It is important you know what type of rental arrangement you are in, as this determines your legal rights and responsibilities.
Tenancy agreement for rented premises
A tenancy agreement, or lease, is an agreement under which a landlord lets premises out for residential purposes to a tenant.
Residency in a rooming house
A rooming house resident is a person who rents a room in a rooming house as their only or main residence. A resident does not need to have a tenancy agreement to live in a rooming house.
A rooming house is a building where:
- one or more rooms is available for rent, and
- the total number of people who may occupy those rooms is four or more.
The Minister for Housing can also declare a property as a rooming house.
Also, in most rooming houses:
- residents share bathrooms, kitchens, laundries and other common areas
- the owner and their family do not generally live on the premises, and
- separate rental agreements may exist for different residents.
Residency in a caravan park
There are laws around agreements between caravan park owners and residents who hire or own the caravans they live in. These laws also regulate agreements between park owners and residents who rent movable dwellings and other types of dwellings in a caravan park, residential park, or other park.
A person living in a caravan in a caravan park is a resident when they have:
- obtained written permission from the caravan park owner to live at the caravan park, or
- lived in the caravan park for at least 60 days without a break.
Someone is not a caravan park resident if they:
- are staying in a caravan while on holiday
- own a caravan in a caravan park but live somewhere else, or
- have not signed a written agreement with the caravan park owner and have not lived in the caravan park for at least 60 days without a break.
Site agreement (owning the movable dwelling, renting the land)
Residential tenancy laws regulate site agreements between residents who own their movable dwelling but rent the underlying land (referred to as ‘site tenants’ in the law), and site owners (usually but not always residential park owners) who rent out such sites.
If such a site is located in a caravan park, the laws relating to site tenants and site agreements (rather than those relating to caravan park residents and residency agreements) apply to that site.
The law relating to site agreements applies where a dwelling is:
- fully or partially owned by a site tenant
- designed, built or manufactured to be transported for use as a residence, (not including a typical caravan)
- the site tenant’s main home (not a holiday home), and
- in a park on a rented site (not in a park on Crown land).
A person is not a site tenant if they:
- rent both the dwelling and the land
- only use the site for holidays
- are renting the site under an employment agreement, or
- live in a park on Crown land.
For more information, download a copy of our Checklist: signing a site agreement (Word, 458KB).
Renting information is also available in other languages.
Last updated: 21/02/2012