Victorian rental law updates: What you need to know

What’s changing & why it matters

The Victorian government is introducing significant changes to rental laws, many of which will be taking effect from November 25, 2025.

We understand that regulatory changes can feel overwhelming, and we want to assure you that we’re here to support your business every step of the way. This blog will be regularly updated to keep you informed as changes occur.

While Reapit has made every effort to ensure you are compliant with the new legislation, it is ultimately your business' responsibility to ensure that your processes align with your agency’s own interpretation of the law.

To read about the legislation changes in more detail, you can follow this link to the Victorian Consumer Affairs website.

Key dates

Below is a summary of the changes that will require you to adjust your process in Reapit Lettings and Reapit PM and their corresponding timelines for effect:

Effective 25 November 2025

• Ban on all types of rental bidding
• Extension of notice periods for rent increases and certain notices to vacate
• New rules to protect renters’ personal information

Effective 31 March 2026

• New standard form for rental applications

What this means for your Reapit workflow

These legislation changes require agencies to adapt their workflows, and Reapit will evolve accordingly. We already have a number of settings, processes and policies in place to help your agency remain compliant.

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Changes effective 31 March 2026

New standard rental application form

Consumer Affairs states that ‘rental providers and their agents must use the prescribed form for rental agreement applications’. This new standardised form was released by Victorian Consumer Affairs on Thursday 26 February 2026 and can be downloaded here. We have now reviewed this form alongside the current state of the 2Apply Victorian application form, and are beginning work to make the changes as listed below. These changes will align the 2Apply Victorian Application form with the new Victorian standardised application form.

Removal of the following pages/sections:

• Pets
• Vehicles
• Agent Questions
• Background Check

Changes to the Property Details page

• Rent price editing will be disabled
• Remove “Requesting following special conditions” field

Changes to the Applicants page

• Added a question “Total number of occupants intended to reside on the premises”
• Remove the Dependants section

Changes to the Your Details page

• Remove I am a Student tick box
• Add a “Date of Birth” field
• Add a “Current Address” field
• Updated wording for the About Me Section:
  ”If you would like to provide any other information to support your application, please do so here. (This is optional)”.

Changes to the Living History page

• Rename section to Rental or Residential History
• Remove “Date started living here” field
• Add “Period of residence at address” question
• Remove “Rent” field
• Remove “Comments” field
• Remove “Reason for leaving” question
• Removed the setting requesting a number of years’ worth of living history

Changes to the Identification page

• Update the categories to match those allowed as per the act:
  • Identification documents;
  • Financial documents;
  • General documents.
• Only requesting 2 documents per category

NOTE: This change means you will no longer be able to customise the document requirements.

Changes to the Financials page

• The question “Are you currently retired?” will be removed
• After adding an employment item only, the following fields are visible:
  • Company Name
  • Start Date
  • End date
  • Take-home Income Amount
  • Employer Address
• All employer contact details will be removed
• The question "Is this a self employment?" will be removed
• Accountant and solicitor details will be removed

Changes to the References page

• Add a drop down to select the type of reference:
  • Personal
  • Employment
• After adding a reference only the following fields will be visible:
  • Referee’s connection to applicant
  • Contact First Name
  • Contact Last Name
  • Contact Email
  • Contact Mobile
  • Contact Phone
• Automatic references will send if the relevant information is entered for each reference type
• Emergency Contact will be removed from References

Changes to the Terms and Conditions page

• Add a list of Tenancy Databases used by the agency

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Changes effective 25 November 2025

Ban on all rental bidding

According to Consumer Affairs, ‘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’.

The setting Prevent Higher Rent Offers already exists in Reapit Lettings, and we have already enabled this for you, so there is nothing you need to action for rent bidding in order to remain compliant.

If you wish to make any changes, the setting can be found by navigating to Settings > Applications > 2Apply > General. In the Lease Details section, tick Prevent Higher Rent Offers checkbox. This setting will prevent applicants from entering a rent amount higher than the advertised price.

Extension of notice periods for rent increases

According to Consumer Affairs, ‘rental providers must give a renter 90 days' notice of a rent increase and certain notices to vacate’.

We have put together a separate article on managing rent reviews in Reapit PM for Victorian agencies, which you can read here.

New rules to protect renters' personal information

Reapit Lettings and 2Apply proactively made changes to its Data Retention Policy in late 2024 to align with state legislation Australia-wide. For Victoria, we’ve adjusted the deletion period for unsuccessful applications from 60 days to 30 days to ensure compliance.

Unsuccessful applications:

• All data from unsuccessful applications will be deleted 30 days after submission.
  • This includes all documents submitted and information entered during the application process.

Successful applications:

• All data from successful applications will be deleted 3 years after submission.
  • This includes all documents and information entered during the application process.

Data retention for reporting:

• Agents will still retain a record of the application submission for reporting purposes.
• This record will only include the applicant's name and some basic contact details.
• No other data from the application will be stored.

Prospect data:

• Data on prospects who enquired about a property will remain available.

Data Recovery:

• We no longer facilitate data recovery requests
• Users will need to download and store their data in another system, as IRE will no longer be used for historical application data storage outside of the timeframes stated above.

Recommended Actions for Approved Applications:

• Approved applications should be saved into the agents' trust accounting software.
• This is necessary for maintaining records for insurance purposes.

Supporting your business

Should you have any questions or require assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our Support team by initiating a Live Chat via the Support button at the top of your Reapit Lettings or Reapit PM systems between the hours of 8am and 6pm AEST, Monday to Friday.

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a general guide and does not constitute legal advice. Please seek independent legal counsel for guidance specific to your business or interpretation of the legislation.  

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