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A West Melbourne agency has been fined $2k after breaching Victoria’s rental laws by advertising a property without a fixed price.
A real estate agency in West Melbourne has been ordered to pay a $2,035 penalty and implement strict compliance measures after advertising a rental property without a fixed price.
On 14 August 2024, CAN Estate Agents Pty Ltd, of which Qi Zhao was the sole director, advertised a property on realestate.com.au in a way that was in breach of Victoria’s renting laws.
According to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV), Zhao failed to advertise the rent under the residential rental agreement as a fixed amount, instead including the words "Contract Agent".
Two days later, CAN amended the listing description and fixed the advertisement to display the rent at $750 per week.
On 1 October 2025, CAN signed an enforceable undertaking from CAV, agreeing to pay the penalty and commence education and training to prevent future breaches.
CAV flagged that it wasn’t the first time CAN Estate Agents came under scrutiny for breaching the Residential Tenancies Act, having received an infringement notice in September 2024 for not providing a fixed rental price.
Following the breach, the watchdog said it remains committed to stamping out behaviour and offences that put renters’ safety and security at risk.
“We take reports of rental law breaches very seriously and will investigate and take action when necessary,” a spokesperson told REB.
As part of its measures to curb the issue, in October, CAV’s rental taskforce partnered with online property platforms to block unlawful rental bidding.
Realestate.com.au and domain.com.au have upgraded their platforms to ensure only a single, fixed price is included on rental listings.
As part of its crackdown on illegal advertisements, CAV’s task force has issued over 50 infringements totalling more than $600,000 in fines and 100 official warnings across 2024 and 2025.
The task force has also initiated criminal prosecutions against several estate agencies for breaches of the renting laws.
Additionally, from 25 November, new reforms will ban agents and landlords from accepting unsolicited rent increase offers from tenants, expanding on existing laws that prohibit them from seeking such offers.
You might also like: [Rental bidding crackdown: Property platforms adopt fixed pricing]
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