Methodology

This report compares the structure and required content of residential tenancy agreements in New Zealand and Australia (focusing on New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland), using each jurisdiction’s current tenancy legislation, published standard forms, and tribunal guidance.

New Zealand sources: Tenancy Services — Tenancy agreements, Tenancy Services — Required statements, Residential Tenancy Agreement template, Residential Tenancy Agreement Builder, Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (as at 20 March 2025).

Australia sources: NSW Fair Trading — Residential tenancy agreements, NSW Standard Residential Tenancy Agreement, Consumer Affairs Victoria — Minimum standards, Queensland RTA, Tenants’ Union of NSW.

Sample sizes are the active bond counts used as proxies for formal tenancy counts: 424,383 in New Zealand (end 2024) and 968,350 in NSW (June 2024).

Limitations: This analysis covers legislative requirements and standard-form content — not what individual agreements actually contain in practice. No jurisdiction publishes data on what percentage of tenancy agreements include or omit specific clauses beyond the prescribed minimums.

New Zealand: one national framework

Required agreement content

The Residential Tenancies Act 1986, section 13 requires every residential tenancy agreement to be in writing and signed by both parties. The agreement must include at minimum:

Required element	RTA section	Notes
Full names and contact addresses of landlord and tenant	s 13A	Including email and mobile if known
Property address	s 13A	The physical address of the rental
Date agreement signed + tenancy start date	s 13A	These may differ
Address for service (both parties)	s 13A	Electronic address permitted from 20 March 2025
Whether tenant is under 18	s 13A	Affects legal capacity
Bond amount	s 18	Capped at 4 weeks’ rent
Rent amount and payment frequency	s 13A	Must be payable by automatic bank transfer
Tenancy type (periodic or fixed-term)	s 13A	If fixed-term, the end date

Required statements (post-2020)

Since the 2020 amendments, every new, renewed, or varied tenancy agreement must also include:

Healthy Homes Standards compliance statement — declaring which standards the property meets and any outstanding work
Insurance statement — declaring whether the landlord has insurance and what it covers
Body corporate rules (if applicable) — for unit title properties

These are prescribed by the Act and cannot be omitted from the agreement. Tenancy Services publishes a standard template and an online Agreement Builder that incorporates all required elements.

Standard tenant obligations (from the Tenancy Services template)

The Tenancy Services template includes standard clauses requiring tenants to:

Pay rent on time and use the premises principally for residential purposes
Keep the property reasonably clean and tidy
Replace batteries in smoke alarms as required
Not disturb neighbours or the landlord’s other tenants
Not use the property for any unlawful purpose
Not make alterations without the landlord’s written consent

Document retention

Section 123A requires landlords to retain the tenancy agreement, all variations, inspection reports, and building work records for the duration of the tenancy and 12 months after termination.

Australia: eight state-level frameworks

Unlike New Zealand’s single national form, each Australian state and territory prescribes its own standard residential tenancy agreement with different mandatory terms, optional clauses, and supplementary forms.

State-by-state agreement structure

Element	New South Wales	Victoria	Queensland
Standard form prescribed	Yes — NSW Fair Trading form	Yes — Consumer Affairs Victoria form	Yes — RTA Form 18a
Condition report attached	Yes — must be provided before signing	Yes — 2 copies or 1 electronic	Yes — Entry Condition Report (Form 1a)
Bond receipt / lodgement	Yes — bond lodged with NSW Fair Trading	Yes — lodged with RTBA	Yes — lodged with RTA
Pet clause structure	Yes — structured process from 19 May 2025	Yes — specific pet bond provisions	Limited
Fee-free rent payment required	Yes — from 19 May 2025	Yes — bank transfer or Centrepay	Not mandated
No-grounds eviction abolished	Yes — from 19 May 2025	Restricted	Restricted

2024–2025 legislative changes

The 2024–2025 period has seen the most significant changes to Australian tenancy law in a decade:

New South Wales (19 May 2025):

No-grounds evictions abolished — landlords must now provide a reason for termination, aligning NSW with New Zealand’s 2020 position
Structured pet approval process — landlords can refuse only on prescribed grounds
Fee-free rent payment — landlords must offer at least one fee-free payment option (bank transfer or Centrepay)
Rent increases limited to once per year (from 31 October 2024)

Source: Tenants’ Union of NSW — Law change.

Victoria (ongoing):

Minimum rental standards checklist now required before advertising
2-yearly electrical and gas safety checks mandated
Blind and curtain cord safety requirements from 1 December 2025
Consultation on additional minimum energy efficiency standards underway

Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria — New changes.

Queensland:

Updated Entry Condition Report requirements
Continued RTA-mediated bond dispute process

Cross-market comparison: agreement anatomy

Dimension	New Zealand	Australia (NSW as representative)
Framework	Single national Act (RTA 1986)	State-level Acts (8 separate)
Standard form	Tenancy Services template + Agreement Builder	NSW Fair Trading standard form
Pre-tenancy compliance declaration	Yes — Healthy Homes compliance statement	No equivalent
Insurance disclosure	Yes — mandatory insurance statement	Not mandated
Condition report	Recommended (property inspection checklist)	Mandated (must be provided before signing)
No-grounds eviction	Abolished since 2020	Abolished in NSW from May 2025; varies by state
Rent increase frequency cap	Once per 12 months, 60 days’ notice	Once per 12 months (NSW from Oct 2024)
Bond cap	4 weeks’ rent	4 weeks’ rent (most states)
Electronic service of notices	Permitted from 20 March 2025	Varies by state
Document retention period	Duration of tenancy + 12 months	Varies by state
Fee-free rent payment	Always required (bank transfer)	NSW from May 2025; Victoria from May 2025

Where the frameworks are converging

The 2024–2025 reforms show a clear convergence pattern. Both countries are moving toward:

No-grounds evictions abolished — New Zealand led in 2020; NSW followed in 2025; Victoria and Queensland have restricted or removed them
Fee-free rent payment — New Zealand has always required bank transfer; NSW and Victoria now mandate it
Annual rent increase cap — both countries now limit increases to once per 12 months
Stronger pre-tenancy disclosure — New Zealand’s Healthy Homes compliance statement is the furthest along; Victoria’s minimum standards checklist is the Australian equivalent

Where they still diverge

Condition reports — Australia mandates them as a legal requirement; New Zealand recommends but does not mandate a formal condition report in the same way
Safety check periodicity — Victoria mandates 2-yearly electrical and gas checks; New Zealand has no equivalent periodic check (Healthy Homes is a one-time compliance assessment, not a recurring inspection)
State fragmentation — a landlord operating across Australian states must navigate 8 different frameworks; a New Zealand landlord faces one

The most commonly disputed clauses

Based on tribunal data and tenancy authority guidance from both countries, the clauses most frequently in dispute are:

Bond deductions at tenancy end — the single most common dispute in both countries. The condition report (or its absence) is the primary evidence. In New Zealand, bond disputes are the largest category of Tenancy Tribunal applications. In Australia, even with high agreement rates (95% in Victoria), the remaining 5% represent thousands of cases annually.
Repair and maintenance obligations — who is responsible for what, and what constitutes “reasonable repair” versus tenant damage. New Zealand’s Healthy Homes Standards have made this more specific (measurable heating output, insulation R-values) but have also created a new category of disputes where tenants allege non-compliance.
Rent increase validity — challenges to the timing, frequency, or amount of rent increases. Both countries now cap increases at once per 12 months, but disputes persist over whether the increase is “substantially above market rent” (New Zealand) or unreasonable (various Australian states).
Termination notice validity — whether the landlord’s stated ground for termination is genuine. Since both New Zealand and (from 2025) NSW abolished no-grounds evictions, the validity of the stated reason has become a new category of dispute.

What this means for landlords

Use the official template. In New Zealand, use the Tenancy Services Agreement Builder. In Australia, use the state-prescribed standard form. Custom agreements that omit prescribed terms are not just bad practice — they may be unenforceable.

Invest in the condition report. It is the single document that prevents the single most common dispute. Photograph everything, complete every field, and ensure the tenant returns their annotated copy within the prescribed period.

Stay current on your state. The 2024–2025 reforms are the most significant in a decade. If your agreement template predates May 2025 in New South Wales, it likely does not reflect the new pet, payment, and termination rules. In Victoria, the compliance checklist and safety check obligations continue to expand.

Document retention is not optional. New Zealand requires 12 months post-tenancy. Australian states vary. In either case, the documents you retain (or fail to retain) directly affect your position in any future dispute.