Moving out (rooming houses)

If you want to move out, you need to give the rooming house operator notice of your intention to vacate.

You need to give notice of at least:

• 14 days if you have a fixed-term rooming house agreement that has not ended
• 2 days in all other situations

If you move out without giving notice, or before the end of your notice period, the rooming house operator might ask you to pay rent to cover the notice period.

Find out more about how to give notice on our page about ending or breaking your lease.

Rooming house is unfit to live in

If the rooming house is unfit or unsafe to live in, or is destroyed, whether before or after you move in, no notice is required – you can move out straightaway. Your rooming house agreement will end immediately. Find out more on our page about ending or breaking your lease.

Family or personal violence

If you are experiencing family or personal violence by someone else in your rooming house, and need to move out to protect yourself or your children, you can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for an order to end your rooming house agreement. Family violence is committed by a family member. Personal violence is committed by someone who is not a family member.

You also have the option to stay. You can apply to VCAT for an order which ends the agreement with the other person but allows you to stay and to start a new agreement in your name only, or in your name and the name of any other person you want to live with.

Find out more on our page about ending or breaking your lease.

Notice to vacate

If the rooming house operator wants you to move out, they must follow all the legal steps.

The first step is to give you a ‘notice to vacate’ using the official Consumer Affairs Victoria form. But getting a notice to vacate doesn’t always mean you have to move out. If you don’t want to move out, you can challenge (dispute) the notice to vacate.

It is illegal for the rooming house operator or anyone else to physically evict you or change the locks. Only the police can carry out an eviction.

This is a stressful time and help is available.

Find out more on our page about notices to vacate and eviction.

Notice to leave

If the rooming house operator believes you or your visitors are acting violently or putting someone in serious danger, they can give you a ‘notice to leave’. They must use the official Consumer Affairs Victoria ‘notice to leave’ form. A notice to leave is different from a notice to vacate.

If you get a notice to leave, you must leave the rooming house immediately and not return for 2 full business days. You cannot go back during this time to collect clothes or other personal belongings – you have to arrange for someone else to get them.

If you receive a notice to leave you should get legal advice as soon as possible.

Our page about notices to vacate and eviction has more on what to do if you get a notice to leave.

After you move out, the rooming house operator needs to inspect your room and complete an ‘end of rooming house agreement’ condition report.

This needs to be done within 10 days of you moving out.

The rooming house operator must give you a reasonable opportunity to be at the property at the time they do this final inspection.

You should go to the inspection to make sure the operator accurately fills in the condition report, especially if you have paid a bond that the rooming house operator may try to claim.

If you paid a bond, you should start the process to get this back as soon as possible after you move out.

You can claim your bond directly from the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA). You do not need to wait for the rooming house operator to do this, and you do not need their agreement.

For more on getting your bond back, see our page about bonds.

If you leave any of your belongings behind when you move out, the rooming house operator needs to keep them safe and take steps to get them back to you.

You should contact the rooming house operator as soon as possible to arrange a time to pick your things up.

The longer you wait, the more likely there is a chance your belongings could get lost, or that the operator will ask you to pay for storage.

If any of your belongings are lost or damaged and the rooming house operator did not follow the law, you can claim compensation. Find out more on our page about claiming compensation.

There is also more information on our page about goods left behind.

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 about VCAT.

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

The law

The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 is Victoria’s main law for renting. It describes the rights and duties of renters and landlords (like rooming house operators) in numbered sections. See Part 3 of the Act for laws that specifically relate to rooming houses.

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

The Residential Tenancies (Rooming House Standards) Regulations 2023 set out the privacy, safety, security and amenity standards in rooming houses.

Rooming houses
Bonds
Claiming compensation
Ending or breaking your lease
Goods left behind
Notices to vacate and eviction