What is Rent
Rent is the amount of money a tenant agrees to pay to an owner each week/fortnight, in return for ‘exclusive possession’ of a property.
The lease will specify a payment period, for example fortnightly. Rent for each payment period must be paid in advance. The payment period can only be changed if both the tenant and owner agree.
If the tenant pays rent using cash or cheque the owner must give the tenant a receipt that has:
- the date rent was received
- the period rent was received for
- the name of the tenant
- the address of the property the tenant paid rent for and
- the amount received.
A tenant cannot be charged for the payment/collection of rent.
Advertising at a fixed price (no rent bidding)
Rent bidding is where an owner invites tenants to make an offer to rent the property at a higher amount than advertised. This is not allowed.
Owners must advertise rental properties at a fixed price.
Rent advertised as:
- ‘Expressions of interest’
- rental brackets such as rent being between two amounts (eg $100-150 pw)
- rent being ‘from’ an amount
are not fixed prices.
Owners must not invite people applying to rent the property to make an offer to rent the property for more than the advertised amount.
If you see or are asked to rent bid, you can report a possible breach to the Residential Tenancy Commissioner by using the Contact Us form.
Water and sewerage charges
A property owner can only charge a tenant for water consumption where:
- a water authority makes a separate charge for water consumption, and
- the premises are equipped with a device that calculates the amount of water used at the premises.
An owner and tenant should note the water meter reading at the start and at the end of the tenancy. Record this information on the condition report.
On 1 July 2026 Tas Water introduced a variable sewerage charge, this charge is based on an estimate of the amount of water discharged into the sewerage system and is not calculated from a meter measuring water consumed at the property. Section 17(3)(b) of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 only allows an owner to recover a water consumption charge measured by a device that calculates water used at the premises, sewerage usage charges are the responsibility of the owner and cannot be passed on to a tenant.
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