Victoria rental minimum standards

A survey step for housing providers in Victoria, Australia, where the surveyor records each of the 15 rental minimum standards with photos and a comment, and the report prints them as their own section.

What it is

From 13 October 2026, Victorian rental providers and their agents must keep records showing a rented home met the rental minimum standards when it was advertised or offered for rent and on or before the day the renter moved in, and give them to Consumer Affairs Victoria if asked. The standards are set out in Schedule 4 to the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 (Vic) and cover locks, bins, toilets, the bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry, structural soundness, mould and damp, electrical safety, window coverings, windows, lighting, ventilation, heating and corded window coverings.

The Victoria Minimum Standards step lists all 15. For each one the surveyor marks Meets or Does not meet (tap the same button again to go back to Not checked), adds evidence photos with captions and markup, and writes a comment. Each card also shows what the standard requires and a suggested list of evidence to keep, which is a practical suggestion rather than an official list.

It is a record of what the surveyor saw and tested on the day, not a compliance certificate. The rental provider stays responsible for meeting the standards, and the record does not replace the licensed electrical and gas safety checks.

Before you start

The step is off for every organisation until someone who can edit Settings switches it on, and it needs the latest version of the field app. Nothing else changes when it is on: Awaab’s Law clocks, HHSRS scoring and every other section work as before.

How to do it

1. In the portal, open Settings → App configuration → Survey content.
2. Tick Victoria rental minimum standards and click Save changes.
3. In the field app, start or open a survey. Victoria Minimum Standards appears on the survey dashboard, just before the report narrative.
4. Open each standard, mark Meets or Does not meet, tap Add photos for the evidence, and note what you saw and tested, or why you could not check it.
5. Finish and seal the survey as usual.

How it integrates

The report, its PDF and the sealed record in the app print the section once anything has been recorded: a summary line, then all 15 standards in order with their status, comment and photos, and “Not checked” against any standard nothing was recorded for. Photos go through the same upload, fingerprinting and sealing as room photos, and a survey cannot be sealed while any of them is still on the device. Turning the switch off hides the step for new surveys only. A draft that already has standards recorded keeps the step, and a sealed record always shows what it recorded.

Common problems

• The step isn’t in the field app. Check that Victoria rental minimum standards is ticked and saved, update the field app, then close and reopen the survey: an open survey keeps the settings it was opened with.
• A standard shows “Not checked” in the report although I looked at it. Only a Meets or Does not meet choice sets the status. A comment or photo on its own leaves the standard “Not checked”, so mark the status as well.
• We have properties outside Victoria. Other states and territories set their own standards. Leave the step’s statuses empty for those surveys and nothing prints.