Host - Belinda Heit – Communication and Education – RTA 

Guest – Cassie Chow – Education - RTA 

Host: The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2009 expired on 31 August 2025 and was replaced with the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2025. Joining me today to help us understand the changes to the regulation is Cassie Chow. Welcome, Cass.

Guest: Thanks, Belinda. It's great to be here.

Host: Good to be with you again. Now, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at the RTA?

Guest: Of course. I'm an RTA Senior Community Education Officer. That means I'm part of the team that's responsible for delivering educational events and activities to the rental sector. We organise and deliver free information sessions across Queensland, webinars and podcasts, just like this one, amongst other things.

And we also attend events organised by other organisations to deliver presentations or simply be present to raise awareness of how the RTA can help tenants, property managers or owners and answer questions.

Host: Yes, now today we're talking about the Regulation. Firstly, what is the Regulation and how is it different to the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008?

Guest: Basically a regulation is a more detailed rule to support and explain an act. In Queensland, the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation supports the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (the Act) by prescribing key processes and requirements for applying the Act in practice.

Now regulations automatically expire or sunset after 10 years. The 2009 regulation was reviewed by the Department of Housing and Public Works and has now been replaced with the RTRA Regulation 2025.

Now to illustrate how the regulation works with the Act, let's consider an example of water billing. The Act dictates the criteria under which full water consumption charges may be passed on to a tenant. It stipulates that:

• the property must be individually metered
• the requirement to pay water must be stated in the tenancy agreement
• the property must be water efficient and
• a copy of the original bill must be provided to the tenant within 4 weeks of the property owner receiving it from the service provider.

It's the regulation, however, which states the time frame within which the tenant must pay the bill.

Host: So does the new Regulation apply to all existing agreements as well as new ones?

Guest: I'm glad you asked. because there is a transition period. And basically this means that agreements entered into before 1 September 2025 will remain valid and there's no need for a new agreement. However, agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025 will need to comply with the 2025 regulation.

For this reason, it's really important for all parties to the agreement to know when the agreement was entered into. That way, they can be clear about which regulation applies.

Host: Yeah, right. Now, there's a lot of changes in this one. Can you provide us with a bit of an overview of what they are?

Guest: Yeah. The first point to note before we talk about any specific changes, though, is that the 2025 Regulation doesn't introduce any new obligations or major changes. It does, however, clarify existing requirements, make minor administrative updates, and simplify forms and wording.

Host: Gotcha.

Guest: So some of the key changes include:

• an update to the threshold amounts for selling, donating or disposing of goods left behind in general tenancies, movable dwellings and rooming accommodation
• the alignment of time frames for issuing and paying water bills to 4 weeks
• an adjustment to the calculation of caravan sale fees
• clarification of existing prescribed house rule obligations about quiet enjoyment, and
• renumbering of some sections.

There have also been some changes to the RTA tenancy agreement forms, and these include reordering of some item numbers to improve usability, simplified wording to improve readability, and improved clarity of standard tenancy terms.

Host: Yeah, that all makes sense. Now, what are the changes around how goods left behind by tenants or residents are handled?

Guest: So the Regulation prescribes threshold amounts for the sale, donation or disposal of goods that a tenant or resident leaves behind. It also prescribes a minimum storage period for goods that must be stored.

For rooming accommodation agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025, the prescribed value of goods that can be sold or disposed of immediately is $250 and the prescribed value of goods that can be sold or disposed of after storing for the minimum period of time is $900. If the goods are valued between $250 up to less than $900, then the managing party may donate them to charity, again, after storing for the minimum prescribed time and that's 28 days.

Previously these amounts were $150 and $600 respectively. So you can see that they've increased a little bit.

For general tenancy and movable dwelling agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025, there are changes to the prescribed values for selling or disposing of goods left behind and also a change to the minimum storage period for caravans and their contents. Goods related to a movable dwelling agreement for a site only in a movable dwelling park have a prescribed value of $5,000, and all other goods now have a prescribed value of $2,500.

So what this means is that, for example, goods left behind in a general tenancy, which have a total value of $2,500 or more, are safe to store, and which are not personal documents or money, we're not talking about those here, must be stored for a minimum of one month.

I'll just note here that the minimum storage period for general tenancies is different to that for rooming accommodation.

Host: Yeah, right. Okay, that's good to know. Now, what's the minimum storage period now for caravans? As you said, there's been a change there also.

Guest: Yes, I did indeed. For agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025, caravans, their contents and other goods used in occupying the caravan must be stored for a minimum of 2 months. This was previously 3 months.

Host: Right, okay, so a shorter period.

Guest: Yes. For further and more complete details around what to do with goods that are left behind in a specific situation, I would encourage listeners to refer to the Act and or the Regulation directly.

And remember, the new threshold values and minimum storage periods only apply to agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025. For agreements entered into before this date, the specifications of the 2009 Regulation apply.

Host: Gotcha. Now, if I recall correctly, you also mentioned earlier that there's been a change to the calculation of caravan sale fees.

Guest: That's correct. You have a very good memory.

Host: Well, I do try, Cass.

Guest: Well, for agreements entered into on or after 1 September 2025, the maximum fee for a caravan sale is 4%.

Host: Righto. And for agreements entered into before 1 September 2025, it's the old calculation.

Guest: Correct again.

Host: Yay. Okay, I think I'm getting this. Now, what other changes are important for our listeners to be aware of?

Guest: Well, the main ones are those that I outlined at the beginning of this podcast. Firstly, the time frame within which tenants must pay water bills is now 4 weeks, which is in line with the time frame given under the Act for lessors to provide a copy of the bill to the tenant.

Examples of what might be considered electronic notices, such as text messages, have been added.

There's been some renumbering of some sections related to keeping pets and rooming accommodation and refinement of information relating to nominated repairers and emergency repairs.

There's a new ‘services to be provided’ tick box on rooming accommodation agreements.

And finally, from 1 September 2026, there's a clarification of requirements relating to quiet enjoyment in the prescribed house rules. Note here that the existing prescribed house rules from the 2009 Regulation continue to apply until 31 August 2026.

Host: So some key dates there to remember. Now, are there any important reminders you'd like to provide in relation to which actual regulation applies?

Guest: Well, most of all, I'd like to remind our listeners to know when their agreement was entered into. That way, they'll be able to determine which regulation applies and what the standard terms of their specific agreement are.

If the agreement was entered into before 1 September 2025, then the 2009 Regulation applies. And if the agreement was entered into on or after 1 September 2025, then the 2025 Regulation applies.