The NSW rental rules that changed, and what they change for a landlord

What changed, and when

From 31 October 2024, rent can be increased only once in any twelve months, on every type of agreement rather than only periodic and longer fixed-term ones. Charging a prospective tenant for a background check, for preparing the agreement, or for applying at all, was banned at the same time.

From 19 May 2025, a landlord must give a valid reason to end a tenancy agreement and provide supporting documentation for it. Notice periods for ending fixed-term agreements were extended. A pet request can be refused only on specific grounds. Rent has to be payable by a free electronic method — EFT, direct debit or BPAY.

From 20 June 2025 the documentation expected for terminations involving significant renovation or repair was set out more precisely. A Centrepay option has been required since 2 March 2026, and the portable bond scheme opened on 10 August 2026. Further protections for tenants affected by domestic violence commence on 21 September 2026, including seven days' notice before a property is photographed for advertising.

A tenancy now ends with a reason and a document

This is the change that alters how a property is actually managed. Ending an agreement is no longer a matter of giving notice; it requires a ground, and evidence that the ground is real — a contract of sale, a scope of works, the paperwork behind a move-in by the owner or their family.

Where a tenant disputes that a ground is made out, it is decided at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on the evidence put in front of it. That is not a comment on how the tribunal decides. It is the practical point that the evidence has to exist before the notice is given, not be assembled afterwards.

In day-to-day terms it means plans that were previously informal — selling next year, renovating when the tenant leaves, moving a family member in — now need to be documented at the point the notice is served.

Rent moves once a year, so the number you set matters more

One increase in twelve months makes the rent agreed at the start of a tenancy a twelve-month decision rather than a starting position. A lease set below the market cannot be corrected mid-year, and a lease set above it sits vacant while the market is being tested.

It also changes when the number should be reviewed. The useful moment is before the agreement is signed and again at the anniversary, not whenever it occurs to somebody.

Interest rates change the holding cost, and now they land differently

There is no cash rate figure in this article on purpose. Whatever it is when you read this, it will have moved, and a page that quotes a rate is wrong more often than it is right.

What is worth understanding is the mechanism. A rate move changes the holding cost of a geared property immediately, while rent moves once a year at most. The gap between those two speeds is where the pressure sits.

From 1 July 2027 that gap lands differently again. For a property bought after 12 May 2026 that is not a new build, a shortfall no longer reduces tax on a salary in the year it happens — it carries forward against residential property income instead. A property held before that date is exempt. The separate article on the negative gearing and CGT changes sets out which is which.

None of this reaches a short-term rental, up to a point

The Residential Tenancies Act 2010 does not cover short-term rental accommodation taken for a holiday for a period of no more than three months. A short-stay guest is not a tenant. There is no residential tenancy agreement, so there is no rent increase limit, no ground required to end anything, no pet obligation and no bond under that Act — a booking simply ends on the date it ends.

That is a genuine difference between the two products, and it is worth stating plainly rather than leaving owners to infer it. It is also not a loophole: short-term letting carries its own regime instead, with registration, the industry code of conduct, and in Greater Sydney a 180-day annual cap on non-hosted letting.

The boundary is the part to be careful about. The exclusion is expressed as up to three months, and for a holiday. A longer corporate or relocation stay is not automatically outside the Act because it was booked through a platform, and that is precisely where a mid-term strategy needs the arrangement to be right rather than assumed. Where a specific stay sits near that line, check it before the booking rather than afterwards.

What this does to the choice between a lease and short-stay

A long lease gives one tenant, one set of costs and a predictable monthly figure. What changed is the flexibility around it: the rent is fixed for twelve months, and getting the property back requires a ground and the evidence for it.

Short-stay and mid-term letting generally produce a higher gross income on the same property, with no tenancy to end. They also carry higher costs and more work — cleaning, linen, platform commission, furnishing, a higher management fee — and the income varies by season. In Greater Sydney, non-hosted short-term letting is capped at 180 days a year, with bookings of 21 nights or more exempt from the count.

Neither is the right answer in general. The two differ in what they demand of the owner and in how the income arrives, and the comparison only means something against a specific property, its costs and its area. MetaWise manages both, and the estimate we prepare shows the short-stay and mid-term figures beside a long-lease figure rather than instead of it.

This is general information

The rules above are described as published, with the official sources listed below, and they change. This is not legal advice, and it is not advice about a particular tenancy or property. Where something turns on the facts of your agreement, that is a question for a lawyer or for NSW Fair Trading.