A rooming house is a building where one or more rooms are available to rent, and four or more people in total can occupy those rooms.
Important note: Rooming house operators are required to be licensed by the Business Licensing Authority. For more information, view our Rooming house operators licensing scheme page.
Rooming house requirements
Rooming houses must:
For more information about the rights and responsibilities of residents in a rooming house, view our Renting section.
How to report your rooming house concerns
Help us identify unregistered and sub-standard rooming houses by calling our hotline (1300 365 814) with any information you have. Calling us costs the same as a local call. Additional charges may apply if you are calling from overseas, on a mobile or payphone.
Please provide as much detail as possible to help us with any investigations, including a daytime contact number, as we may need to call you for more information. You do not need to tell us your name.
Estate agent obligations
Estate agents have specific responsibilities in relation to rooming houses. View our Reporting unregistered rooming houses - guidelines for estate agents page.
These guidelines are not for use by individual consumers or other bodies.
Why should I make a report?
Rooming house residents are among Victoria's most vulnerable. By law, rooming house operators must ensure their properties meet minimum standards so residents can live in an environment that is safe and secure.
By making a report about rooming house safety, or an unregistered rooming house, you are helping to ensure that they are maintained at an acceptable standard and protect the residents living in them.
We will use the information you give us to help local councils improve rooming house conditions and take action against illegal operators who fail to register or to comply with health and safety standards.
Although we cannot actively respond to or investigate every report we receive, all intelligence is helpful to us.