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Victoria’s property managers have been warned to stay up to date with the rental reform minimum standards, or risk the wrath of the state’s Consumer Affairs Task Force.
Detector Inspector Executive Director Jordan Kagan Gescheit sat down with Editor Liam Garman on an episode of the REB Podcast to discuss the impact of the sweeping Victorian rental reforms.
When Kagan Gescheit first began his career, compliance services targeted to real estate agencies were a foreign concept, with agents and property managers left to their own devices to ensure a property remained up to standards.
“You had property managers going into homes sometimes with sticks and pressing their buttons on smoke alarms to test them to see if they are working,” Kagan Gescheit said.
“The risk of a real estate agency and risk on a property manager that they could be sued for negligence was something that they really wanted to be able to shift onto a third party, and that is where our services really became valuable.”
Realising a digital audit trail was missing, Kagan Gescheit built software and an IT team, combining Detector Inspector’s maintenance services with technology to simplify processes for real estate professionals.
“Real estate agents and property managers hate compliance,” he said.
“They do routine inspections, they take care of maintenance, they love leasing. But what they don’t like is compliance.”
Strict Victorian reforms
While real estate regulations differ across states, Kagan Gescheit said Victoria has the strictest compliance, with the Residential Tenancy Act 2021 mandating annual smoke alarm checks and gas and electrical tests every two years.
The reforms also introduced 14 minimum standards that a property must meet to be eligible for listing as a rental, which will come into effect on 25 November.
Kagan Gescheit said that some businesses claiming to maintain properties to the new compliance standards at a discounted rate were likely cutting corners, as the work required specialised tradespeople.
“When you think about those suppliers in the market that are charging a fraction of what we charge, we say that it is almost impossible if they’re using qualified tradespeople and doing the prescribed work correctly,” he said.
He added that anyone opting to cut corners would risk being caught and penalised by Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Rental Task Force, which has handed out over $750,000 in fines since its inception in 2024
“Now Consumer Affairs can go into an open for inspection with the Task Force and audit the property while they are there.”
Kagan Gescheit said that the task force had also been scouring properties on REA and Domain, checking for obvious signs that a property meets the minimum standards, which he said was “freaking out the market.”
Increased regulation
According to Kagan Gescheit, there will be an increase in regulatory oversight in the industry, and the introduction of an accreditation body to oversee safety checks in Victoria could be on the cards.
“It’s something that we’ve pitched to governments, and we are hoping that it is something that the government can really press,” he said.
He said that regulatory oversight would help the market avoid situations in which compliance measures were not met and properties remained listed as available due to the shortage of qualified tradespeople.
“What you really want is the regulations defined under the RTA to really lift the safety of rental properties in the state.”
“To do that, you have to make sure that the services are being conducted properly,” Kagan Gescheit concluded.
Detector Inspector will be present at the upcoming REB Property Management Excellence Conference on November 27.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mathew Williams
Born in the rural town of Griffith NSW, Mathew Williams is a graduate journalist who has always had a passion for storytelling. Having graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Sports Media in 2023, Mathew recently made the move to Sydney from Canberra to pursue a career in journalism and has joined the Momentum Media team, writing for their real estate brands. Outside of journalism, Mathew is an avid fan of all things sports and regularly attends sporting events across Sydney. Get in touch at
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