Drug Cultivation History and Embedded Energy Network Disclosure for Victoria Landlords

Victoria's Mandatory Disclosure Statement includes items that most landlords handle without thinking — safety check dates, building notices, heritage status. But two disclosure obligations regularly catch people off guard: drug cultivation history and embedded energy network status. Both carry the same penalty for non-disclosure as any other item: up to 60 penalty units ($12,546 for individuals in FY 2026–27) under Section 30A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

Drug Cultivation and Trafficking History

Before entering into a residential rental agreement, you must disclose whether the property was, to the best of your knowledge, used for drug trafficking or cultivation within the preceding five years.

This disclosure exists because properties used as drug labs or cannabis grow houses can have residual chemical contamination — methamphetamine residue on surfaces, chemical damage to plumbing and ventilation, and soil contamination in outdoor growing operations. Tenants have a right to know about this history before committing to a lease.

What "to the best of your knowledge" means in practice:

The statutory test is the provider's best knowledge of the property's history. If you purchased the property, check what the vendor disclosed in the sale documents. A police raid, council clean-up order, or publicised drug operation may be relevant information when completing the disclosure.

If the answer is "no" — no history of drug activity that you're aware of — you still document it. Write "no known drug cultivation or trafficking history within the preceding 5 years" on the disclosure statement. This records the answer you gave at the time.

If the answer is "yes," you must disclose the details. A property with confirmed drug contamination may also need a professional remediation assessment before it can be safely tenanted, depending on the nature and extent of the contamination.

The five-year window rolls forward. If you know the property was used for drug cultivation six years ago, it falls outside the current disclosure period. But if your knowledge is imprecise ("sometime around 2022"), err on the side of disclosing — the penalty for withholding is far worse than the awkwardness of including it.

Embedded Energy Network Disclosure

An embedded energy network is an arrangement where electricity, gas, or hot water is supplied to the property through a private network operated by a third party — typically in apartment buildings, retirement villages, or commercial-residential mixed-use developments — rather than through a standard retail energy connection.

If the property is connected to an embedded network, you must disclose this before the tenant signs the lease.

Why this matters to tenants:

Tenants on embedded networks often can't choose their own energy retailer. They're locked into the network operator's pricing, which may be higher or lower than the retail market but removes the ability to shop around. Some embedded networks also have different billing structures, supply reliability, or dispute resolution pathways than standard retail connections.

What to disclose:

The disclosure should identify that the property is on an embedded network and name the network operator. If you know the contract terms that affect the tenant's energy costs — fixed supply charges, pricing structures, any restrictions on switching — include those details. The point is to give the tenant enough information to make an informed decision about the energy costs they'll face.

How to check:

If you're not sure whether your property is on an embedded network, check the strata plan or Owners Corporation documentation for the building. Owners Corporation meeting minutes often reference embedded network arrangements. For standalone houses, embedded networks are rare — they're overwhelmingly a multi-unit development feature.

Documenting Both Disclosures

Both items should appear on the completed Mandatory Disclosure Statement served to the prospective tenant before lease signing. Documents can be delivered electronically if the tenant explicitly consents in writing to electronic delivery; otherwise, provide physical copies.

Keep a copy of the disclosure statement you served. Section 65F requires minimum-standard compliance records to be retained for at least seven years. If a dispute arises later — a tenant claims they weren't told about the embedded network, or that the property's drug history was concealed — your copy records what was disclosed and when.

The Rental Minimum Standards in Victoria guide includes a disclosure handover checklist that covers all 17 mandatory items — including drug history and embedded networks — with fields for dates, supporting documents, and tenant acknowledgment signatures.

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