Renting a home

For most of us, home is more than just a bed and a roof that keeps the rain off our head. Home is where we can enter a comfortable state of mind, relax into our favourite chair and forget about anything that happens outside the front door for a while.

When you rent a home in NSW and become a 'renter' or a 'tenant', knowing your rights and responsibilities will help you avoid or resolve differences you may have with your landlord, real estate agent, house-mates or neighbours.

The Office of Fair Trading manages the laws that govern your rights and responsibilities as a renter and can give you information to help you understand what these laws mean for you.

It is illegal in NSW for landlords and real estate agents to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, marital status, disability, age and sexuality. If you think you have been discriminated against when looking to rent a residential property, contact Fair Trading, a Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service or the Anti-Discrimination Board.

In this section, the rights and responsibilities of tenants under the four main NSW tenancy laws are explained. Find out about what you need to know before you move in, the costs of renting, how to get repairs done and what to do if you have a problem.

Before you move in
Bonds
Renting costs
Tenant databases
Sharing a rented home
After you move in
When you move out
Resolving renting problems
List of renting links and contacts

Source: www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au