How to complete the NSW residential tenancy agreement
In New South Wales you must use the standard form from NSW Fair Trading. Get the current form, then complete it with the steps below.The form you have to use
As a landlord in NSW you must use the standard form of residential tenancy agreement. You fill in the blanks. You cannot alter or delete its standard terms.
NSW Fair Trading publishes the form as a fillable PDF. The current version is dated 21 September 2026. Download it again for each new tenancy, so that you never complete an older version.
Put the agreement in writing. An agreement made only by word of mouth still binds you as the landlord. You cannot charge the tenant for preparing the agreement, and there is no cooling-off period after signing.
Your limits and dates
Enter the weekly rent and the day your tenant takes possession. You get the bond limit, the rent increase dates and the break fee for your tenancy.NSW limits and dates calculator
Paid fortnightly? Enter half of the fortnightly rent.
Usually the first day of the agreement. The rent increase dates are counted from it.
Leave empty if the rent has not gone up in this tenancy.
How to complete the form
The steps follow the order of the form. Open the PDF next to this page and fill it in as you read.Name the parties
Enter your name and the name of every tenant. Give your own contact details even when an agent manages the property. Without an agent, add a residential or business address where the tenant can send you notices. Tell the tenant in writing within 14 days if any of this changes.
Set the term
Choose a fixed term or a periodic agreement. When a fixed term ends and you sign nothing new, the tenancy continues as a periodic agreement. A fixed term of more than 3 years must be annexed to the Registrar-General's form so that it can be registered under the Real Property Act 1900.
Enter the rent and how it is paid
Write the rent per week, per fortnight or at another interval you name, and the day it is due. You can ask for no more than 2 weeks' rent in advance. Offer payment by bank transfer and by Centrepay without charging a fee. You cannot require the tenant to pay through one particular provider, such as an app.
Record the bond
Enter the bond and what each tenant contributes to it. The bond is money only, one bond per agreement, and at most 4 weeks' rent. You take it only after the agreement is signed.
Fill in the details of the property
Complete the form's sections on the maximum number of occupants, tradespeople for urgent repairs, water usage, smoke alarms and, in a strata building, the by-laws.
Agree on notices by e-mail
The form asks each of you whether notices and other documents may be sent by e-mail, and to which address. A notice can go by e-mail only to a person who gave that consent here. Co-tenants should agree on one address.
Read the Landlord Information Statement, then sign
The signature page includes your acknowledgment that you have read the Landlord Information Statement, and penalties apply if you have not. You can sign on paper or, if you both consent, electronically. The form's own note says: “Section 9 of the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 allows for agreements to be signed electronically in NSW if the parties consent.”
What you give the tenant with the agreement
You hand these over before the tenant signs or moves in.- The proposed agreement, with every section filled in.
- The condition report, completed by you, as 2 paper copies or 1 electronic copy. The tenant returns their copy within 7 days after taking possession.
- The Tenant Information Statement. NSW Fair Trading publishes it.
- The by-laws, if the property is in a strata scheme.
- The pool compliance certificate, at signing, if the property has a pool.
- A set of keys for each tenant named in the agreement, at no cost to them.
What you must tell the tenant before signing
Before the tenant signs, tell them if you plan to sell the property, if a mortgagee has started proceedings to take possession, or if a strata renewal committee has been set up.
You also must not hide certain facts about the property. They include flooding or bushfire in the last 5 years, a serious violent crime in the last 5 years, significant health or safety risks, a listing on the loose-fill asbestos register, and use of the property to make or grow drugs in the last 2 years. The Landlord Information Statement has the complete list.
Additional terms you can add
The form has a section for additional terms. They are optional and open to negotiation.- A term you can add is one you both agree to and that does not conflict with the Residential Tenancies Act, the Regulation, any other Act or the standard terms.
- A term that limits or varies your obligations as landlord is prohibited and void.
- Terms you must not add: professional carpet cleaning or fumigation at the end of the tenancy (except as a reasonable condition for keeping a pet), compulsory insurance, an exemption from liability for negligence, extra rent or a penalty for a breach, a rent reduction for not breaching, a nominated service provider, and a specific utility provider where there is a choice.
- Pets. The form already contains pet terms. Your tenant applies on the pet application form, and if you do not answer within 21 days, consent is given. You can refuse only on the listed grounds, and you cannot ask for extra bond or rent. A tenant who applies within 7 days of entering the agreement may keep the pet while you decide, and for 21 days after a refusal.
The bond is at most 4 weeks' rent
- 4 weeks' rent at most. The bond is money, not a guarantee. You take one bond per agreement, only after the agreement is signed, and no separate pet bond. Work out your limit.
- Register with Rental Bonds Online first. Before you take a bond, you or your agent must be registered and must invite the tenant to lodge it through Rental Bonds Online. The tenant may ask for the paper form instead.
- Lodge it within 10 working days. NSW Fair Trading holds every bond for the length of the tenancy. A bond paid to you is lodged within 10 working days after it is paid. A bond paid to an agent is lodged within 10 working days after the end of that month. Penalties apply for not lodging.
- Instalments are allowed. You and your tenant can agree that the bond is paid in instalments after signing.
- Getting it back. At the end of the tenancy the tenant can claim the bond through Rental Bonds Online, and you have up to 14 days to accept. A dispute goes to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. If you claim on the bond, give the tenant the amount, copies of quotations, accounts and receipts, and the condition report completed at the end of the tenancy. A claim without evidence given to the tenant is a breach of the Act.
Raising the rent and ending the tenancy
- Once in 12 months. No increase in the first 12 months of a tenancy, and at least 12 months between increases, for fixed-term and periodic agreements alike. The 12 months keep running when you sign a new agreement and at least one tenant stays in the property. Work out your dates.
- 60 days' written notice. The notice states the new rent, not the amount of the increase, and the day it is payable from. It is signed, dated and addressed to the tenant. You can write your own notice or use the NSW Fair Trading form, and send it by e-mail if the tenant agreed to e-mail notices in the agreement.
- The tenant can challenge it. Within 30 days of receiving the notice the tenant may apply to the Tribunal if the increase is excessive. The Tribunal can set the rent for the next 12 months.
- Fixed terms that began before 13 December 2024. In a fixed term of less than 2 years that began before that date, the rent can go up only by the amount or the exact method written in the agreement, until the term ends. “In line with the market” is not a valid method.
Ending the tenancy as a landlord
Since 19 May 2025 you need a reason to end a tenancy, whether it is periodic or a fixed term coming to its end. This also applies to agreements signed before that date. The reasons include a breach by the tenant, a sale with vacant possession, significant repairs or demolition, a change of use, and you or your family moving in. Some reasons need supporting documents.
- 14 days for a breach or unpaid rent.
- 30 days after the property has been sold.
- 60 days in a fixed term of 6 months or less, when the property is offered for sale, will be renovated or change use, or you are moving in.
- 90 days for the same reasons in a longer fixed term or a periodic agreement.
Your tenant gives 21 days' notice to end a periodic agreement, and 14 days' notice to leave at the end of a fixed term. Termination notices and rent increase notices must be in writing.
Sign the completed form in Brokik and keep the tenancy's records there
Brokik does not produce the NSW agreement. You upload the official form you completed, and these steps follow, on screens from an Australian account.You upload the form and each of you signs with an e-mail code
Upload the completed PDF and send it for signing. You and your tenant each open a link, get a 6-digit code by e-mail and enter it to sign. The form's own note says that agreements can be signed electronically in NSW if the parties consent, and that an electronic signature must comply with the Electronic Transactions Act 2000. Agree with your tenant in the form whether notices may be sent by e-mail.The signed PDF gets a confirmation page
When everyone has signed, Brokik adds one page to the PDF. It lists each signer's name, e-mail address and role, the time they signed, and the SHA-256 fingerprint of the file you uploaded. A QR code on the page opens a list of who signed. Each of you gets the signed file by e-mail.You record the handover with photos and meter readings
At move-in you add the meter readings, the keys, each room and photos, and you both sign the record with an e-mail code. This is Brokik's own handover record. It is not the condition report prescribed in NSW, so complete the official condition report as well and keep the photos and readings with it.