Are pets allowed in rental properties in NSW and Victoria?

Generally, yes — but not automatically, and not without limits. Both New South Wales and Victoria have moved away from a landlord’s blanket right to say no toward a system built around a formal request: a tenant asks, the landlord’s ability to refuse is limited, and a dispute is decided by a tribunal rather than by whoever holds the lease. That’s a real shift from the standard “no pets” clause that used to appear in leases in both states.

The practical effect for anyone renting out a property: writing “no pets” into the lease doesn’t settle the question on its own in either state anymore. If a tenant formally asks to keep a pet, the landlord generally needs a specific, stated reason to refuse — and going quiet on the request, rather than responding through the proper channel, can work against the landlord rather than for them. In NSW, a landlord who doesn’t respond within 21 days has the pet automatically approved without conditions; in Victoria, a rental provider who doesn’t respond within 14 days gets the same result — the renter can keep the pet. The sections below set out how each state’s process runs, then what a landlord can weigh once a request lands.

How does the pet request process work in Victoria?

Victoria has run a presumption-in-favour model since the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2018 inserted the current pet provisions (sections 71A–71E) into the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 — in force by 1 July 2020 at the latest, under that amending Act’s own commencement rule. In broad terms:

• A tenant makes a request to keep a pet, addressed to the landlord or their agent, using the Pet request form (a separate form for each pet).
• The landlord can’t refuse simply because a lease says “no pets” — that clause alone isn’t enough under the current framework.
• If the landlord wants to refuse, the accepted path is to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) — the state tribunal that hears residential tenancy disputes — within 14 days of the request, rather than telling the tenant no directly. The tenant can’t keep the pet while VCAT is deciding.
• If the landlord doesn’t apply to VCAT within those 14 days, the pet is treated as approved by default.

This is the shape MyBrix’s own content brief describes for Victoria: a legal presumption toward allowing pets, with a formal VCAT appeal as the landlord’s only real avenue to refuse. Victoria doesn’t work from a fixed checklist of “reasonable grounds” the way NSW does — when a landlord applies, VCAT can weigh the type of pet, the type of property, its appliances, fixtures and fittings, other relevant laws (for example, a local council rule that prohibits the animal), and anything else it considers relevant, before deciding whether the refusal is reasonable.

How does the pet request process work in NSW?

NSW’s framework reformed more recently — changes limiting a landlord’s reasons to refuse a pet took effect on 19 May 2025 — and the direction of travel matches Victoria’s in substance, though the mechanics differ. Under the current framework, a tenant applies using the standard pet application form (in writing is the safer approach for both sides), and the landlord has 21 days to respond using the same form: consenting, with reasonable conditions if any, or refusing on one of a specific list of grounds set out in the framework, giving reasons. Unlike Victoria, the NSW landlord doesn’t need a tribunal order to make a refusal effective — a written refusal on one of the accepted grounds is enough on its own. It’s the tenant who can dispute a refusal, or an unreasonable condition, by applying to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) — the state tribunal for residential tenancy disputes — within 28 days of receiving the landlord’s response.

If the landlord doesn’t respond within the 21 days, the pet is automatically approved without conditions — the same automatic-approval-on-silence principle Victoria uses, just with a longer window.

NSW vs Victoria: pet requests compared

	NSW	Victoria
Default position	Formal request-and-response process; a “no pets” lease clause alone isn’t decisive	Presumption toward allowing pets; a “no pets” clause alone isn’t decisive
How a tenant asks	Standard pet application form, given to the landlord or agent	Pet request form (a separate form per pet), given to the rental provider
Landlord’s response window	21 days	14 days
Landlord’s options	Consent (with reasonable conditions), or refuse in writing on one of a specific list of grounds — no tribunal step needed to make the refusal effective	Consent, or apply to VCAT for an order permitting refusal — refusal alone isn’t enough; the tenant can’t keep the pet while VCAT decides
If the landlord does nothing	Pet automatically approved without conditions after 21 days	Pet generally taken to be approved once the 14-day response window lapses
Who takes it to the tribunal	The tenant, if disputing a refusal or a condition (within 28 days of the landlord’s response)	The landlord, if seeking to refuse (within the 14-day response window)
Where disputes are decided	NCAT	VCAT
Assistance animals	No landlord consent needed; tenant should notify the landlord, who may ask for evidence of accreditation	Assistance dogs aren’t “pets” under the Act, so the consent process doesn’t apply to them
Separate/higher bond for a pet	Not permitted	Not permitted
Where to check current rules	NSW Fair Trading	Consumer Affairs Victoria

As at July 2026, the figures above reflect NSW Fair Trading’s and Consumer Affairs Victoria’s current published guidance, but both frameworks carry exceptions this table doesn’t capture in full (for example, NSW’s different rules for purpose-built student accommodation) — confirm the detail that applies to your specific property directly with NSW Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs Victoria before relying on it.

One question worth spelling out: whether either state lets a landlord charge a higher or separate bond because a tenant has a pet. Neither does. NSW Fair Trading’s guidance says a landlord can’t ask a tenant to increase the bond (or the rent) as a condition of allowing a pet, or ask for any other form of security such as insurance. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s guidance says rental providers and owners can’t ask for an additional bond as a “pet bond” either. A general tenancy bond and a pet-specific bond are different questions in name only — in both states, there’s no separate pet bond to ask for.

What can a landlord consider when a tenant asks to keep a pet?

Neither state hands landlords a simple checklist, and this article can’t turn the factors below into a verdict for any specific property — whether a tribunal would accept a refusal is a case-by-case decision. Factors landlords commonly weigh include:

• The pet and the property together — a large dog and a unit with no yard raise different questions than the same dog and a fenced house.
• Body corporate or owners corporation by-laws, where the property is in a strata or community-title scheme (more on this below).
• The tenant’s rental history and references, where available.
• Property features that could be affected — new flooring, established gardens, or shared common areas.
• The landlord’s own landlord insurance policy — some policies treat pet-related damage differently, which is worth confirming directly with the insurer rather than assuming.

None of these factors is automatically a “reasonable ground” a tribunal will accept on its own. NSW’s framework works from a specific, closed list of permitted refusal reasons — including an unreasonable number of animals, unsuitable fencing, not enough open space, the animal being unable to be kept humanely, a real risk of damage beyond the bond amount, a conflict with another law (such as a council rule or a strata by-law, though a by-law banning pets outright isn’t valid), the landlord living in the same home, or the tenant not agreeing to reasonable conditions. Victoria’s VCAT instead weighs a broader, non-exhaustive set of factors case by case, as set out above. A landlord who has genuine concerns about a specific request is better placed getting their own advice on whether those concerns are likely to hold up at NCAT or VCAT than guessing.

What happens if a landlord refuses without following the process?

In both states, a verbal “no” or reliance on a blanket “no pets” clause is not the same as running the formal objection process. A tenant refused outside that process — or a tenant who keeps a pet after a proper refusal — can still end up in a tribunal dispute regardless of what the lease says. For a landlord with a genuine concern about a specific request, using the formal channel (NCAT or VCAT) is the more reliable path, rather than leaning on a standard lease clause that may not carry the weight it used to.

Do assistance animals work differently?

Yes — both states treat an assistance animal differently from a pet generally, though the two frameworks draw the line slightly differently. In NSW, a tenant doesn’t need the landlord’s consent to keep an assistance animal at all, though NSW Fair Trading recommends telling the landlord anyway so the animal isn’t mistaken for an unapproved pet; the landlord can ask for supporting evidence, such as accreditation under state or territory law, accreditation from a recognised training organisation, registration on the NSW Pet Registry, or evidence the animal is trained to assist a person with a disability. NSW Fair Trading lists the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) among the legislation behind this protection. In Victoria, the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 excludes an assistance dog — a dog trained to help alleviate the effects of a person’s disability — from the definition of “pet” altogether, so the consent process doesn’t apply to it; a renter with an assistance dog who is refused a property, or asked to remove the dog, can complain to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission under the state’s Equal Opportunity Act 2010. A landlord’s ability to refuse an assistance animal is narrower than for a pet generally in both states, and getting this wrong risks a discrimination-law issue as well as a tenancy-law one. If this applies to your property, get specific advice rather than relying on the general pet-request process described above.

Does it matter if the property is a strata or community-title apartment?

Possibly. Owners corporation or body corporate by-laws can sit alongside tenancy law, and the two don’t automatically cancel each other out. In NSW, a tenant in a strata scheme may need separate approval from the owners corporation under the scheme’s by-laws, on top of the landlord’s consent — the two applications are separate, and a tenant can apply to the owners corporation directly rather than through the landlord. NSW Fair Trading is clear that a by-law banning pets outright isn’t valid, and there are limited grounds an owners corporation can use to refuse. In Victoria, an owners corporation can set its own rules for common areas — gardens, driveways, foyers — that a renter must follow, and if the owners corporation decides a pet is dangerous or a nuisance, the renter may have to remove it. A by-law restriction doesn’t necessarily override a tenant’s tenancy-law position, and a tenancy-law approval doesn’t necessarily override a valid by-law — landlords buying into a strata scheme are generally better off checking both sets of rules rather than assuming one settles the other. Our guide to houses, townhouses and apartments for investment covers how strata costs and by-laws differ by property type more broadly.

What this means if you’re renting out an investment property

Whichever state your rental property is in, a standard “no pets” clause is no longer the last word if a tenant makes a formal request. Treat a pet request as something that runs through the state’s process rather than a straightforward call you make unilaterally. Landlords weigh this alongside the rest of running an investment property day to day — who screens and selects tenants, how repairs get handled, what landlord insurance actually covers — rather than as an isolated decision.

For the broader picture of what owning an investment property involves before decisions like this one come up, see our guide to property investment in Australia.

Where to check the current rules

Both states’ pet-request frameworks have been reformed relatively recently — Victoria’s since 2020, NSW’s since 19 May 2025 — and government guidance is updated as rules change. Check the current position directly before relying on a specific timeframe or ground for a real tenancy:

• NSW: NSW Fair Trading — renting information, including pets in rental properties.
• Victoria: Consumer Affairs Victoria — renting information, including pets in rental properties.

A tenancy advice service in your state can also help if you’re already in a dispute over a specific pet request.