe essential service or appliance for hot water, water, cooking, heating or laundering, a failure of the gas, electricity or water supply, a failed cooling appliance provided by the rental provider, and any fault or damage that makes the property unsafe or insecure including pests, or mould and damp caused by or related to the building structure.

Renters must not attempt electrical or gas repairs themselves. Those require a licensed tradesperson at the rental provider's cost.

Non-urgent repairs

The renter gives written notice using the prescribed CAV form, and the rental provider has 14 days to act. If nothing happens, the renter can request a free repairs inspection from Consumer Affairs Victoria, which produces a written report that may direct repairs within a specified timeframe, and can escalate to Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria and then VCAT.

Safety obligations

Smoke alarms must be correctly installed, in working order, fitted with batteries and tested at least once every 12 months. Since November 2025 this applies to all rental agreements, not only those entered into after March 2021.

From 13 October 2026, gas and electrical safety checks must be carried out every two years by qualified, licensed tradespeople. This applies regardless of when the rental agreement commenced, and there are no exemptions. Industry guidance also indicates a gas check will be required before any draughtproofing work is undertaken, which is worth confirming with Consumer Affairs Victoria before scheduling that kind of work.

Two-year cycles are harder to administer than annual ones, because they align with nothing else and drift out of sync as properties are acquired. Safety certificates, minimum standards evidence and repair history all need to sit in a structured work order and documentation workflow, filed against the property with dates attached, rather than in a folder searched only when a renter complains.

10. What It Costs to Get Wrong

11. Building It Into a System

The easiest way to miss these rules is to manage them as individual reminders. Victoria's framework works better when each legal trigger is attached to a property, tenancy or notice record with a defined owner and a deadline.

Four triggers behave unlike their equivalents elsewhere:

A pet request opens a tribunal window, not an approval task. Fourteen days, with silence granting consent.

Evidence attaches to the notice, not to the hearing. For the grounds covered by s91ZZO, a notice served without its documentary evidence does not do its job. From October 2026, the same principle reaches bond claims: the evidence goes to the renter before the claim, not to the tribunal afterwards.

The re-letting clock starts at service, not at vacant possession. Six months from the date the notice was given, running while the property is still occupied.

The audit lodgement clock starts on receipt, not on a calendar date. Ten business days from when the auditor's report arrives, which means the deadline is set by someone outside the agency.

Safety checks then run on a two-year cycle from October 2026, per property, aligned with nothing else in the calendar. Underneath it all sits the trust account itself, requiring reconciliation-grade reporting that will hold up to an auditor with a statutory duty to report what they find.

Conclusion

Victoria's rental market has undergone a rapid series of reforms and is still changing. Since November 2025 the changes have removed no-fault eviction, extended rent increase notice from 60 days to 90, standardised applications, restricted what may be asked of applicants, made minimum standards a precondition to advertising, and introduced a Portable Rental Bond Scheme.

The direction is consistent: from discretion to evidence. Ending a tenancy needs a prescribed reason with documentation attached to the notice itself. Refusing a pet needs a tribunal application. Raising rent needs a calculation that survives comparison against CPI, recent increases, condition and comparables. And from 13 October 2026, claiming on a bond means telling the renter in advance and showing them the evidence first.

Victoria is one of eight Australian jurisdictions, and its rules are its own. The notice periods, bond mechanics and pet process elsewhere in Australia are not these ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a landlord end a tenancy at the end of a fixed term in Victoria?
No. Since 25 November 2025 the relevant provisions were repealed, and a prescribed reason is required to end any tenancy, including at the expiry of a fixed term.

2. How much notice is required for a rent increase in Victoria?
At least 90 days since 25 November 2025, and no more than one increase in any 12-month period. The notice must set out a clear calculation of the new amount.

3. What is the notice period for a notice to vacate in Victoria?
It depends on the ground. Most non-breach grounds repairs, demolition, business use, provider or family moving in, sale, public purposes require 90 days. Breach grounds generally require 14 days, and endangering others allows immediate notice.

4. How do I refuse a pet in a Victorian rental?
By applying to VCAT within 14 days of the request for an order that refusal is reasonable. If nothing is done within 14 days, consent is taken to have been given.

5. How much is the bond, and where is it held?
Generally one month's rent, held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority. The rental provider or agent never holds the money and must lodge it within 10 business days of receipt.

Important Notice

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

Information was checked against Consumer Affairs Victoria, vic.gov.au, Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, Victoria Legal Aid, the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and the Estate Agents Act 1980 as amended, available as at 24 August 2026. Victoria's reforms are being implemented in stages, with further changes commencing on 13 October 2026 and energy efficiency standards phasing in from 1 March 2027. A cap on certain lease-break costs has been announced but is not yet in force. Transitional rules mean notices issued before a commencement date may be governed by the previous requirements. Prescribed forms, evidence requirements, penalty unit values and fees may change.

Always check the current position with Consumer Affairs Victoria before serving a notice to vacate, serving a rent increase notice, making a bond claim, or lodging a trust account audit.

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