The Queensland Government has recently reviewed and made changes to the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2025 (the Regulation), which will commence from 1 September 2025.

Under Queensland law, regulations automatically expire (or ‘sunset’) after 10 years unless they are reviewed and remade.

RTA form updates from 1 September 2025

To align with these Regulation changes, the RTA will be updating the following tenancy agreement forms, which will be made available for download on the RTA website from 1 September 2025:

• General tenancy agreement (Form 18a)
• Moveable dwelling tenancy agreement (Form 18b)
• Rooming accommodation agreement (Form R18).

Please ensure you download and use the latest versions when they are made available from 1 September 2025.

Key changes to the updated tenancy agreement forms will include:

• reordered item numbers to improve usability
• simplified wording to improve readability
• improved clarity of standard tenancy terms to better reflect regulatory requirements.

Regulation changes from 1 September 2025

The Regulation supports the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (the Act) by prescribing key processes and requirements for applying the Act in practice.

To support a smooth transition to the new Regulation and its requirements from 1 September 2025, the Queensland Government has outlined several transitional provisions including:

• Existing tenancy agreements that started before 1 September 2025 will remain valid.
• Caravan sale fees agreed to before 1 September 2025 will use the old fee calculation. From 1 September 2025, the maximum fee is 4%.
• Existing prescribed house rules listed in Schedule 5 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Regulation 2009 will continue to apply until 31 August 2026. After that, all prescribed house rules will need to meet the new requirements under the 2025 Regulation.
• Lost property from rooming accommodation agreements that ended before 1 September still follow the 2009 Regulation’s value limits. Starting 1 September 2025, property that can be sold, donated or disposed of will have a prescribed value of $250, and property that must be stored safely will have a value of $900. Under the 2009 Regulation, these amounts were previously $150 and $600 respectively.
• Goods left behind (excluding personal documents or money) under agreements that ended before 1 September 2025 will continue to be managed under the 2009 Regulation, so the previous value thresholds and storage periods still apply. However, there are changes to the prescribed value for goods left behind and storage periods on or after 1 September 2025:
  • goods related to a moveable dwelling agreement for a site only in a moveable dwelling park will have a prescribed value of $5,000
  • all other goods will have a prescribed value of $2,500
  • caravans, their contents, and other goods used in occupying the caravan must be stored for 2 months (previously 3 months).