Australia rent guide

FIRB approval and a ban on established homes for foreign buyers, state leases with bonds held by the state, no withholding, non-resident rates from dollar one.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and your situation may differ. Check the sources on this page and confirm with a lawyer or accountant in the country before you act.

Desk research Last reviewed 1 October 2026 Report an inaccuracy

Renting out property in Australia

What applies when the property is in Australia, whoever owns it and wherever they live.

Who may own residential property

Who may own residential property, by audience
Citizens living in the country	Allowed Anywhere.
Residents of any nationality	With conditions A permanent resident buys like a citizen. A temporary resident on a visa is a foreign person: FIRB approval, new dwellings or vacant land only, and the ban on established homes applies.
Citizens living abroad	Allowed An Australian citizen living abroad is not a foreign person and buys like any citizen, but as a non-resident is taxed at foreign-resident rates and may owe state absentee surcharges.
Foreign nationals living abroad	With conditions A foreign person needs Foreign Investment Review Board approval for any residential purchase, paying an application fee, and may buy only a new dwelling, a near-new dwelling or vacant land to build on. Buying an established home is banned from 1 April 2025 until 30 June 2029, after the 2026–27 Budget extended the original two-year ban.

Letting it out from abroad

May a non-resident owner let it: Yes. A foreign owner must let or occupy the home for more than 183 days a year or pay an annual vacancy fee, and must lodge a vacancy fee return every year regardless.
Licences, permits, landlord registration: None for a long-term let. Short-term letting is regulated by state and council, with registration and night caps in some cities.
Local agent or representative: No, but a licensed property manager is the norm; bonds, condition reports and tribunal paperwork run on state systems the manager already uses.

The rent agreement

Written agreement required: Yes. Every state requires the written agreement, and most require their standard form, with a copy and a condition report given to the tenant.
Mandatory standard form: Mandatory in each state: New South Wales's standard residential tenancy agreement, Victoria's residential rental agreement, and their equivalents elsewhere. Extra terms are allowed only where the form permits.
Language: English.
Registry: None for the lease. The bond, not the agreement, is what gets lodged.
When registration is required: Never for a residential tenancy. Only very long leases are registered on title.
Who registers: Not applicable
Registration cost: Not applicable
If it is not registered: Not applicable
Stamp duty: None on residential leases in any state.
Notarisation and witnesses: None required.
E-signature: Valid under the Commonwealth Electronic Transactions Act 1999 and each state's equivalent, provided the method identifies the signer and shows intent. Any platform works; myID is a government login, not a signing identity.
The usual term: Six or twelve months fixed, then periodic. Agents renew yearly.

Rules the agreement must respect

Deposit: A bond of up to four weeks' rent in most states, which the landlord or agent must lodge with the state bond authority, Rental Bonds Online in New South Wales or the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority in Victoria, within days of receipt. The landlord never holds it.
Rent increases: Once every twelve months in most states, with written notice of sixty days or more on the prescribed form; a tenant can challenge an excessive increase at the tribunal.
Notice periods: State law, and tightening. New South Wales ended no-grounds evictions in May 2025; landlords now need a stated ground and the notice period it carries. Tenants give the period their agreement and state set, commonly fourteen to twenty-eight days.
Disputes: The state civil and administrative tribunal, which handles bonds, repairs, increases and possession. Self-help eviction is unlawful.
Mandatory disclosures: State forms carry the mandatory disclosures: the condition report, embedded networks, proposed sale, and in some states any known planned works. Smoke alarms, pool safety and electrical safety obligations sit alongside.

Tax when the landlord lives abroad

Is the rent taxed here: Yes. Rent from Australian property is Australian-source income, taxed at foreign-resident rates with no tax-free threshold, after deductible expenses and depreciation.
Withholding at source: No
Withholding rate: Not applicable
Who withholds: Not applicable
What the tenant must register: Not applicable
How to reduce it: Not applicable
Filing and tax ID: An Australian tax return every year with a tax file number, declaring the net rent. Selling triggers foreign resident capital gains withholding of fifteen percent of the price unless the ATO issues a variation.
VAT or GST on rent: None on residential rent, which is input-taxed.
Municipal and housing fees: Council rates and water charges are the owner's. Land tax applies above a state threshold, and foreign or absentee owners pay a surcharge in New South Wales, Victoria and other states.

Money inside the country

How tenants pay: Direct debit, bank transfer or BPAY into the agent's trust account, which forwards the rent net of fees.
Currency of rent: AUD
Bank account for a non-resident owner: The major banks open accounts for non-residents, often started online before arrival with a passport and address. An agent's trust account is the alternative.
Paying rent to an overseas account: Allowed; nothing in tenancy or tax law requires a local account.
Taking rent out of the country: No capital controls and no exit tax. Rent moves abroad by bank transfer; nothing to declare beyond the tax return.

Living in Australia, property elsewhere

What Australia asks of its residents who own and let property in another country.

Owning property abroad from here

Buying abroad: No restriction. An Australian resident may buy property anywhere the other country allows and move money out freely.
Reporting foreign assets and accounts: No register of foreign assets. Foreign rent is declared in the annual return as foreign income; the ATO receives account data from other countries under the common reporting standard.
Tax at home on foreign rent: Taxed. An Australian resident declares worldwide income, including rent from property abroad, and claims a foreign income tax offset for tax paid there, capped at the Australian tax on that income.
Bringing rent home: No limit and no declaration for the transfer itself. The income was taxable when it arose.
Digital identity for e-signing: There is no national signing identity. Any e-signature platform the foreign side accepts does the job, or a notarised paper signature where the other country insists.

Sources

ATO: foreign investment in Australia, residential property — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: banning foreign purchases of established dwellings (extended to 30 June 2029) — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: vacancy fee return for foreign owners — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: residential fees for a foreign person — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: tax rates for foreign residents — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: foreign resident capital gains withholding, foreign residents and variations — www.ato.gov.au
ATO: Australian resident for tax purposes — www.ato.gov.au
Revenue NSW: surcharge purchaser duty — www.revenue.nsw.gov.au
State Revenue Office Victoria: understanding the absentee owner surcharge — www.sro.vic.gov.au
NSW Government: the standard residential tenancy agreement — www.nsw.gov.au
Consumer Affairs Victoria: lodging the bond with the RTBA — www.consumer.vic.gov.au
Attorney-General's Department: electronic signatures, documents and transactions — www.ag.gov.au
Income Tax Department of India: the India–Australia tax treaty — www.incometaxindia.gov.in