Reference only. This article sets out general information about the residential tenancy rules of Queensland, 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.
In Queensland, a fixed term beats your settlement date
The Residential Tenancies Authority puts it about as plainly as a government agency ever does: if the tenant is on a fixed term agreement, the property manager or owner cannot make them leave because they decided to sell. The tenant stays until the end of the fixed term, and the new owner becomes their lessor.
So if the tenant is on a lease running to next August and you plan to move in at Christmas, the answer is no. Not with notice, not with goodwill, not with money unless the tenant agrees. Everything below follows from that.
What this does to your finance
Purpose sets your rate. Settling with a tenant in place usually means the loan is written as an investment loan, because the property is income producing from day one, even if you intend to move in later. Investment rates sit above owner-occupier rates. Lenders assess the loan against the property's use at settlement, so the intended use and the lease end date are both relevant to how an application is assessed.
The lease can lift your borrowing capacity. A signed agreement with a payment history is evidence a lender can use, typically shaded to around 70 to 80 percent for vacancy and costs. Better than an assumption on an empty property. See our investment loan page, or run it through the borrowing power calculator.
Remember the 12 month rent clock when you model yield. If you cannot lift the rent for another ten months, your first year numbers are not the numbers on the listing.
Case 1: You want to keep the tenant
The agreement transfers to you as it stands, and Queensland has one extra wrinkle that catches new investors.
What comes with the property:
- The rent. You cannot reset it at settlement.
- The bond, held by the RTA. A Change of Property Manager/Owner (Form 5) updates the RTA's records to show you.
- The condition report, the agreement end date, and any arrangements already agreed.
The wrinkle: you inherit the rent increase clock. As the buyer you cannot increase the rent unless at least 12 months have passed since the current rent amount became payable. Not 12 months since you bought it, 12 months since that rent took effect under the previous owner. If the vendor raised the rent two months before you exchanged, you are waiting ten months.
Documents commonly requested during due diligence:
- The signed general tenancy agreement (Form 18a) with the fixed term end date.
- The bond number and amount held with the RTA.
- The date the current rent became payable, not just the amount.
- The entry condition report (Form 1a).
- Any open QCAT matters or unresolved maintenance requests.
At settlement, an attornment letter must advise the tenant of the new owner, the new owner's details, and where to pay rent. Rent is apportioned at settlement in the usual way.
Case 2: You want vacant possession
Two situations, and the difference is the agreement type.
Fixed term agreement: you cannot get vacant possession before the term ends. The property is sold subject to the tenancy. Your only routes are the tenant agreeing in writing to leave early, usually in exchange for something worth having, or setting settlement after the fixed term expires.
Periodic agreement: where the buyer wants vacant possession, the property manager or owner gives the tenant a Notice to leave (Form 12) allowing at least 2 months notice after the contract of sale is signed.
Note the two conditions stacked there. The clock starts at contract signing, not at listing, and it is two months, not 30 days, so a six week settlement on a periodic tenancy does not give you an empty house.
The notice must be served by the lessor at the time, which is the vendor. Settle first and the sale ground has expired with the sale. And if the tenancy is ended for the reason of sale, the property must not be let or offered for rent for 6 months after the handover date.
How the timing works. The achievable date is a function of the 2 month notice period, which runs from the signing of the contract of sale, and the fixed term end date where one applies. How vacant possession is dealt with in the contract, and what evidence of a served Form 12 is provided, are matters for a reader's conveyancer or solicitor.
The transfer duty trap, and it is a bad one in Queensland
Queensland's home and first home concessions carry occupancy conditions a sitting tenant can breach in two directions at once.
You must move into the property within 1 year of settlement. A long fixed term can eat that.
And you cannot lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property within 1 year after you move in. Since 10 September 2024 you may rent out part of the property, provided you keep living there for that first year, but the whole property is off limits.
Breach either condition and the Queensland Revenue Office reassesses. You pay the duty you saved, and depending on the circumstances you can be up for unpaid tax interest and penalty tax on top.
A tenanted purchase where occupation is intended later is the transaction most exposed to these conditions. Our stamp duty calculator can be used to see what duty applies at a given purchase price. Eligibility and the exact occupancy conditions must be confirmed with the Queensland Revenue Office.
Case 3: The tenant wants out early
Queensland's early exit right is narrow and aimed squarely at non-disclosure. It is not a general right to leave because the property has sold, of the kind Victoria and New South Wales give a tenant who has received a notice to vacate.
If the property is advertised for sale within 2 months of the start of the tenancy, and the intention to sell was not disclosed to the tenant beforehand, the tenant may give 2 weeks notice using a Notice of intention to leave (Form 13). The notice has to be given within 2 months and 2 weeks of the tenancy starting.
There is a related disclosure obligation on the way in: the property manager or owner must notify the tenant using a Notice of lessor's intention to sell premises (Form 10), including how they plan to market the property.
For a buyer, the practical read is that if the vendor signed a new tenant up shortly before listing without disclosing the sale, that tenancy is less secure than the paperwork suggests. Ask when the agreement started and when the Form 10 was given.
Case 4: You keep the tenant but want to increase the rent
This is the one most likely to break a Queensland investor's first year numbers.
The RTA states that rent cannot be increased unless at least 12 months have passed since the last increase, and that the property manager or owner must give at least 2 months written notice for a general tenancy. Since 1 July 2023 that 12 month clock attaches to the property, not to the tenancy or the owner.
So the clock is not reset by the sale, by a new agreement, or by a new owner. If the vendor raised the rent two months before exchange, the earliest a buyer can raise it again is ten months after settlement, and then only with two months notice on top.
Case 5: The lender is selling, not the owner
A sale by a lender exercising its security is not the same transaction as a sale by the owner, and the ordinary Form 12 sale ground is not the mechanism. This article does not attempt to state the Queensland position on mortgagee sales, because it is a separate question from the sale grounds above.
Where a Queensland property is being sold by a mortgagee in possession, the position must be confirmed with the Residential Tenancies Authority on 1300 366 311 or with a solicitor before assuming the tenancy behaves the way an ordinary sale does.
Case 6: Access, inspections and quiet enjoyment
Queensland's entry rules are tighter than most buyers expect, and changed recently.
- A written Entry notice (Form 9) is required, giving at least 48 hours notice. This was increased from 24 hours on 1 October 2022.
- The owner or manager may only enter to show a prospective purchaser if a Notice of lessor's intention to sell premises (Form 10) was issued before, or together with, the entry notice.
- Once a Notice to leave has been issued, entry is limited to not more than twice within a 7 day period.
- Open houses require the tenant's written consent, and on-site auctions are similarly restricted.
- The tenant keeps their right to quiet enjoyment throughout.
If inspecting a tenanted Queensland property feels difficult, that is the law operating rather than the agent being unhelpful.
Inspections are harder on an occupied property. A tenant's furniture obscures 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 with the RTA. A Change of Property Manager/Owner (Form 5) updates the RTA's records to show the new owner.
- An attornment letter must advise the tenant of the new owner, the new owner's details, and where to pay rent.
- The entry condition report (Form 1a) 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.
- QCAT matters already on foot continue past settlement.
Where to check this yourself
Every figure above comes from one of these, all reachable at the time of writing.
Regulator
- Residential Tenancies Authority (1300 366 311), and specifically its pages on when a property is for sale, rent increases, entry to the property and notice periods for ending a tenancy
- The forms referred to above: Notice of lessor's intention to sell premises (Form 10), Entry notice (Form 9) and Notice to leave (Form 12)
- QCAT residential tenancy disputes, the tribunal
Legislation
Duty
- Queensland Revenue Office on the home concession and the first home concession, which set the occupancy and leasing conditions described above
Dates these rules took effect
Everything above is stated as at September 2026 and is drawn from Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) and the public guidance of the authorities named below. Tenancy rules in Queensland 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.
Notices to leave without grounds on periodic agreements were abolished on 1 October 2022, the same date the minimum entry notice rose from 24 to 48 hours. From 1 July 2023 the 12 month rent increase interval attaches to the property rather than the tenancy. From 10 September 2024 a home concession holder may lease part, but not all, of the property within the first year after moving in.
Readers checking a specific transaction should confirm the current position with the Residential Tenancies Authority (1300 366 311), QCAT and the Queensland Revenue Office, and should note the date on which any guidance page they rely on was last updated.
The short version
| Situation | The Queensland rule |
|---|---|
| You keep the tenant | Agreement, rent, bond and condition report transfer to you; no rent increase until 12 months since the current rent became payable |
| Fixed term, you want to move in | Not possible before the term ends. Sold subject to the tenancy |
| Periodic, you want vacant possession | Notice to leave (Form 12), at least 2 months after the contract of sale is signed |
| Tenant wants to leave | 2 weeks (Form 13), only where the sale was advertised within 2 months of the tenancy starting without disclosure |
| You want to raise the rent | 12 months since the last increase, 2 months notice. Clock attaches to the property since 1 July 2023 |
| The lender is selling | Different rules may apply. Not answered by the Form 12 sale ground |
| Showing buyers through | Form 9 entry notice, 48 hours (up from 24 on 1 October 2022); Form 10 must come first; open homes need written consent |
| Bond, arrears, disputes | Nothing resets at settlement. Form 5 updates the RTA record; attornment letter to the tenant |
The Queensland mistake is booking a settlement date and a removalist before checking the agreement type. Fixed term means you are buying an investment property whether you meant to or not.
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, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT.
This article covers Queensland 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 Residential Tenancies Authority, QCAT and the Queensland Revenue Office, and for obtaining their own legal, conveyancing and financial advice before acting.
