Victorian landlords face $62,000 fines for illegal renter questions

Victorian landlords who ask prospective tenants about their pets or cars could be facing a $62,000-plus fine.

---

Victorian landlords asking prospective tenants about their pets or car are risking fines upwards of $62,000 as the state’s rental task force cracks down on new rental regulations.

Since March 31 this year, rental reforms have limited property managers and landlords to seeking only information contained in the state’s standardised rental application form establishing their identity and their income.

Separately, one of the biggest rental application platforms in the state, 2Apply, run by Reapit, has removed a field from its applications in Victoria touching on “anything else you’d like to add” after the taskforce warned them it risked breaking the law.

It comes as new government data has revealed the state’s recently founded Portable Rental Bond Scheme this week reached $1m in bonds being guaranteed by the government for transition from one rental to another.

Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich said forms with additional questions or fields in them could lead to renters answering them for fear of missing out on a home in a tight rental market.

Ms Rich warned those who continued to ask unlawful questions could face enforcement action, with maximum penalties for agents and landlords upwards of $62,700 for companies and $12,500 for individuals.

After stepping in to warn Reapit about their risk, the taskforce has also revealed they are still seeing unlawful questions on other rental forms touching on what type of car the renter has, as well as its make and registration, questions about what types of pets they have, the animal’s age and if it is an ‘inside’ or an ‘outside’ pet.

Students were also illegally being asked where they are matriculating and how long their course will run.

Minister for Renters Paul Edbrooke said the new laws were designed to protect tenants from handing over more information than was necessary to establish a lease.

“Our Renting Taskforce has been working to ensure agents comply with these new laws,” Mr Edbrooke said.

Meanwhile renters using the state’s newly formed Portable Rental Bond Scheme, which kicked off on July 1, have already put more than $1m into the system in less than 22 days.

The scheme effectively allows renters to transfer their bond from one rental home to the next, without being out of pocket for two bonds at the same time while they change address.

The Victorian government underwrites the scheme in scenarios where a tenant’s bond is claimed by their former landlord, with a short timeline for the tenant to repay the government.

Mr Edbrooke said the goal was to ensure tenants did not have to choose between “paying a new bond and covering next month’s rent”.