Reference only. This article sets out general information about the residential tenancy rules of the Australian Capital Territory, drawn from the public sources listed at the end. It is not legal, financial, taxation or credit advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or structure a transaction in any particular way. Tenancy law changes often and individual circumstances differ. Readers must verify every point below directly with the relevant authority and obtain their own professional advice before relying on any of it.
The ACT is the hardest jurisdiction in the country for this
If you want to buy a tenanted home in Canberra and move into it, read this section twice. The ACT Government's fact sheet on termination grounds says it directly:
"If the agreement is a fixed-term agreement, the tenancy cannot be ended for the purpose of selling the property. Instead, the property can be sold subject to the tenancy continuing for the duration of the fixed term. The buyer could then end the tenancy after the fixed term ends under one of the available grounds (such as wanting to move in or wanting to renovate or rebuild)." (ACT Government, Tenancy termination grounds for landlords)
Note what that last sentence is telling you. Not only can the vendor not remove the tenant, you cannot either, until the fixed term expires, and then only by starting a fresh ground with its own notice period. On a 12 month lease with 9 months left, your realistic move-in date is 9 months plus 8 weeks away.
Since 1 April 2023 there are no "without cause" terminations in the ACT. A landlord needs a ground from the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 or the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms, and most of the useful ones require evidence.
What this does to your finance
Purpose sets your rate. In the ACT, more than anywhere, expect to settle with the tenant in place. That means the loan is almost certainly an investment loan at the outset, even if your plan is to move in a year later. Investment rates sit above owner-occupier rates. Tell your broker the real plan up front so you know what the first year costs and what a later switch to owner-occupier involves.
A signed lease can lift your borrowing capacity. Lenders can use documented rent as income, typically shading it to around 70 to 80 percent for vacancy and costs. See our investment loan page, or model it with the borrowing power calculator.
There is often an overlap period. Where a buyer cannot occupy for 9 or 12 months, housing costs may run in two places at once for that period. That overlap is a feature of ACT tenanted purchases that readers can quantify for their own circumstances.
Case 1: You want to keep the tenant
The straightforward path in the ACT, and given the above, often the only realistic one.
What comes with the property:
- The rent, at the agreed amount. You cannot reset it at settlement.
- The bond, held by the ACT Revenue Office. It stays lodged and the record is updated to show you.
- The condition report, the fixed term end date, and any arrangements already agreed.
Documents commonly requested during due diligence:
- The signed residential tenancy agreement, with the fixed term end date.
- The bond details and the amount held.
- The current rent, when it was last increased, and the payment history.
- The ingoing condition report.
- Any ACAT matters on foot and any unresolved repair requests.
An ACAT application in progress does not settle when the property does. It becomes yours.
At settlement, rent is apportioned between you and the vendor like rates and water. The tenant must be told in writing who the new lessor is and where to pay rent.
Case 2: You want vacant possession
Everything depends on the agreement type, and the ACT draws that line more sharply than any other jurisdiction in this series.
Fixed term agreement: the sale ground is unavailable. Full stop. The property is sold subject to the tenancy continuing. Your only routes are the tenant agreeing to leave, or waiting.
Periodic agreement: a landlord who genuinely intends to sell can terminate with 8 weeks notice plus evidence of that genuine intent. Evidence might be a statutory declaration or, if available, a sales contract. This ground applies during a periodic tenancy only.
And the notice is not self-executing. If the tenant does not move out in accordance with a notice to vacate, the landlord has to apply to ACAT for an order to end the tenancy, a tribunal process with its own timetable sitting on top of the 8 weeks. Do not assume the notice date is the vacancy date.
The ground you will actually use
Because the sale ground dies with the sale, the ground that matters to a buyer intending to occupy is the one you use after you own it, on a periodic tenancy:
Landlord, a family member, or someone close to them moving in: 8 weeks notice plus evidence (typically a statutory declaration), periodic tenancies only.
For comparison, the other grounds you might be weighing:
| Ground | Notice | Available on |
|---|---|---|
| Sale of the property | 8 weeks + evidence | Periodic only |
| Landlord or close relation moving in | 8 weeks + evidence | Periodic only |
| Renovation, rebuilding or major repairs | 12 weeks + evidence | Periodic only |
| Change to a lawful non-residential use | 26 weeks + evidence | Periodic only |
All four are periodic only, and that is the ACT's distinctive feature. Other jurisdictions block a sale from cutting a fixed term short but still let a landlord end the tenancy at the end of the term: South Australia a Form 9 on 60 days notice, Tasmania a Notice to Vacate on 42 clear days, the Northern Territory a section 90 notice at least 60 days before the end date. The ACT sale ground has no such end-of-term mechanism, so the tenancy must first roll over to periodic before an 8 week notice can even be served.
How the timing works. Where a buyer intends to occupy, the achievable date is a function of three things: the fixed term end date, the 8 week notice period that can only begin once the tenancy is periodic, and the possibility of an ACAT application if the tenant does not leave on the notice date. Whether vacant possession is dealt with in the contract of sale, and what evidence of a served notice is provided, are matters for a reader's conveyancer or solicitor.
The stamp duty trap
The ACT Home Buyer Concession Scheme requires at least one buyer to own and live in the home continuously for a minimum of one year, and that year must start within one year of the settlement date.
Put that next to a fixed term tenancy with 9 months to run and an 8 week notice period on top: 11 months before you can start the clock, against a 12 month deadline, with no margin for an ACAT application or a tenant who does not leave on the date.
The ACT Revenue Office states that failing the residence requirement means repaying the concession. Our stamp duty calculator can be used to see what duty applies at a given purchase price. Eligibility, current thresholds and the exact residence conditions must be confirmed with the ACT Revenue Office.
Case 3: The tenant wants out early
The ACT does not hand tenants a broad shortened exit simply because the property has sold. A tenant on a fixed term who leaves early is breaking the agreement.
One route runs the other way: significant hardship. A landlord who will suffer significant hardship if the tenancy is not ended can apply to ACAT, and this is the one ground that applies to fixed term tenancies. But it is a tribunal application, not a notice, ACAT weighs your hardship against the tenant's, and there is a presumption the tenant gets 8 weeks to vacate. It is a discretion rather than something a buyer can rely on, and its availability in any particular case is a question for a reader's own legal adviser.
The practical upside is that ACT tenancies are stable. If you are buying as an investor, the rental income you underwrote is more likely to survive the change of ownership than in almost any other jurisdiction.
Case 4: You keep the tenant but want to increase the rent
The ACT constrains inherited rent more tightly than any other jurisdiction in this series, through a mechanism the others do not have.
- The lessor must generally give at least 8 weeks notice of a rent increase.
- A rent increase cannot take effect at intervals of less than 12 months, running from the beginning of the tenancy for the first increase, or from the last increase after that. This applies across successive short agreements where at least one tenant carries over.
- Increases are measured against a prescribed amount: broadly, 10 per cent above the growth in the rents component of the Canberra Consumer Price Index. An increase above the prescribed amount requires ACAT's prior approval if the tenant does not agree to it.
- The notice must state the date the increase takes effect, the amount, whether it is more than the prescribed amount, and that ACAT approval is needed for an above-prescribed increase the tenant does not agree to.
So an ACT buyer inherits not only a 12 month clock but a benchmark. A rental yield built on lifting an inherited rent well above CPI is a yield that depends on either the tenant agreeing or ACAT approving.
Case 5: The lender is selling, not the owner
A sale by a lender exercising its security is a different transaction from a sale by the lessor, and the periodic-only sale ground above is addressed to a lessor selling. This article does not attempt to state the ACT position on mortgagee sales.
Where an ACT property is being sold by a mortgagee in possession, the position must be confirmed with the ACT Government or with a solicitor before assuming the tenancy behaves the way an ordinary sale does.
Case 6: Access, inspections and quiet enjoyment
Entry and access in the ACT are governed by the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT) and the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms, which apply to all ACT tenancies. The tenant retains their right to quiet enjoyment throughout.
The ACT's published guidance on showing a property to prospective purchasers is less prescriptive than Victoria's or Queensland's, which set fixed notice periods, hour limits and, in Victoria's case, compensation per inspection. The specific notice a selling agent must give an ACT tenant is a point to confirm against the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms, not to assume from another jurisdiction.
Inspections are harder on an occupied property. A tenant's belongings obscure parts of it, so building inspections and the ingoing condition report are the usual reference points for buyers assessing condition.
Case 7: Bond, arrears and disputes carried into settlement
None of this resets at settlement.
- The bond stays lodged with the ACT Revenue Office, with the record updated to show the new lessor.
- The condition report remains the benchmark for assessing the property when the tenant leaves.
- Arrears and damage do not reset, and any claim is made against the same bond.
- ACAT matters already on foot continue past settlement, and in the ACT that matters more than elsewhere, because ACAT is also the body a lessor must apply to if a tenant does not leave in accordance with a notice to vacate.
Where to check this yourself
Every figure above comes from one of these, all reachable at the time of writing.
Regulator and tenancy services
- ACT Government: renting, and specifically ending a tenancy for landlords and rent increases
- Tenancy termination grounds for landlords, the ACT Government fact sheet quoted above, and the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms
- ACAT: termination of a lease, the tribunal a lessor must apply to if a tenant does not leave
- Legal Aid ACT, which runs the Tenants' Advice Service in the ACT
Legislation
- Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT), also available as a PDF of the current version
Duty
- ACT Revenue Office: about the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, which sets the residence requirement described above
Dates these rules took effect
Everything above is stated as at September 2026 and is drawn from Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT) and the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms and the public guidance of the authorities named below. Tenancy rules in the Australian Capital Territory have changed more than once in recent years, and a figure quoted from an older article, an agent's recollection or another state will often be wrong.
Terminations without cause ceased to be available on 1 April 2023. Rent increases above the prescribed amount, broadly 10 per cent above the growth in the rents component of the Canberra CPI, require ACAT approval where the tenant does not agree.
Readers checking a specific transaction should confirm the current position with the ACT Government, ACAT and the ACT Revenue Office, and should note the date on which any guidance page they rely on was last updated.
The short version
| Situation | The ACT rule |
|---|---|
| You keep the tenant | Agreement, rent, bond and condition report all transfer to you unchanged |
| Fixed term, you want to move in | Cannot be ended for a sale at all. Sold subject to the tenancy. You use a fresh ground after the term ends |
| Periodic, seller wants to sell vacant | 8 weeks notice plus evidence of genuine intent |
| Periodic, you want to move in after settling | 8 weeks notice plus evidence, on the landlord-moving-in ground |
| Tenant refuses to leave | The landlord must apply to ACAT for an order. The notice alone does not end it |
| You want to raise the rent | 12 months since the last increase, 8 weeks notice. Above the prescribed amount needs ACAT approval if the tenant disagrees |
| The lender is selling | Different rules may apply. Not answered by the periodic-only sale ground above |
| Showing buyers through | Governed by the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms. Less prescribed than Victoria or Queensland. Confirm before assuming |
| Bond, arrears, disputes | Nothing resets at settlement. Same bond with the ACT Revenue Office, same ACAT matters |
The ACT point to understand is that the sale ground exists only on a periodic tenancy, with no end-of-fixed-term mechanism of the kind South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory provide. The waiting period is therefore the remainder of the fixed term plus 8 weeks, while the Home Buyer Concession Scheme's 12 month clock runs from settlement regardless.
If you would like to discuss the finance side of a purchase like this, you can contact us.
Buying in another state? The rules change completely at the border. See the same guide for Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
This article covers the Australian Capital Territory only and was prepared in September 2026. Residential tenancy law, duty concessions and lender policy all change, and the position may have moved since publication. Nothing in this article is legal, financial, taxation or credit advice, it does not take account of any reader's objectives, financial situation or needs, and no reliance should be placed on it. Readers are responsible for confirming the current rules directly with the ACT Government, ACAT and the ACT Revenue Office, and for obtaining their own legal, conveyancing and financial advice before acting.
