What the words mean
The terms you have to already know to read RentingOnRecord, and the ones that are easy to mix up. Each one says where it comes from, so you can check it.
- #Rental providerformerly "landlord"
The person or company renting the property out. Victorian law renamed the landlord, so older letters, websites and templates still say landlord for the same role.
When a rental provider (landlord) wants a renter (tenant) to move out of the property…
- #Renterformerly "tenant"
You, if you are renting the place you live in. Renamed at the same time as landlord became rental provider, and the same rules apply whichever word your agreement uses.
When a rental provider (landlord) wants a renter (tenant) to move out of the property…
- #Notice to vacate
The rental provider telling YOU to leave. Not an eviction by itself: if you do not go by the date on it, they have to apply to VCAT for a possession order, and a notice can be challenged.
A notice to vacate is a formal statement that the rental provider wants to end the rental agreement.
- #Notice of intention to vacate
YOU telling the rental provider you are leaving. The opposite direction to a notice to vacate, despite the nearly identical name.
A notice of intention to vacate is a formal statement that the renter wants to end the rental agreement (lease).
- #Bond
The money you pay up front, held for the length of the tenancy. It is not the rental provider’s money and they do not hold it - see RTBA.
A payment that rental providers (landlords) can request from renters at the start of a rental agreement (lease). It acts as financial protection for the rental provider and can be used to cover some costs they may have to pay when the renter moves out.
- #RTBAResidential Tenancies Bond Authority
The government body holding every Victorian bond in trust. Your rental provider does not keep your bond; they must lodge it here.
Bonds are held in trust by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA), a statutory authority within the Department of Government Services.
- #RDRVRental Dispute Resolution Victoria
A free dispute resolution service that handles many renting disputes - rent increases, repairs, bonds - before a tribunal gets involved. If it cannot resolve yours, it helps you apply to VCAT.
- #VCATVictorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
The tribunal deciding renting disputes when nothing else has worked. It is where a possession order comes from, and where a bond is decided if you and the rental provider disagree.
VCAT can help resolve disputes when other steps have not worked.
- #Condition report
The written record of what the place looked like when you moved in. It is the evidence that settles most end-of-tenancy arguments about damage, which is why the move-in copy is worth being fussy about.
A condition report is a record of a property’s condition at the start of a rental agreement.
- #Urgent repairs
A specific legal list - not simply anything that feels urgent. What is on the list can be arranged faster and reimbursed differently; anything not on it is a non-urgent repair, with a slower process.
The law defines a list of urgent repairs. Anything else is a non-urgent repair.
The wording above the quote is ours, written to be read quickly. The quote is the source’s own, unedited. Where the two could be read differently, the source is the one that counts - and how the rest of this site is built explains why it is kept that way round.