Rental home is being sold
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This information is a guide and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice.
Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria (RDRV) now handles some rental disputes instead of VCAT. Until we roll out more information, see our RDRV overview: tenantsvic.org.au/rdrv/
Summary
Your rooming house operator can sell the rooming house you live in, even if you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement. However, there are rules that the rooming house operator must follow. These include what kind of notice they must give you to enter your room (and communal areas), to get a valuation or to conduct a sales inspection.
If your rooming house has been sold or is going to be sold, it does not necessarily mean that you must move out – it can depend on whether the rooming house is being sold as another rooming house or as a private property. The rooming house operator can ask you to leave but must follow the rules. If you are told the rooming house is being sold and you want to leave, there are also rules that you must follow, to avoid ‘breaking’ your agreement and paying costs. If the rooming house is sold, and remains as a rooming house, and you are staying, your agreement continues at the same rent and with the same bond, but the new owner becomes the new rooming house operator.
What is a rooming house?
A rooming house is a building with rooms for rent where 4 or more people can live. The rooming house operator decides who lives at the property and usually has individual agreements with each resident for paying rent. Find out more on our page about rooming houses.
Steps for the rooming house to be sold
If the rooming house operator wants to sell the rooming house, there are rules they must follow about how and when they enter your room to get a valuation or to show buyers. There are also rules about telling you once the rooming house is sold and giving notice if they want you to leave.
Your rooming house operator must follow the rules to enter your room
The rooming house operator or their agent is legally allowed to enter your room, and the communal areas of the rooming house, to show a valuer or prospective buyer. However, there are rules they must follow, particularly for entering your room. If they follow the rules, you must let them in.
See our page on your privacy while renting, to learn more about what to do if they do not follow the rules for entering your room.
The rooming house operator must give you a written ‘notice of entry’ at least 24 hours before they want to enter your room to obtain a valuation or show a potential buyer the home.
The notice of entry must:
- Be in writing – a phone call or text message telling you about it is not enough
- State the reason under the law that allows them to enter your room
- Be given to you with enough advanced warning (known as a minimum notice period)
You must receive the notice of entry in one of the following 3 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
See our page on starting a tenancy for more information on consenting to have notices sent electronically.
Entry to your room by the rooming house operator or their agent is allowed between 8am and 6pm, but not on public holidays.
If the time set by the rooming house operator does not suit you can ask to change the time, however they do not have to do so.
Your rooming house operator or their agent can only stay for as long as is reasonably required to conduct the purpose of the visit.
Family or personal violence
There are also extra legal protections for those experiencing, or at risk of, family or personal violence. These include a requirement to only hold inspections by appointment, not public ‘open for inspections’.
For more information, see our page on your privacy while renting.
You have the right to object to certain photos or videos being taken, including if they expose you or someone else to the risk of personal or family violence, or because valuable items shown expose you to the risk of your room being broken into.
See the information on our page on your privacy while renting, to learn more about your right to object to photos or videos.
Family or personal violence
There are also extra legal protections for those experiencing, or at risk of, family or personal violence. These include a requirement to only hold inspections by appointment, not public ‘open for inspections’.
For more information, see our page on your privacy while renting.
You can apply to VCAT for compensation if:
- Any of your belongings are damaged or stolen during an entry to your room or communal areas
- The rooming house operator or agent has failed in their duty to make sure you have ‘quiet enjoyment’ of your room or communal areas
Examples of this would be failing to give enough notice or warning about a sales inspection, or if a rooming house operator stays too long during an inspection.
For more information, including how to apply for compensation, see our pages on your privacy while renting and claiming compensation.
There are actions you can take, when the rooming house operator or their agent does not follow the rules about privacy and entry or access to your home. These include sending them a ‘notice of breach of duty’ (asking them to fix the problem and compensate you) or applying to VCAT for a restraining order, compensation order or other type of order.
What action to take depends on what rules have been broken and your circumstances.
See our page on your privacy while renting, to learn what to do.
You should receive a letter once the rooming house is sold
Once the rooming house is sold, the rooming house operator or their agent should tell you that the property is sold and that the same rent you are already paying should now be paid to the new owner. You will be given the new details for paying rent.
You must receive notice if the operator wants you to move out
If the rooming house operator wants you to move out because they have sold the rooming house as ‘vacant’, they must give you a ‘notice to vacate’ at least 60 days before they want you to leave.
If the rooming house operator has already signed a contract of sale with a buyer and want you to move out, they must give you a notice to vacate within 14 days of signing the contract of sale, or when all the contract conditions have been met. This means the rooming house operator cannot think about it for a few months after signing a contract, then use the sale as the reason for sending the notice to vacate.
Note: If you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement, you have the right to stay until the end of your fixed term. The date in the notice to vacate cannot be before the end of your fixed term, unless you have agreed to leave earlier.
If you receive a notice to vacate, it must include evidence showing that the rooming house operator intends to sell the property or has sold it. This evidence must be either a signed contract of sale or a clear and legally valid sales authority. A sales authority is a document that appoints a real estate agency to sell a property.
For more information see our page on notices to vacate and eviction.
You must give notice if you want to move out
If you want to move out, because your rooming house is being or has been sold, there are rules you must follow, including giving the rooming house operator a notice of intention to vacate with the correct amount of advanced warning. You can do this if you were not told of the operator’s plans to sell before you signed your rooming house agreement, or if you receive a notice to vacate and want to move out earlier than the date given.
If the rooming house operator did not tell you about their plans to sell the property before you signed your rooming house agreement, you can tell them that you want to move out. You can do this even if you have a fixed-term agreement.
To do so, you need to give the rooming house operator a ‘notice of intention to vacate’ with at least 14 days written notice. You must pay the rent while you are in the property, up until the date listed on the notice, even if you move out before that date.
Note: You cannot be asked to pay any costs (compensation to the rooming house operator) if you end your rooming house agreement this way.
For information on how to give a notice of intention to vacate see our page on ending or breaking your lease.
If your rooming house operator gives you a notice to vacate because the property has been, or is being sold, and you want to move out before the vacate date that is in the notice to vacate, you can give a notice of intention to vacate.
You will need to give at least 14 days notice of your intention to vacate, if you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement, and 2 days notice if you have a periodic (month-to-month) agreement.
Note: You will have to pay rent while you are still in the room, up until your move-out date.
For information on giving a notice of intention to vacate, see our page on ending or breaking your lease.
Ask for compensation if you agree to move out early
If the rooming house operator wants you to move out before the end of your fixed-term agreement, and you consent to this, you can ask for compensation for your inconvenience.
If they agree to the compensation, get the agreement in writing and make sure that it’s signed by you and the current or new owner, whichever one owns the property at the time and is offering you the compensation, or their agent.
See our page on claiming compensation.
Note: You do not have to agree to move out before the end of your fixed term.
See the information on this page about notice if the landlord wants you to move out.
Report operator if they did not tell you of plans to sell
If the rooming house operator already has plans to sell the property, or has entered into a contract to do so, before they enter into a fixed-term rooming house agreement with you, they must tell you about this before you sign.
If they did not, and you are then told the home has been sold, or is about to be sold, the rooming house operator has committed an offence under Victorian rental laws.
You can report an offence to Consumer Affairs Victoria, which can issue an infringement notice to the landlord or agent and make them pay a fine. Consumer Affairs Victoria has an online ‘Make a complaint’ form, or you can call them on 1300 55 81 81.
Note: Consumer Affairs Victoria does not pay compensation to renters.
For more information, see our page on complaints about landlords and agents.
Get help and other resources
If you need support when your rooming house is being sold, help is available.
Tenants Victoria services
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Social Housing and Rooming House Priority Line
For Victorian renters in public housing, community housing and rooming houses.
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Financial counselling
Other organisations
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Federation of Community Legal Centres
For all Victorians.
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Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program (TAAP)
For Victorian renters in private rentals, rooming houses and caravan parks who are in financial hardship or affected by family violence.
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Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG)
For Victorians aged 50 and older.
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Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
For all Victorians.
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Consumer Affairs Victoria
For all Victorians.
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Community Connection Program
For Victorians who are homeless or live in low-cost accommodation.
There are step-by-step guides, self-help tools and other resources to assist you with understanding more about when and how a rooming house operator or their agent can enter your room when your rooming house is being sold, as well as compensation for renters.
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Consumer Affairs Victoria webpage
Consumer Affairs Victoria has an informative webpage about when and how your rooming house operator (rental provider) can enter your rental property.
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Tenants Victoria animation on compensation
Tenants Victoria has prepared a one-minute animated video about compensation.
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Rooming House Residents Handbook
View Tenants Victoria’s pocket guide on moving into, living in, and moving out of, a rooming house.
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 when a rooming house is being sold. Click on a link to see more about the section.
- Section 94I – Information that rooming house operators must disclose before occupancy commences
- Section 122 – Quiet enjoyment – rooming house operator’s duty
- Section 132 – Grounds for entry of a room
- Section 136 – Access to room
- Section 137 Grounds for entry of a room
- Section 138 – Manner of entry
- Section 139 – What must be in a notice of entry
- Section 140 – Resident has duty to permit entry
- Section 141 – What is damage is caused during entry
- Section 142 – Failure to comply by person exercising right of entry
- Section 142ZJ – Sale of rooming house
- Section 142ZT – Form of notice to vacate
- Section 209 – application for compensation or compliance order for breach of duty
- Section 210 – application to VCAT for compensation order on other grounds
- Section 452 – general applications to VCAT
The Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 provide more detail and definitions, and specify updates to the Residential Tenancies Act.
