The Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and its associated Regulation commenced on 31 January 2011.

The new Act follows a comprehensive review of the existing tenancy laws and includes more than 100 reforms. The changes include arrangements for rent payments, early termination by tenants, ‘no-grounds’ evictions, alterations by tenants, rent arrears, sub-letting, shared housing, security and tenancy databases.

Tenants and landlords

Detailed information for tenants and landlords at the beginning, middle and end of a tenancy is available:

Renting a home
Being a landlord

New standard forms

A new standard residential tenancy agreement and condition report have replaced previous versions. In addition, The Renting guide has been replaced by the New tenant checklist. The New tenant checklist is the mandatory information statement that landlords and agents must give to all tenants before they sign a new tenancy agreement.

The tenancy agreement, condition report, New tenant checklist and other residential tenancy forms are available to view or download on the Forms page.

Video presentations

For an overview of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, watch the Fair Trading video Changes to tenancy laws.

View the Changes to tenancy laws video presentation

View or download the video script in word format (size: 112kb).

Launch of the new tenancy laws in NSW

NSW Fair Trading Deputy Comissioner Steve Griffin and media personality Tom Williams outline the details of the new tenancy laws launched in NSW on 31 January 2011.

Watch the launch of the new tenancy laws video on our YouTube channel