You come home and the back door is unlocked. Or the agent “just popped in” to check something. Or the landlord turns up on a Saturday with a tradie and lets himself in while you are in the shower.
This is not okay. You rent the home. That means you have the right to quiet enjoyment and privacy. The landlord cannot enter whenever they feel like it, even though they own it.
When they can legally enter
Every state’s Residential Tenancies Act lists the only reasons a landlord or agent can enter, and how much notice they must give:
- Routine inspection: 7 days’ written notice in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. 7 to 14 days in Western Australia. 7 days in South Australia. Limited to a few times a year (usually 4 in New South Wales, 2 in Victoria after the first, 4 in Queensland).
- Repairs and maintenance: usually 2 days’ notice (24 hours in Victoria, 48 hours in New South Wales).
- Showing the property to buyers or new tenants: reasonable notice, and only in the last weeks of the lease or after a sale notice.
- Emergency: no notice needed. But this means an actual emergency, like a burst pipe or fire. Not “I wanted to check the garden.”
- With your agreement: if you say yes, they can come in. You can also say no.
Entry must also be at a reasonable time. In most states that means between 8am and 8pm and not on public holidays, unless you agree otherwise.
What counts as a breach
- Entering with no notice at all.
- Giving a text message when the law requires written notice (a text may count in some states, but the notice period still applies).
- Doing more inspections than allowed.
- Turning up at 7am or on Christmas Day.
- Using an “emergency” excuse for a routine visit.
- Letting tradies in without you knowing.
Ready to put it in writing?
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What you can do
- Write it all down. Date, time, who came in, what they said. If you have a doorbell camera, save the footage.
- Send a formal breach notice. This tells the landlord they have breached the quiet enjoyment section of your state’s Act, and demands they stop. It gives them a deadline to fix the behaviour.
- Apply to the tribunal if it continues. The tribunal can order the landlord to stop, and in some states can award you compensation for the intrusion.
In Victoria, a landlord who enters unlawfully can be fined. In New South Wales, the tribunal can order compensation. In Queensland, entry without proper notice is an offence with penalty units attached.
Can I change the locks?
Generally you can change locks only with the landlord’s consent, and you must give them a key. But if there is a court order (for example, a family violence order) the rules are different. Check your state’s Act before doing this.
Put it in writing today
A landlord who thinks they can wander in whenever they like will keep doing it until someone tells them, formally, that they cannot. That someone is you, and the document is a formal letter that quotes the law.
Claim Done drafts your Renter Compensation Claim Against Landlord for $49. Done in about 5 minutes.
What happens when you put your landlord on formal notice
Same problem. What a prepared case looks like.