Moving in (rooming houses)

A rooming house is a building or apartment with one or more rooms available to rent, where at least 4 people (officially called residents) can live. Rooming houses are different to other share-houses as the rooming house operator decides who lives at the property and usually has individual agreements with each resident, including individual arrangements for paying rent.

You are considered to be a rooming house resident if you rent a room, or shared room, in a property like this.

You are also considered to be a rooming house resident if you have been living at a hotel or motel, as your main or only home, for at least 60 continuous days.

Licences and registration

Rooming house operators are legally required to have a licence and rooming houses are legally required to be registered with the local council. You can check whether a rooming house is registered and its operator is licensed on the Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) website.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is the government agency that regulates rooming houses.

Unregistered rooming houses

Some operators do not follow the laws and fail to register a rooming house and/or do not get a licence.

If you find yourself living in an unregistered rooming house:

• You have done nothing wrong and cannot get into trouble for it
• The rooming house operator must still follow the laws for running rooming houses

If you want to report an unregistered rooming house, contact your local council. If you want to report an unlicensed operator, contact Consumer Affairs Victoria. See the heading ‘Complaints’ on this page.

Minimum standards

Rooming houses must meet minimum standards for safety, security, privacy and amenities These include a lock for your room, privacy latches on the doors of shared bathrooms or toilets, and access to cooking facilities.

The minimum standards are on the Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) website.

When you apply to live in a rooming house, there are limits on the things you can be asked and how your personal information can be used. For example, they cannot ask you about your bond history or if you’ve had a dispute with a previous landlord.

It is also illegal for a rooming house operator to discriminate against you. They must not discriminate against you over your age, disability, race, gender, religious beliefs or activities, being a parent or carer or any other ‘protected attribute’ under the law.

All application forms for rooming houses must include a statement about unlawful discrimination, including examples of the ‘protected attributes’. Follow the link below to the Consumer Affairs Victoria website for a copy of the statement.

For more information see the headings ‘Things you cannot be asked’, ‘How your information can be used’ and ‘Discrimination’ on our page Applying for a rental property. This page is written for people renting a house or apartment, but the laws in these areas are the same for rooming houses.

What you must be told when you apply

There are certain things the rooming house operator must tell you when you apply to move in. These include whether the rooming house is registered, whether the operator has a licence, if there is any drug contamination in the rooming house, whether there is a history of mould or damp and more.

Find a full list of things the rooming house operator must tell you on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s website.

A rooming house agreement is an agreement between you and the rooming house operator about what each of you will do, or not do, while you are living at the rooming house.

The agreement could be for a fixed term, such as for 12 months, or periodic, such as week to week with no set end date.

It could be verbal or in writing. If you have a verbal agreement, or one that is only partly in writing, and want a written agreement you can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to ask for this. For more advice call us on 1800 068 860.

Fixed term agreements

If you have a fixed term agreement it must be in writing and on the official form, which is on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website.

Prohibited terms

Certain terms – ‘prohibited terms’ – must not be included in rooming house agreements.

For example, you cannot be asked to pay extra rent or penalties if you break a rule in the agreement. Find a full list on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s website.

If a prohibited term is included in your agreement, it will be ‘invalid’, which means it cannot be legally enforced.

You can apply to VCAT to have any prohibited terms in your agreement declared invalid. For more advice call us on 1800 068 860.

You can also report the rooming house operator to Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81.

Other agreements

Residential rental agreements, like those used for renting a house or an apartment, cannot be used for rooming houses unless you are renting a self-contained apartment.

If you have a residential rental agreement, the laws may be different. See our page, Rental agreements (leases).

At the start of your residency, you may be asked to pay rent in advance.

The most you can be asked to pay in advance is 14 days’ rent.

Make sure you get a written receipt whenever you pay any money.

You must be given a way to pay your rent which does not require additional costs (other than routine bank fees) such as by electronic funds transfer (EFT) and, if you receive Centrelink payments, by Centrepay.

If you pay your rent through Centrepay, make sure you update this when you move out, so you don’t end up continuing to pay rent for somewhere you no longer live.

If the rooming house operator wants you to pay more than 14 days’ rent in advance, only gives you a way to pay that includes extra fees, or won’t give you a receipt, you can report them to Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81.

The rooming house operator may ask you to pay a bond at the start of your residency.

You cannot be asked to pay a bond worth more than:

• 28 days’ rent if you have a fixed-term rooming-house agreement
• 14 days’ rent in all other cases

Make sure you get a written receipt whenever you pay any money.

If you are asked to pay a bond, the rooming house operator must:

• Complete and sign a bond lodgment form
• Give this to you to sign at the time you pay the bond
• Give you a copy of the form
• Lodge the form and your bond money with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA) within 10 business days

You should receive confirmation from the RTBA that your bond has been lodged within 15 business days. If you don’t, contact the RTBA on 1300 137 164.

If the rooming house operator does not follow these laws you can report them to Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81 .

You can also apply to VCAT for an order that your bond must be lodged with the RTBA. For more advice call us on 1800 068 860.

For more information on bonds see our page Bonds.

Bond loans

If you are asked to pay a bond but cannot afford it, you may be able to get an interest-free bond loan from the Victorian Government.

Before you move in the rooming house operator must give you:

• A notice telling you if you will be renting a room to yourself or a ‘shared room’ – for more information see our page Sharing rooms (rooming houses)
• Information about any extra amounts you will be charged if extra services are provided, such as meals, linen, or room cleaning

The rooming house operator must also give you this information, either before, or on, your move-in date:

• The Rooming house residents guide about your rights and responsibilities, published by Consumer Affairs Victoria. A copy of this also needs to be displayed in your room
• A copy of any house rules – these must also be displayed in your room
• A condition report for the property that has been completed and signed by the rooming house operator. It is important you fill this out and return it within 5 days – see our page Condition reports
• Contact details for the rooming house operator, and agent, if they have one – including name, address, and phone number
• An emergency contact number in case urgent repairs are needed – and, if there is an agent, whether the agent can approve urgent repairs

The rooming house operator must keep you updated if any of this information changes.

If the rooming house operator does not give you this information, or keep you updated on any changes, you can report them to Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81.

If you have any concerns about a rooming house or rooming house operator, or want to report an unregistered rooming house, contact your local council.

You can also contact Consumer Affairs Victoria, on 1300 55 81 81 or on CAV’s online form, if you think the rooming house operator has broken the law.

VCAT hears disputes between residents and rooming house operators.

It is not a court, but it can make decisions that must be followed by rooming house operators and residents.

It is intended to be informal and cheap, and to resolve disputes quickly and fairly.

For more information see our page VCAT.

View our handy pocket guide on moving in, living in, and moving out of a rooming house.

See the list below for links to the laws and regulations on moving into a rooming house.

Rooming houses
Living in a rooming house
Sharing rooms (rooming houses)
Duties and breaches (rooming houses)
Moving out (rooming houses)
Notices to vacate (rooming houses)
Evictions (rooming houses)