Guides · Queensland · free · each one checked and dated
The questions renters actually ask, answered by people who’ve had to say no.
Every guide is one question, answered in the first two paragraphs, then the steps, the deadline, the evidence, the form, and where to get official help. Pick the stage you're at, or the question you'd have typed into Google.
Applying
How do I get approved for a rental in Queensland?
Start here. What actually decides an approval, the seven things to do before you find the property, and what makes no difference.
What do agents actually check on a rental application?
Eight checks in the order they happen (identity, inspection, affordability, employer, last agent, tenancy databases, the household, the owner) and how to answer each before you apply.
Why was my rental application unsuccessful?
Nobody has to tell you. How the pile is read, the quiet reasons applications miss, and what to fix.
What documents do I need for a rental application?
Three categories, two documents each, four things they can't ask for, and the extras worth adding.
What should a rental application cover letter say?
Nobody reads three pages. The three paragraphs that work, a worked example, and the phrases that quietly count against you.
How do I apply with no rental history?
First place, living with family, back from overseas, or a share house that wasn't in your name. The evidence that stands in for a reference.
How do I apply for a rental when I’m self-employed?
Strong business, messy paperwork. The one-page accountant’s letter, what goes behind it, and casual, contract and multiple-job income.
How do I apply from interstate or overseas?
Sight-unseen without the risk: walkthroughs, a proxy viewer, applying before the inspection, translations and currency, visa and lease length, the start-date trap.
How do group and share-house applications get assessed?
One file, read at its least complete person. Combined income, the question the owner always asks, the four-week bond, and what happens when a housemate leaves.
Students, first-time renters and guarantors: how do I get approved?
Board paid to family as history, adding up student income, what “guarantor” actually means to an agency, and the one line international students should write.
How do 2Apply, Snug and realestate.com.au actually work?
Set-up, group applications, the Form 22 alternative, what the Privacy Commissioner found, what to redact.
Renting with a pet: which approval do I need?
Applying with a pet, Form 21 as a tenant, and body corporate approval: three processes, three clocks.
Queensland renting, term by term
Form 22, Form 13, Form 21, bond lodgement, reletting cost, the ledger, tenancy databases. Every term defined, dated, with the form number.
Signing and moving in
What is a bond, who holds it, and how do I get it back?
Lodgement within 10 days, the four-week cap, refunds, the 14-day dispute window, and the Digital Identity catch if you're new to Australia.
Leaving
Breaking a lease in Queensland: what it costs, and how to do it properly
The reletting cap, Form 13, the times you can leave without paying it, and how to keep the bill down.
Getting your bond back in Queensland
The refund, what can be deducted, fair wear and tear, and the 14-day dispute window.
What does breaking a lease actually cost? (calculator)
Your cap by how far through the term you are, and the date it drops.
In preparation
Listed so you know what's coming. Not linked until written and checked.
Applying: Centrelink and savings.
Leaving: preparing for RTA conciliation, in detail.
Living there: repairs (emergency vs routine) · mould · rent increases · water charges · entry notices · when the property is sold.
Before you apply, and edge cases: rental scams · what to check at an inspection · holding deposits · special terms · domestic and family violence · rooming and student accommodation · NDIS specialist disability accommodation.