Reference only. This article sets out general information about the residential tenancy rules of Tasmania, 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.
A fixed term lease is a wall in Tasmania
The Tenants' Union of Tasmania states it without qualification: a tenant on a fixed term lease cannot be evicted using sale as a reason. Not with notice, not with a signed contract, not because the buyer has a removalist booked.
Sale is a valid reason for a Notice to Vacate, but only against a tenant on a non-fixed term lease. If a fixed term is running, the property is sold subject to it and you become the owner of a tenancy, not of an empty house.
The number you need is 42 clear days, and the word "clear" is doing real work in that phrase.
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 even where you intend to move in later, because the property produces income from day one. 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 both matter.
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. Better than an assumption on an empty property. See our investment loan page, or model it with the borrowing power calculator.
Long settlements are the norm here. Because vacant possession usually means waiting out a fixed term, Tasmanian purchases of tenanted homes often settle well out. Lender approval and rate lock validity periods vary, and both are relevant where settlement is set a long way out.
Case 1: You want to keep the tenant
The lease transfers to you as it stands.
What comes with the property:
- The rent, at the agreed amount. You cannot reset it at settlement.
- The bond, held by the Rental Deposit Authority. 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 lease, with the fixed term end date.
- The bond details and the amount held with the RDA.
- The current rent, when it was last increased, and the payment history.
- The ingoing condition report.
- Any matters on foot with the Residential Tenancy Commissioner, and any unresolved repair requests.
A dispute 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 has to be told in writing who the new owner is and where to pay rent.
One Tasmanian quirk worth knowing. If a fixed term lease expires and no Notice to Vacate was issued, the tenancy immediately rolls over to a non-fixed term lease. It does not end, so a lease described as running out in March may simply have continued. Whether a Notice to Vacate was actually served is a question of fact a reader's conveyancer or solicitor can put to the vendor.
Case 2: You want vacant possession
Non-fixed term lease: the owner may give a Notice to Vacate on the ground of sale, transfer to another person, significant renovation, use by a member of the owner's family, or the property no longer being used as a rental. The notice period is 42 clear days, and the owner needs proof, such as a contract of sale.
Fixed term lease: sale is not available as a ground. Your options are the tenant agreeing to leave, or setting settlement after the fixed term ends. If you want the tenancy to actually finish at the end of the term rather than roll over, a Notice to Vacate must be served before the end of the fixed term with 42 clear days notice.
What "clear days" means. CBOS states that the day the notice is served and the day the tenant is to hand the keys back do not count, so there must be 42 full days in between. That makes the calculation different from simply adding six weeks, and a notice that falls short by a day is not valid.
The 60 day exception. If the property is being sold by a lending institution to recover money owed by the owner, the tenant gets at least 60 clear days. If you are buying a mortgagee sale in Tasmania with a tenant in place, that is your number, not 42.
How the timing works. The achievable date is a function of the 42 clear days, which run from service, and the fixed term end date where one applies. The notice can only be served by the owner at the time, which is the vendor. How vacant possession is dealt with in the contract, and what evidence of service and its date is provided, are matters for a reader's conveyancer or solicitor.
The stamp duty angle
Tasmania has run a first home buyer duty exemption for established homes with a dutiable value of $750,000 or less, which the State Revenue Office records as applying to settlements from 18 February 2024 to 30 June 2026 inclusive. That window has now closed, so it is not a concession a purchase settling today can assume.
Where Tasmanian first home buyer duty relief has applied, the residence requirement has been occupation as a principal place of residence for a continuous period of 6 months, commencing within 12 months of purchasing the property. A tenant on a long fixed term, or one who rolls over onto a non-fixed term because no notice was served, can push a move-in date past that window.
Tasmania's duty relief settings have changed several times and have run on fixed date windows, at least one of which has now closed. What is currently available must be confirmed with the State Revenue Office Tasmania rather than taken from an article. Our stamp duty calculator can be used to see what duty applies at a given purchase price.
Case 3: The tenant wants out early
Tasmania does not give tenants a broad shortened exit simply because the property has sold or because a Notice to Vacate has arrived. A tenant on a fixed term who wants to leave early is breaking the lease and is exposed to the usual consequences.
For an investor that cuts a useful way: a Tasmanian fixed term is durable, and rental income built on it is less exposed than in South Australia (where a tenant under notice may leave owing no more than 7 days rent) or New South Wales (where a tenant under notice can end a periodic agreement with no notice at all, or a fixed term on a 14 day early exit notice). Tasmania has no equivalent shortcut tied to a sale.
The same durability is what blocks you if you wanted to move in.
Case 4: You keep the tenant but want to increase the rent
An inherited rent cannot be reset at settlement. CBOS states that an owner can only increase the rent after giving the tenant written notice at least 60 days before the new amount starts, and that there must be at least 12 months between increases.
The 12 month clock runs from the last increase, not from settlement, so an owner who raised the rent shortly before listing has started a clock the buyer inherits.
Case 5: The lender is selling, not the owner
This is a genuine Tasmanian distinction, and it changes the number.
Where the property is being sold by a lending institution in order to recover money owed by the owner, the tenant must be given at least 60 clear days notice, rather than the 42 clear days that applies to an ordinary sale. CBOS lists this separately as premises being repossessed.
So on a Tasmanian mortgagee sale with a tenant in place, 60 clear days is the figure, not 42. The "clear days" counting rule applies to both.
Case 6: Access, inspections and quiet enjoyment
Tasmania permits an owner to enter to show the property to prospective purchasers, and the tenant retains their right to quiet enjoyment throughout.
The published CBOS guidance is less prescriptive on sale viewings than Victoria's or Queensland's, which set fixed notice periods, hour limits and, in Victoria's case, compensation per inspection. Tasmania's specific notice requirements for showing a property to buyers are a point to confirm with CBOS on 1300 654 499, not to assume from another state's rules.
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 Rental Deposit Authority, with the record updated to show the new owner.
- 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.
- Matters already on foot with the Residential Tenancy Commissioner continue past settlement.
- And the rollover point from Case 1 applies here too: a fixed term that expired without a Notice to Vacate did not end, it became a non-fixed term lease.
Where to check this yourself
Every figure above comes from one of these.
Regulator and tenancy services
- Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (1300 654 499) at cbos.tas.gov.au administers residential tenancies in Tasmania and publishes the Notice to Vacate form and the owner and tenant guidance. Its site blocks automated access, so no direct page links are given here; search it for "owner ending a lease" and "rent increases"
- Tenants' Union of Tasmania, and its notice to vacate factsheet, which is the source of the clear days figures and the statement that a fixed term lease cannot be ended for sale
- The Residential Tenancy Commissioner determines tenancy disputes in Tasmania
Legislation
Duty
- State Revenue Office Tasmania: first home buyers and first home buyers of established homes duty relief, which records the 18 February 2024 to 30 June 2026 window
Dates these rules took effect
Everything above is stated as at September 2026 and is drawn from Residential Tenancy Act 1997 (Tas) and the public guidance of the authorities named below. Tenancy rules in Tasmania 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.
The first home buyer duty exemption for established homes valued at $750,000 or less applied to settlements from 18 February 2024 to 30 June 2026 inclusive, a window that has now closed.
Readers checking a specific transaction should confirm the current position with Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (1300 654 499), the Tenants' Union of Tasmania and the Residential Tenancy Commissioner, and should note the date on which any guidance page they rely on was last updated.
The short version
| Situation | The Tasmanian rule |
|---|---|
| You keep the tenant | Lease, rent, bond and condition report all transfer to you unchanged |
| Non-fixed term, property sold | 42 clear days Notice to Vacate, with proof such as a contract of sale |
| Fixed term, you want to move in | Sale is not a valid ground. Wait out the term, or negotiate |
| End of a fixed term | Notice to Vacate must be served before the term ends with 42 clear days, or the lease rolls over to non-fixed term |
| Mortgagee or lender sale | 60 clear days |
| You want to raise the rent | 12 months since the last increase, 60 days notice |
| The lender is selling | 60 clear days, not 42. Listed separately as premises being repossessed |
| Showing buyers through | Permitted, but the specific notice is less prescribed than in Victoria or Queensland. Confirm with CBOS |
| Bond, arrears, disputes | Nothing resets at settlement. Same bond with the Rental Deposit Authority, same condition report |
The Tasmanian mistakes are two. Counting 42 days instead of 42 clear days. And assuming a fixed term lease that expires has ended, when in fact it rolled over.
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, the Northern Territory and the ACT.
This article covers Tasmania 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 Consumer, Building and Occupational Services, the Residential Tenancy Commissioner and the State Revenue Office Tasmania, and for obtaining their own legal, conveyancing and financial advice before acting.
