Privacy while renting

These are the reasons for entry by your community housing provider that do not require your consent:

• To carry out a legal duty under rental laws, other legislation or a requirement listed in your lease (also called a rental agreement). For example, to undertake repairs or to check the smoke detector is working. See the list of duties on our page about community housing
• To get the property valued
• To inspect the property if the renter or resident has made a VCAT application to end a lease or make a new lease because of family or personal violence. For more information, see our page on family violence
• There are reasonable grounds to believe you have not followed your duties under the law or a requirement of your lease. For example, you have caused or are causing damage to the property or there is evidence of hoarding clutter. For more information, see our page on renter breaches
• You have given a ‘notice of intention to vacate’ or received a ‘notice to vacate’ and your community housing provider wants to show a prospective renter the property within 21 days before the vacate date specified in the notice
• To take photos or videos for advertising the property for rent or for sale. See the information on this page about taking photos or video
• To carry out a routine inspection, once you have lived at the property for at least 3 months and then not more often than once every 6 months. At this inspection, your community housing provider can check all of the property

Even if there is a legally valid reason for entry, your community housing provider and its agents must still follow the legal rules about when and how entry can happen and how you must be notified before entering.

During an entry, if your community housing provider decides that you are not following your legal duties under Victoria’s rental laws, it can give you a notice of breach of duty. These duties include keeping the property reasonably clean and not causing damage. For a list of renter duties, see our page on community housing.

Receiving a breach of duty notice does not necessarily mean you have failed to meet your duties. Only VCAT can decide whether this has actually occurred.

Environmental neglect and clutter

Your community housing provider may seek to enter your home if there are concerns about environmental neglect, which can include excessive goods or clutter inside, outside or both. For some people, this can reflect a difficult life period, but if it continues, it can create safety risks for you and others nearby.

Refusing entry may also lead to breach of duty notices, VCAT compliance orders – which you are legally required to follow – and even eviction. If you or someone you care for struggles with excessive clutter, seek support, including from your community housing provider.

For more information, see the guideline ‘Make Safe: Guidance for services working with people living with hoarding and environmental neglect’ on the hoarding and environmental neglect page on the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) website.

Your community housing provider is responsible for managing and maintaining their rental properties. It also have some limited responsibility to support the wellbeing of renters and residents. To help with this, some providers run programs that include home visits.

Home visits are usually a chance to talk about your tenancy and any support needs or changes in your life. What you choose to share is entirely up to you. Sometimes, these visits can also connect you with extra services or support networks. This can be especially helpful if you were recently experiencing homelessness, family violence or other challenges.

Home visits are also an opportunity to build a positive relationship with housing staff. Having trust and open communication can make it easier to deal with any issues that arise later.

If you invite a staff member into your home, they may still raise concerns about things they observe during the visit. If you want to meet with your community housing provider, and do not feel comfortable to meet at your home, you can request to meet at another location.

Because these visits are not mentioned in Victoria’s rental laws, they require your consent. It is also a good idea to confirm or document anything discussed, so you have a written record if any issues are not resolved or progressed.

As a renter, rental laws protect you from being forced out of your home without proper legal process. Your community housing provider is not allowed to enter your home or try to force you to leave, for example, by changing the locks or locking you out. This is an offence.

If this happens, you can:

• Apply to VCAT for a restraining order to stop the behaviour
• Report the conduct to Consumer Affairs Victoria

See the information on this page about when your community housing provider does not follow the rules.

If there is uncertainty or a claim that you are not a legal renter, or that you have abandoned the property, seek legal advice immediately.

Your community housing provider also does not have the right to remove your visitors or guests from the property unless you are on a managed property and there is a serious act of violence or someone’s safety is in danger from your visitor.

As a renter, the only legal way you can be forced to vacate your home is if:

• Your community housing provider obtains a possession order from VCAT, and then
• Police attend with a warrant of possession to carry out the eviction (not the provider)

To learn more, see our page on notices to vacate and eviction.

The notice of entry must:

• Be in writing or via electronic communication, such as email (if you have given written consent to receive notices this way) – a phone call telling you about it is not enough
• State the legal reason for the entry
• Be given to you in advance, to ensure you are given the minimum notice period. See the information on this page about how much warning is required

You must receive a notice of entry in one of these ways:

• In-person between 8 am and 6 pm
• By mail
• By electronic communication, such as email (if you have given written consent to receive notices this way)

For more information on consenting to have notices sent electronically, see our page on starting a tenancy.

You must receive the notice of entry in advance. The amount of warning you must be given depends on the reason for entry.

At least 24 hours notice in writing:

• To carry out a duty under the law or from your lease (officially called the rental agreement), for example, to undertake repairs or check the smoke detector is working
• To inspect the property, if you or a resident has made a VCAT application to end a lease, or to make a new lease due to family or personal violence. This is usually done to check whether the person committing the violence has done any damage to the property
• There are reasonable grounds to believe you have not followed your duties under the law or your lease, for example, you damage the property

At least 48 hours notice in writing:

• To show a prospective renter the property, where you have given a notice of intention to vacate or you have been given a notice to vacate by your community housing provider. The proposed date of entry must be within 21 days of the termination date listed on the notice to vacate

At least 7 days notice in writing:

• To carry out a routine inspection once you have lived at the property for at least 3 months and then not more often than once every 6 months
• To get the property valued
• To take photos or videos to advertise the property for rent or sale

Under Victoria’s rental laws, your community housing provider is only permitted to take photos or videos of your home for advertising purposes – for example, if the property is being sold. This is uncommon in community housing, but if it does happen, seek advice about your rights, especially if you have experienced family or personal violence and believe the advertising could put you at risk.

You may also have the right to view the photos before they are used, and to refuse permission if, for example, they show personal belongings or other images that could affect your privacy or safety. Tenants Victoria and other organisations can help. See the information on this page about how to get help.

Except for advertising purposes, Victoria’s rental laws do not clearly allow or prohibit your community housing provider from taking photos or videos inside your home.

However, it is generally accepted that your community housing provider can take photos during an entry if there is a specific and legitimate reason, such as assessing repairs or investigating a possible breach of your lease (officially called the rental agreement) or rental laws. In these cases, photos should only be taken for that purpose.

If staff enter for another reason, they may still take photos only if they have reasonable grounds to believe you have not followed your lease or the law.

Your community housing provider does not have a general right to photograph your home or belongings without a legally valid reason. Taking photos without a clear purpose should not be routine practice, may breach the Privacy Act 1988, and could conflict with your community housing provider’s obligations under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006.

Best practice for your community housing provider before taking photos or videos is to:

• Confirm who will be home during the visit
• Ask if you need an interpreter
• Inform you that photos or videos may be taken

If you have consented to the visit, for example, for repairs, ask your community housing provider if it intends to take photos, and request that any photos should only be related to the reason for entry. You can also request a copy to review.

If your community housing provider wants to take additional photos during a visit, best practice is for your community housing provider to seek your consent and explain the reason for the photos.

Photos may contain personal information protected by the Privacy Act, which means they should not be shared publicly without your consent. However, where necessary they can be used in discussions with you or as part of a VCAT hearing.

If you are a ‘protected person’ under an intervention order (made by a court) or safety notice (made by the police), and the person who has committed violence is excluded from your home, you have the right to change the locks to external doors and windows even if it includes a lock in a master key system. To take this action, you do not need to have your name on the lease (officially called a rental agreement), but you do need to live at the property.

You also have the right to change the locks to external doors and windows, including a lock in a master key system, if VCAT has made an order terminating your current lease and creating a new lease that does not include the name of the person who committed the violence.

It is important you change who is on the lease before your intervention order expires, otherwise the excluded person will still be on the lease and may seek to regain access to the property as a co-renter.

If you change the locks under these circumstances, you must give a key to any other renters living in the property, except for the person who committed the violence. You must also give a key for the new lock to your community housing provider, as well as a copy of the intervention order or safety notice.

Your community housing provider is not permitted to give the new key to the person who committed the violence for as long as the intervention order or safety notice is current. You can apply to VCAT for a restraining order if it does so. See the information on this page about how to apply to VCAT.

If you are in immediate danger, call Victoria Police on Triple Zero (000).

Financial assistance

If you need help to pay for the locks to be changed, you may be able to apply for immediate financial assistance to the Victorian Government’s Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme. For more information, call the Financial Assistance Scheme helpline on 1800 161 136.

The Victorian Government also offers family violence support packages.

For information on other safety measures you can take, such as security lights, alarm systems and CCTV, read the Tenants Victoria Family Violence Protection Tenancy Kit [PDF].

See also the Victorian Government’s personal safety initiative operational guidelines on the family violence page on the DFFH website. Even if you do not have an intervention order, you can still request consent and support for safety-related modifications to your home. For more information, see our page on modifications.

The Privacy Act contains privacy principles that will typically apply to your community housing provider. These privacy principles regulate how personal information and sensitive information is collected, used, disclosed and stored by your community housing provider.

This means that your community housing provider must have a privacy policy. This must be available on request or be accessible on its website.

Its privacy policy covers what information your community housing provider needs to collect, what happens if you do not provide it, who it usually discloses the information to, and how you can access your information or complain about its use.

Privacy laws outline 2 main types of information:

• Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether it is recorded or not
• Sensitive information is a type of personal information that includes details about an individual, such as race, ethnicity, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, criminal record, health, and genetics and biometric data used for identification purposes

Your community housing provider can only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for managing your tenancy. Usually, it cannot collect sensitive information without your consent, unless the law allows or requires it.

For community housing applications and the Victorian Housing Register, you may be asked to provide both personal and sensitive information. This is used to assess your eligibility and level of priority based on what you provide.

Learn more about the handling of your information under the Privacy Act on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.

If you are worried about how your personal information is being used by your community housing provider under the Privacy Act, you can make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner or Consumer Affairs Victoria. See the information on this page about how to make a complaint about the use of your personal information.

Your community housing provider also has to follow privacy protection rules under the Residential Tenancies Act, as must your landlord (officially called a rental provider). There are extra protections for those experiencing, or at risk of, family or personal violence. See the information on this page about family or personal violence.

If a community housing provider fails to follow these rules, you can report it to Consumer Affairs Victoria or the Victorian Housing Registrar. See the information on this page about how to make a complaint about your personal information.

Applying for a property

Certain information cannot be asked for when you apply for a property. This includes your bond history, bank statements that contain daily transactions, or information that might be discriminatory, such as your race, religion or sexual orientation – unless you are given a written reason for why this is needed. In community housing, both your community housing provider and the Victorian Housing Register may ask for relevant sensitive information to assess your eligibility and determine your priority for housing.

Your community housing provider can only use your personal information to decide if you are suitable for the property, or for another legitimate reason, such as complying with a court order. Learn more on our page on applying for a rental property.

Keeping your information

Your community housing provider must also follow rules around how long it keeps (retains) the information you provide in your application or lease. This includes destroying – or making sure you can never be identified in – your information:

• Within 3 years after you move out and your lease has ended
• Within 30 days of a property being rented to someone else
• Within 6 months of a property that you unsuccessfully applied for being rented to someone else, if you agree to let the community housing provider use your information to apply for another property

In some situations, a community housing provider may keep your personal information for longer if another law, or a court or tribunal order, requires them to do so. Even in these situations, it can only disclose your information:

• If you consent, or
• If the law allows or requires the disclosure, including via a court or tribunal order

This may include disclosure to help prevent or reduce a serious threat to a person’s life, safety or welfare, or to public health, safety or welfare.

Disclosing information

A community housing provider must protect your personal information from being misused, lost or disclosed (released or shared). It cannot give your information to anyone who is not authorised to use it. It is an offence to disclose your information without your consent.  See the information on this page about how to report an offence to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

A community housing provider may disclose your personal information to a court or tribunal if it is needed to run or respond to a legal case. This may include situations where the community housing provider reasonably believes it is necessary to disclose your information, and that it must be disclosed to a law enforcement agency to:

• Prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute a criminal offence
• Enforce a breach of law that has a penalty
• Enforce a court or tribunal order

Depending on the type of information, other exceptions may also apply.

The only people who can access common areas are:

• Your community housing provider and their staff (who can enter these spaces at any time without notice)
• Genuine visitors, residents or authorised persons

It is not uncommon for people to loiter in common areas, whether they are visitors or unauthorised individuals. Residents may feel unsafe because of nuisance, disturbance or intimidation, particularly late at night.

If you have a safety or security problem:

• Record and report the issue to your community housing provider or owners corporation
• If the person causing problems is connected to a specific renter and their conduct is unlawful, your community housing provider may issue a breach of duty notice to the renter if they are also renting community housing. See our page on renter breaches
• Contact security (if available)
• If there are reasonable grounds to believe a visitor has committed a serious act of violence or poses a risk to the safety of people on the premises, and the property has an onsite manager, the onsite manager can issue a ‘notice to leave’ to the visitor, requiring that person to leave immediately

If safety issues in the common areas continue, raise your concerns with your community housing provider and outline what you want done about it. It can be helpful to join with others who have the same concern and raise the issue together as a group, either with your community housing provider or with the owners corporation where applicable. This can mean your complaint is more likely to be taken seriously. If the issue remains unresolved, see the information on this page about how to make a complaint or lodge an appeal.

Victoria’s rental laws do not specifically regulate the use of CCTV cameras in common areas. However, residents with safety concerns may have the right to install security devices, including CCTV, subject to approval. For more detail, see our page on modifications.

Restraining order

Most community housing providers take their legal obligations seriously and follow the law, however there may be circumstances where a restraining order may be required.

You can apply to VCAT for a restraining order against your community housing provider to either stop something that breaches Victoria’s rental laws or your lease (officially called a rental agreement), or to force your community housing provider to take action that is required under rental laws or your lease.

A restraining order cannot be used to compel your community housing provider to do things that are purely based on operations guidelines (policies), such as transfers due to safety reasons.

Examples of when a restraining order may be appropriate against your community housing provider, including their agents or contractors, include:

• To ensure certain contractors who may pose a threat or behaved improperly during a previous visit are not used
• To stop harassing visits to your home or other harassing contact, such as excessive phone calls, emails or letters. It is not considered harassment if there is a legitimate reason for the visits or contact, such as dealing with a serious safety concern
• For failing to follow the rules around protections for those experiencing personal or family violence, such as preventing you from changing locks, or giving a new key to a person committing violence
• To stop entering your property (or trying to) in order to force, or attempt to force, you to leave

A restraining order can also limit or restrict your community housing provider from entering the premises or contacting you. If your community housing provider or their agent does not follow a restraining order, you should write down what happened and keep any evidence. You can apply to VCAT for further orders, including compensation. You can also report the behaviour to Consumer Affairs Victoria, which will investigate and may issue a fine against the community housing provider or their agent. See the information on this page about how to apply to VCAT, how to report an offence to Consumer Affairs Victoria and how to get help.

Compliance and compensation order

If your community housing provider breaks a duty under Victoria’s rental laws – for example, by not allowing you quiet enjoyment of your home – and does not fix the problem after receiving a breach of duty notice, you can apply to VCAT for a compliance order to make it fix it. You can also ask for compensation for your loss, such as a partial rent refund for the time your quiet enjoyment was affected. For information on how to calculate a loss of quiet enjoyment, see our page on claiming compensation.

These types of orders are best for matters that do not involve immediate or serious safety issues. They could include failing to give enough notice for an entry to your home that is otherwise valid under the law, failing to negotiate a suitable time for entry, or staying longer than required to complete the purpose of the visit.

Order limiting or specifying entry

If your community housing provider gives you proper notice to enter your home but does something wrong during the visit, you can ask VCAT to make an order that limits how it can enter your home in the future. Orders to limit entry usually only last for a limited time.

An example may be that during an inspection your community housing provider staff member goes through your drawers and starts to take random photographs of your property without your consent.

You may also be in situations where the community housing provider has done nothing wrong, but you still have important needs to limit the days or specific times when and how the entry can occur. An example might be that you require dialysis in the morning and do not want entry to occur during this time. You can make this application to VCAT.

Compensation order for damage or loss during entry

You can apply to VCAT for compensation if your belongings were damaged or stolen during an entry to your home. However, you must be able to show that your community housing provider caused, allowed or contributed to the loss in some way. For example, a tradesperson hired by your community housing provider spreading plaster dust through the home or damaging your television.

For more information, see our page on claiming compensation.

Order to change locks without landlord consent

If you believe that your community housing provider is being unreasonable in not letting you change the locks, you can apply to VCAT for an order allowing you to do so without its consent. If you are impacted by family violence, you may have additional rights to act more quickly. See the information on this page about family violence.

To apply, fill out VCAT’s general application form. If the dispute relates to family violence, use VCAT’s form for family violence applications.

You can complete the form online or download a PDF and fill it in electronically or print it and complete it by hand. If you want a hard copy form posted to you, call VCAT on 1300 018 228.

When you get to the section ‘What orders do you want VCAT to make?’, write:

• Section 472 – if you require a restraining order
• Section 89 – if you require an order limiting or detailing how entry should be made to the home
• Section 90 – if you require compensation for damage to or loss of your belongings during entry
• Section 209 – for a compensation or compliance order relating to a breach of duty
• Section 71 – if you need to change locks without landlord consent
• Section 452 – general application – for anything else

For more information, see our page on going to VCAT.

See also our sample VCAT application form, for requesting a restraining order for unlawful entry: Example unlawful entry [Word]

VCAT will let you know the time, date and place of the hearing.

A VCAT member is the decision maker, who listens to each side, reviews any evidence and resolves the dispute, either at the end of the hearing or in writing later.

It is best that you go to the hearing to tell your side of the story. If you don’t go, you run the risk of the VCAT member not fully understanding your version of events. While you may feel stressed about the hearing, VCAT is less formal than a court and Tenants Victoria and other organisations can help. If you need support, this page has information on how you can get help.

VCAT also has a family violence support team, which can assist you during the hearing, including helping you to attend via phone or video-conference, if required. Other supports (such as disability support and interpreting) are also available. To learn more, see the VCAT website for support services.

If you need support in understanding your privacy while renting, help is available.

There are step-by-step guides, self-help tools and other resources to assist you with understanding when your community housing provider can enter your rental property, going to VCAT, and the protections and support available for those experiencing personal or family violence.

The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 is Victoria’s main law for renting. It describes the rights and duties of renters and landlords (including community housing providers) in numbered sections.

The sections in this list relate to privacy and entry to your home by your community housing provider. Click on a link to see more about the section.

• Section 30B – Restrictions on use of personal information
• Section 30C – Must not request prescribed information from applicants
• Section 67 – Quiet enjoyment
• Section 70 – Locks
• Section 70A – Locks for properties subject to intervention orders/notices
• Section 70B – Locks for properties where VCAT has created a new lease
• Section 71 – Applying to VCAT to change locks without consent
• Section 85 – Entry of rented premises
• Section 86 – Grounds for entry
• Section 87 – Manner of entry
• Section 88 – What must be in notice of entry?
• Section 89 – Duty to allow entry if requirements met
• Section 90 – Applying to VCAT for compensation if damaged is caused during entry
• Section 91 – Applying to VCAT for a restraining order
• Section 91A – Offence to enter premises without meeting requirements
• Section 91P – Offence to attempt possession
• Section 209 – Compliance and compensation order for breach of duty
• Section 212 – Orders of Tribunal
• Section 472 – General power of Tribunal to make determinations

The Privacy Act 1988 may also apply to the handling of your personal information as a renter.

The Housing Act 1983 (Vic) applies to your community housing provider in relation to its obligations to maintain your rental property.

Your community housing provider policies

Your community housing provider also has policies (rules) that set out its obligations to assess issues and communicate respectfully with you to try to resolve them. It must follow these policies.

Your community housing provider should have guidelines, policy documents and practice manuals relating to entry to your home and privacy.

Your community housing provider’s policies should be published online or made available upon request. It is beneficial to request a copy of any relevant policy as soon as practicable as this can assist in negotiations and resolve matters sooner.