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Agents and rental providers will be barred from advertising rental properties without a fixed price, with two real estate platforms upgraded to support the crackdown on rental bidding.
A partnership between Consumer Affairs Victoria’s (CAV's) renting taskforce and property website operators, REA Group and Domain, will see the platform impose restrictions to prevent rental bidding.
The platforms, realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, have been upgraded so that rental providers and agents cannot list rental properties unless they use a fixed price.
“This keeps prices transparent for renters and helps rental providers and agents stay on the right side of the rental bidding laws,” CAV said.
Victoria’s 2021 rental law reforms banned rental bidding, requiring properties to be advertised with a fixed price, instead of a vague price range or without a price at all.
Since then, the state’s renting taskforce has been cracking down on non-compliant advertisements by conducting market sweeps and inspections, while issuing numerous official warnings.
In 2024-25 alone, CAV’s taskforce issued more than 50 infringements totalling over $600,000 to rental providers and agents who failed to advertise with a fixed price.
Additionally, the taskforce took criminal prosecutions against five estate agencies for allegedly violating the state rental bidding laws.
“This change at the advertising stage guarantees clear prices for renters, helps the taskforce use its resources more efficiently and prevents estate agencies from making potentially costly mistakes in the first place,” CAV said.
To further strengthen the laws, additional reforms on 25 November will prohibit agents and rental providers from accepting any unsolicited offers from prospective renters.
The new reforms will also include the implementation of an extended notice period as well as the removal of the ‘no reason’ notice to vacate.
Landlords will now have to provide a genuine reason to terminate a tenant's lease and give tenants a notice period of 90 days, increased from the previous 60 days.
Similarly, agents will be required to interpret new rules, update processes, and ensure compliance while supporting both renters and landlords.
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