New changes to the rental laws

New rules are making renting fairer and more secure for Victorians. From 25 November 2025, significant changes to rental laws will start.

If you're renting, you'll have stronger rights and protections, greater security over your lease and finances and improved safety in your home. If you're a rental provider, you'll have clearer obligations and better processes for managing your property.

The new rules balance the relationship between renters and providers, giving everyone more certainty about their rights and responsibilities.

Rental providers cannot issue a renter with a notice to vacate without a valid reason, even at the end of a fixed-term agreement.

When a fixed-term agreement ends, it will automatically become a periodic (month-by-month) lease unless a rental provider and renter agree to enter into a new fixed-term agreement or the rental provider issues a notice to vacate for a valid reason.

Other existing reasons for a notice to vacate, such as the sale of the property, renovation, or a breach of the agreement like failure to pay rent, are still valid.

Rental providers must give a renter 90 days' notice of a rent increase and certain notices to vacate. This gives renters more time to budget or move. Shorter notice periods still apply when a renter is at fault.

Agents and rental providers will be banned from accepting offers made by a renter to pay rent higher than the advertised amount or to pay more than one month’s rent in advance. This builds on the existing law that bans rental providers from requiring more than one month’s rent in advance or from soliciting or encouraging higher offers of rent.

Rental providers must ensure their property meets the minimum standards at the time the property is advertised, not just before a renter moves in. It will be an offence for a rental provider or their agent to advertise a property that does not meet the minimum standards. Note: From 1 December, rental providers will also need to ensure that all internal windows coverings have secured cords. This is a new minimum standard. More information is below.

Stay tuned, to be continued