Rent increases

The rooming house operator cannot include anything in your rooming house agreement that makes you responsible for paying an increased amount of rent if you break any of the rules of the agreement.

Any term that does this is prohibited (banned). It is an offence to include a prohibited term in a rooming house agreement. To learn more, see the page on this website about leases (rental agreements).

If your agreement includes a prohibited term

If you have a residency agreement that includes a prohibited term, the rooming house operator cannot enforce it. If the rooming house operator refuses to remove it from your agreement, you can apply to VCAT, which can order that the term does not apply. See our page on applying to VCAT.

You can also report an offence to Consumer Affairs Victoria, which can issue an infringement notice (fine) to the rooming house operator if they failed to follow the law.

The rooming house operator must use the official Consumer Affairs Victoria form: Notice of rent increase to resident/s of rooming house [Word].

The notice of proposed rent increase can be given at any time. However, the rent increase cannot begin until:

• At least 90 days have passed since the notice was given (the minimum notice period), and
• 12 months since the last rent increase has passed

The notice must not come into effect during a fixed-term rooming house agreement.

Only one increase can be listed in each rent increase notice.

The notice of proposed rent increase can be given to you:

• In person (between 8 am and 6 pm)
• By mail, or
• Electronically, if you have given consent to receive notices this way

See our page about starting a tenancy for more information on consenting to have notices sent electronically.

The rent increase notice must include:

• The amount of the rent increase
• Details about your right to apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria to have the proposed increase assessed if you think it is too high
• The date the rent increase applies from

If the rooming house operator does not follow these rules, you can challenge the validity of a rent increase notice at VCAT. See the information on this page about how to apply to VCAT if the rent increase is not valid or too high.

Note: Even if you choose to challenge the rent increase notice because it was issued in a way that is against the rules, we recommend that you pay the increase or 110% of your current rent (whichever is less) if the start date of the proposed increase has arrived. If you do not, and VCAT later finds that the rent increase is legally valid, you may have gone into rent arrears (fallen behind in your rent), which can lead to a ‘notice to vacate’. See our pages on overdue rent and notices to vacate and eviction.

Some rooming houses offer additional services outside of your residency agreement.

If you request extra services from the rooming house operator, they are allowed to increase your rent to cover the cost of those services. You cannot be forced to accept new or extra services at an additional cost. The operator can only charge you if you and operator both sign a written agreement that states:

• The services that will be provided
• The amount of the rent increase to cover the cost of those services
• The start date for the rent increase

Note: The operator does not need to give you the 90 days notice of a rent increase if the increase is for extra services that you have requested and agreed to.

If you think the increase is too high, you should first apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria to assess it. This service is free.

You must apply in writing within 30 days of receiving the rent increase notice.

There are 2 ways to apply:

• Use the ‘Rent increase investigation’ section on the last page of the official notice of proposed rent increase that the rooming house operator gave you
• Use the Consumer Affairs Victoria online form: Request for rental assessment

Note: If you live in a rooming house and you do not want to be personally identified to challenge a rent increase, you can contact Consumer Affairs Victoria and ask them to investigate the rent independently and to negotiate on behalf of residents, so that you and other residents are not identified.

What happens at the assessment

A Consumer Affairs Victoria inspector may contact you to arrange a visit to your home, or they may do a desktop review, which does not require a visit. They will consider the condition of the property, the facilities, and any services provided with the room, and compare the proposed rent increase with those of similar rooming houses in the same area.

During the inspection, or if an inspector contacts you for information, you should point out anything that supports your claim that the rent increase is excessive, such as:

• The rent paid for similar rooms in the rooming house
• The rent paid for similar rooms in similar rooming houses in the area, this may include the construction, size, number of rooms, facilities, services and access to amenities
• The state of repair of the room and rooming house
• What costs and charges you pay and what the rooming house operator pays for, such as electricity and other utilities
• Any facilities or services that you provide rather than the rooming house operator
• Any improvements or work you have done, with the rooming house operator’s consent or agreement
• Any change in the rent and condition of the room or facilities or services since the start of your rooming house agreement and since the last rent increase
• The number of rent increases (if any) in the last 24 months and the amount of each of those increases

Rent assessment report

Once the inspector has carried out an investigation, you and the rooming house operator will receive a written report.

If the inspector’s report says that the rent increase is too high, they may try to negotiate a fairer rent with the rooming house operator. You can also do this yourself – see the information on this page about how to negotiate with the rooming house operator.

Even if the inspector’s report says the rent increase is not too high, you can still negotiate directly with the rooming house operator, and you can still apply to VCAT to argue that the rent increase is too high. However, it will be more difficult to succeed at VCAT if this report says the increase is not too high.

It is worth trying to negotiate with the rooming house operator about the rent increase if you feel comfortable to do so.

If you have a Consumer Affairs Victoria rent assessment report that says the increase is too high, or you have a report about other rooming house rents in the area, or have done your own research, you can also use this to try to negotiate. If you do come to an agreement, put it in writing, make sure you both sign it and keep a copy.

If the rooming house operator will not agree to reduce the amount of the rent increase, you can apply to VCAT for an order that the increase not be allowed. You must attach a copy of your Consumer Affairs Victoria report, if you have one. See the information on this page about how to apply to VCAT if the rent increase is not valid or too high.

When deciding whether a rent increase notice is legally valid, VCAT will check:

• If the notice was in the correct form
• If it was given to you the right way
• If gave you at least 90 days notice before the rent increase takes effect
• Whether the notice correctly states the amount of rent you currently pay and states the increased amount

VCAT may reject your application to challenge an excessive rent increase if you do not have a CAV report. To avoid this, it is best to obtain the report before applying.

When looking at whether the rent increase is too high, VCAT will consider:

• The rent paid for similar rooms in the rooming house
• The rent paid for similar rooms in similar rooming houses in the area, which may include considering the construction, size, number of rooms, facilities, services and access to amenities
• The state of repair of the room and rooming house
• What costs and charges you pay and what the rooming house operator pays for, such as electricity and other utilities
• Any facilities or services that you provide rather than the rooming house operator
• Any improvements or work you have done, with the rooming house operator’s consent or agreement
• Any change to the rent, condition of the room, facilities or services since the start of your rooming house agreement and since the last rent increase
• The number of rent increases (if any) in the last 24 months and the amount of each of those increases

A rent increase notice in a rooming house does not have to show how the increase was calculated. However, you can make your own comparison of rooming house rents. Even if Consumer Affairs Victoria’s rent assessment finds the increase is not excessive, you can still provide your own analysis to support your case.

To apply to VCAT, fill out VCAT’s general application form.

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 heading ‘What orders do you want VCAT to make?’, write:

• Section 452 in the box if you are challenging the validity of the notice
• Section 103 in the box if you are challenging the amount of the rent increase

For section 103 applications, you should attach a copy of the Consumer Affairs Victoria rent assessment report, if you have one. If you do not have a rent assessment report, you should list the reasons why you were unable to obtain a rent assessment report. See the information on this page about what happens at the assessment. It lists the sorts of factors that you can include on your application form or use as evidence at the hearing where VCAT determines whether the proposed rent increase is excessive.

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

If the start date of the rent increase has arrived, and you are going to challenge the increase for being excessive, the law states that you must still pay the extra amount. If you are challenging the validity of the rent increase notice itself, we also recommend that you pay the increase, although the law does not require this.

If you do not pay the proposed increase, and VCAT later decides that the increase is valid and/or not too high, you may end up in ‘rent arrears’ (overdue in your rent payments by at least 7 days), which can lead to a ‘notice to vacate’. See our pages on overdue rent and notices to vacate and eviction.

If you are thinking about ending your rooming house agreement because you cannot afford the increase, see our page on ending or breaking your lease. You can also consider Tenants Victoria’s free financial counselling service.

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

At VCAT, the people who hear and decide cases are called members. A VCAT member 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 not having your side heard, or your application may be dismissed. 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 advice or support, this page has information on how you can get help.

At the hearing:

• If VCAT finds the notice is invalid, it will order that the rent increase cannot go ahead, and the rooming house operator will need to issue a new notice to restart the process
• If you have already paid extra rent under an invalid notice, VCAT may also order a refund of any overpaid amount
• If VCAT finds the notice is valid, and you are also challenging the increase as excessive, VCAT will then decide whether the amount of the increase is excessive or not
• If VCAT decides the rent increase is excessive and sets the rent to a lower amount or refuses to allow the increase, make sure you ask VCAT to order the rooming house operator to refund any rent that you have overpaid
• If VCAT decides that the amount of the rent increase is fair, and you want to stay at the rooming house, you need to pay the increase from the date listed on the original notice, if you have not done so already

If you need support to respond to a rent increase, help is available.

There are step-by-step guides, self-help tools and other resources to assist you with rent increases.

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

The sections in this list relate to rent increases in rooming houses. Click on a link to see more about the section.

• Section 44 – Rent increases
• Section 101 – How much notice of rent increase is required
• Section 102 – Resident may complain to Director about excessive rent
• Section 103 – Application to Tribunal about excessive rent
• Section 102A – Director may investigate rent without application by resident
• Section 103 – Application to Tribunal about excessive rent
• Section 104 – What can the Tribunal order?
• Section 105 – Payment of increased rent pending Tribunal decision
• Section 452 – General applications to the Tribunal
• Section 506 – Service of documents

The Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 provide more detail and definitions, and specify updates to the Residential Tenancies Act.