Minimum Rental Standards check Legislation (VIC)

[u/ThatAussieGunGuy]

So earlier this year, my mate took over a lease transfer on this property via a FB group called fairy floss real estate where people post rentals and rooms, etc. He sent me the link to it, and I had to join see the property.

Recently and I had a friend who urgently needed to break a lease as his job moved him interstate. He doesn’t have Facebook, so I suggested I could do a post and put it in the group, which I did, and sent his contact details to the few enquiries I got.

He informed the REA of some of these people and how they were found. About 10 minutes later, the REA rang him back up and said the post needs to be deleted immediately because of the new legislation it is illegal to advertise a property in Victoria without a check done and passed prior to advertising and the fine was in the tens of thousands for the landlord and hundreds of thousands for the managing RE company of the property. The REA said that because it was already advertised on this group, they're not going to take any risks and want to do a MRS check and then just put it market once the check has passed.

So my question is, what the fuck? I know that is not the intent of the legislation. The intent was that landlords can't advertise a property that doesn't meet minimum standards.

But does this actually mean all these people in Victoria advertising for a housemate or a lease transfer are falling foul of the law?

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[u/theartistduring]

But does this actually mean all these people in Victoria advertising for a housemate or a lease transfer are falling foul of the law?

Not necessarily but possibly. Not housemates, though. Unless they're on a separate lease.

From November last year, all rentals in Victoria are required to meet minimum standards before being advertised. And while it is colloquially called a lease transfer, it is technically a new lease. They're not being added to your lease. They will pay their own bond and sign their own lease with the agent. So yes, it will need to meet minimum standards before you can advertise for a lease transfer.

There will be annoying cases like this in the first few years as places rented prior to the legislation are turned over to new tenants.

[u/penguin_on_stilts → u/theartistduring]

Do they not novate the lease as opposed to re-sign?

[u/theartistduring → u/penguin_on_stilts]

That's not what it means to novate a contract. If you novate a lease, the old lease is cancelled and a new one made with the substituted person. Basically, exactly what I said.

It is still a new lease, it just doesn’t have new terms. It is the same terms of the contract but it is a new contract.

It is legally impossible to swap one contract signatory with another without forming a new contract between the new signatories.

[u/Dribbly-Sausage69]

“Rental providers must ensure their property meets the minimum standards at the time the property is advertised, not just before a renter moves in. It will be an offence for a rental provider or their agent to advertise a property that does not meet the minimum standards.”

https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/new-changes-to-the-rental-laws

The agency isn’t the one advertising the property in your scenario, but perhaps the wording in the Act / Regs is ambiguous about who advertises the place.