The W&S Forum

THIS POST IS NOT A COMMENT ON WHETHER I AGREE OR NOT BUT SIMPLY INFORMATION FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:

VIC: the premier today announced changes to the state cabinet which included a few new portfolios. There is now a Minister for Renters.

I have been following a post on a Facebook property management forum in relation to routine inspections given the cost of petrol and diesel at the moment and whether inspections should be cancelled/postponed whilst costs are high or should remote inspections be utilised so thought I would make some comment for our NPMI group. Whilst I am not suggesting what you should do in your business I do want to raise some concerns that you should consider prior to making these type of decisions. First I want to highlight a distinction between the situation now and the situation during COVID, during COVID government mandates prevented us from conducting on site inspections so we had no choice and landlords and insurance companies had to accept the law at the time, now there is no government mandate it is a commercial decision only if businesses choose not to conduct onsite inspections.

Now…

Consumer Affairs has now published the prescribed application form on their website. Feom 31/3/2026 this is the form that mustvbe uswd for applications. You can find the form on the link below, scroll down to find the link to download the application.

https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/starting-and-changing-rental-agreements/applying-signing-and-moving-in/applying-for-a-property?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQMyEdjbGNrBAzH7mV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHnnwjxwbGthya491ImCir3k9Uuf1CCvH6kZZMDRoLs7WSGFkMCf7x-yiAZXT_aem_zXxMWrVZesMdbNy1vXuhqg

****EDIT - OK guys a bit more research as I thought I had previously read regulation 15A, regulation 15A is actually the old regulation 15 in effect since 2021. They changed section 15 to reflect changes to application form which takes effect 31/3/2026. Section 15A will be withdrawn on 30/3/2026 but will function from now until then as it had been previously. The text of the new section 15 is now (The application form is available in the regulations under schedule 1):

15 Information which residential rental provider must

not require rental applicant to disclose

(1) This regulation has effect on and after 31 March

2026.

(2) For the purposes of section 30C of the Act, the