Tenancy law reforms
In September 2018, the Victorian Parliament passed the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2018. This amended the main legislation regulating residential tenancies, the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.
The amendments included more than 130 reforms to Victoria’s rental laws. The reforms were designed to increase protections for renters and residents while ensuring providers can still effectively manage their properties.
The amendments have been progressively coming into effect since 2018 and were fully implemented on 29 March 2021, following the end of the special measures in residential tenancies for the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the amended Act is now in effect, there are transitional arrangements for how existing and new tenancy agreements are dealt with so it is important to get advice about how the law applies if you have a renting problem.
There are some important terminology changes in the amended laws:
- ‘tenants’ are now referred to as ‘renters’
- ‘landlords’ are now referred to as ‘residential rental providers’.
- ‘tenancy agreements’ are now referred to as ‘residential rental agreements’.
For information about the changes to renting laws, visit the Consumer Affairs Victoria website (External link)
Visit the Engage Victoria website (External link)to read more about the consultation and review that led to the tenancy law reforms.