NSW Rental Law Changes 2025–2026: What Landlords Need to Know About Termination

The Reform Timeline

NSW residential tenancy law has been overhauled in stages since late 2024. If you last ended a tenancy before these reforms, the process you remember no longer exists. Here is every change that affects how landlords end a tenancy, in the order it commenced.

31 October 2024 — Annual Rent Increase Cap

The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024 capped rent increases to a maximum of once every 12 months across all lease types — both fixed-term and periodic agreements. This doesn't directly change the termination process, but it removed the tactic of using repeated rent increases to pressure a tenant into leaving voluntarily.

19 May 2025 — No-Grounds Terminations Abolished

The most significant change in over a decade. Before this date, landlords could end a periodic agreement with 90 days' notice or end a fixed-term agreement at expiry with 30 days' notice — without stating any reason.

After 19 May 2025, every termination notice must state a prescribed statutory ground, attach mandatory supporting evidence, and include the Termination Information Statement from NSW Fair Trading. The grounds are codified in the Act: actual sale, proposed sale, landlord/family occupation, significant repairs/renovations, demolition, change of use, rent arrears, breach, serious damage or illegal use, frustrated premises, death of sole tenant, undue landlord hardship, and several specialised grounds for student and social housing.

A fixed-term agreement that expires now automatically continues as a periodic agreement under section 18 of the Act. Expiry alone no longer ends anything.

19 May 2025 — Longer Fixed-Term Notice Periods

The same commencement date brought extended notice periods for fixed-term leases. For proposed sale, family occupation, renovation, demolition, and change of use:

An actual sale under a signed contract requiring vacant possession has a 30-day notice period; for a fixed-term tenancy, the vacate date cannot be before the term expires.

Previously, many of these grounds required only 30 days. The extended periods give tenants more time to find alternative housing but require landlords to plan further ahead.

19 May 2025 — Pet Application Framework

Tenants can now move in with a pet and apply for consent within 7 days of entering a lease. Landlords must respond within 21 days using prescribed forms and can only refuse on specific statutory grounds. A tenant keeping a pet without consent (or without the landlord responding within 21 days) does not automatically give the landlord grounds for termination.

20 June 2025 — Renovation Evidence Simplified

The Residential Tenancies Amendment (Termination Notice for Significant Renovations or Repairs) Regulation 2025 modified the evidence requirements for the renovation ground. The previous requirement for tradesperson quotes, contracts, or owner-builder permits was replaced with a simpler standard: a signed and dated written statement from the landlord detailing the scope of works, why vacant possession is necessary, and confirming works will commence within 2 months of the vacate date.

This made the renovation ground easier to use correctly but didn't change the 4-week re-letting exclusion that follows.

2 March 2026 — Centrepay Mandatory

The Residential Tenancies Amendment Regulation 2025 required landlords and agents to offer Centrepay as a fee-free rent payment option when requested by an eligible tenant receiving Commonwealth entitlements. This affects ongoing tenancy management rather than termination directly; it does not change the statutory grounds or notice periods for ending a tenancy.

10 August 2026 — Smart Rental Bonds

The statewide rollout of the Smart Rental Bonds scheme began, allowing eligible tenants to digitally transfer their bond to a new tenancy via Rental Bonds Online for a $25 fee. For landlords ending a tenancy, the practical impact is on the bond release process — the departing tenant may transfer rather than claim a cash refund, but your bond security stays in place during the transition and any claims you lodge are processed normally.

21 September 2026 — Domestic Violence Reforms

The Residential Tenancies Amendment (Domestic Violence Reform) Act 2025 and its associated regulation enhanced protections for victim-survivors. The key change for landlords: the obligation to notify remaining co-tenants about a domestic violence termination shifted from the victim-survivor to the landlord or agent, who must notify remaining co-tenants within 7 days. Strict privacy rules prohibit sharing any details from the DV termination notice or its supporting evidence.

What This Means for Landlords Ending a Tenancy Today

If you haven't served a termination notice since before May 2025, everything has changed:

• You must have a genuine prescribed ground — there is no "no reason" option
• You must attach the Termination Information Statement to every notice
• You must attach ground-specific evidence (contract extracts, signed statements, rent ledgers)
• Notice periods are longer for fixed-term leases (60 or 90 days instead of 30)
• A fixed-term lease that expires just rolls into a periodic agreement — it doesn't end the tenancy
• Serving a non-genuine notice or providing false evidence is an offence under section 86 with monetary penalties

Pre-2025 advice from property forums, real estate blogs, and even some solicitor websites is dangerously outdated. If a resource tells you that you can end a periodic agreement with 90 days' notice "for any reason" or that a fixed-term lease simply ends at expiry, it predates the reforms and will lead you into an invalid notice.

Our Ending a Tenancy in NSW guide is dated to October 2026 and incorporates every reform through the September 2026 domestic violence amendments — prescribed grounds, evidence requirements, notice period calculations, and the full NCAT enforcement chain under the current law.

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