As you may know, there will be over 130 changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Victorian government announced in 2018 amendments to the Act, with the majority of these changes coming in on 01 July 2020.
Some proposed regulations haven’t yet been confirmed or finalised. We anticipate these will be published in May 2020. We will provide you with further information in due course.
New Pet Legislation from March 2020
Consumer Affairs Victoria has announced that from today, Monday 2nd March 2020, the new renting laws, relating to pets, will take affect.
The benefit to owners, is that renters are now required to seek written consent before obtaining a pet. This, previously, has never been the case. Renters will be required to complete a pet request form prior to being approved to have a pet inside the property.
In the event the renter requests a pet at their rental property, we will make contact with you to discuss the options available. It is important to note that the legislation does state that the Residential Rental Provider cannot withhold consent, but it does also provide an avenue through VCAT to reject a renters request for a pet.
For more information about this change, please visit the
Consumer Affairs Victoria website and navigate to the fact sheet which refers to pets.
We will still adhere to our high standards as we navigate these changes. In the meantime, we highly recommend that you contact your insurance provider to confirm coverage of pets in your rental property. If you don’t currently have landlord insurance, we recommend that it is put into place immediately. For assistance with this please contact your property manager.