Queensland renter help · free · no sign-up
What happens next, and what to have ready when it does.
Renting runs in stages, and each one has its own paperwork, its own deadline and its own place to get official help. This page is the map. Pick the stage you're in.
We are not the RTA, Tenants Queensland or a law firm, and we don't try to be. Everything here points you to them at the right moment. What we add is the processing-side view: what to prepare, what to save, and what actually decides things.
1 · Find and inspect
Know your number before an assessor does, budget for the week you sign, and get your platform profiles built before you need them.
Available now
Rent-to-income check
The share of household income a leasing team will calculate, per person and per job. Sets a realistic ceiling before you start inspecting.
Check the numbers → CalculatorMove-in cost calculator
Bond, rent in advance and the costs that land in the same fortnight. What's refundable, what's gone.
Work it out → GuideThe platforms, explained
2Apply, Snug and realestate.com.au. Build the profiles now so any listing can be applied for the same day.
Read the guide →Official now: RTA on rental scams · RTA on rent bidding (an agent can't ask for, or accept, more than the advertised rent).
2 · Apply
This is the part we know from the other side of the desk. Agents aren't required to tell you why an application was unsuccessful, so the work is removing the avoidable reasons before you submit.
Available now
How to get approved
The whole method on one page: what decides it, the seven things to do before you find the property, and what makes no difference.
Read the guide → GuideWhat agents actually check
Eight checks in the order they happen, how each is done, and how to answer it before you apply.
Read the guide → GuideWhy was my application unsuccessful?
Nobody has to tell you. How the pile is actually read, the quiet reasons applications miss, and what to fix before the next one.
Read the guide → GuideWhat documents do I need?
Three categories, two documents each, four things they can't ask for, and the extras that actually help.
Read the guide → GuideNo rental history?
First place, living with family, back from overseas. The evidence ladder that stands in for a reference.
Read the guide → ChecklistThe application checklist
Goal-based readiness score built around Queensland's two-documents-per-category limit, with a pet pack tracked separately.
Build the pack → CheckerCan they ask for that?
Tick what you've been asked for. See what's allowed, what isn't, and the polite line that sorts it.
Check the request → GuideRenting with a pet
Applying with a pet, adding one later (Form 21) and body corporate approval are three different processes. Each one, in order.
Read the guide → GuidePlatforms and privacy
Group applications, the Form 22 alternative, what the Privacy Commissioner found about 2Apply, and what to redact.
Read the guide →Applying, and want a person to read the pack first?
Application Assist is a line-by-line review of your own application pack by someone with years of Brisbane leasing experience: written recommendations, your cover letter rewritten, back within 48 business hours, from $199. It is for the application stage only. Nothing else on this page is trying to sell you anything.
Get my application reviewed, from $1993 · Sign and move in
Ask for the proposed agreement before you pay anything. Then the first week decides your bond refund a year from now.
Available now
Move-in costs and the bond
Caps on bond and rent in advance, what a bond actually is, who holds it, how refunds and disputes work, and the Queensland Digital Identity catch for people new to Australia.
Work it out → GuideBody corporate approval
Units and townhouses: the 21-day committee clock, the general-meeting path, and what to confirm before the pet moves in.
Read the guide →Official now: RTA on condition reports · RTA on rental bonds · RTA Web Services.
4 · Live and renew
Repairs, entry, rent increases and water charges are where most tenancy questions come from. The rules are clear; the hard part is knowing which form and which deadline.
Repairs: the one thing to know today
Report every repair in writing and keep a copy. Emergency repairs (no water, no power, a serious leak, a fault that makes the place unsafe) have a different, faster process from routine ones. Do not stop paying rent because a repair hasn't been done. It doesn't force the repair and it puts your tenancy at risk. Escalation runs through the RTA's process, not through withholding rent. RTA: maintenance and repairs
Available now
Official now: RTA on water charging · RTA on rent increases · RTA on entry and privacy.
5 · Leave and recover the bond
Notice on the right form, an exit report that matches your entry report, dated photos, keys back on the day. Most bond claims are about cleaning, rent, repairs and water. All four are decided by evidence.
Available now
Breaking a lease, properly
The reletting cap, Form 13, the times you can leave without paying it, and how to keep the bill down.
Read it → GuideGetting your bond back
The refund, what can be deducted, fair wear and tear, and the 14-day dispute window.
Read it → CalculatorBreak lease calculator
Queensland's capped reletting cost, your cap, the date it drops, and how to check an agent's figure against the rules.
Work it out → ExplainerHow the bond refund works
Refund request, the 14-day window if the agent claims, free RTA conciliation, and what to do if you can't use Web Services.
Read it →Official now: RTA on ending a tenancy · RTA bond refunds · RTA dispute resolution · QCAT tenancy disputes.
6 · Urgent and specialist help
Some situations need a person today, not a page. These are the services, with the direct numbers. We don't assess eligibility or give individual advice. They do.
If you're in danger right now
Call 000. For domestic and family violence support, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 (24 hours). A tenant experiencing domestic and family violence can end their interest in a tenancy with seven days' notice on the RTA's Form 20 with supporting evidence. RTA: how to leave · Tenants Queensland DFV toolkit.
Free tenancy advice
Tenants Queensland / QSTARS: 1300 744 263, weekdays 9–5, evening service Tuesday and Wednesday. Independent advice on your side of the table. tenantsqld.org.au
Residential Tenancies Authority: 1300 366 311, weekdays 8:30–5, free interpreter service. Rules, forms, bonds and free dispute resolution. rta.qld.gov.au
Legal Aid Queensland: 1300 651 188. legalaid.qld.gov.au
Money for the bond, the move, or to stay housed
The Queensland Government's bond loan, bridging bond loan, rental grant and rental security subsidy are eligibility-based; RentConnect helps people find and apply for private rentals. Start at bond loans and rental grants and RentConnect.
At risk of homelessness: Homeless Hotline 1800 474 753 (24 hours). Queensland Government
Disputes and tribunals
QCAT: 1300 753 228. Most tenancy disputes go through the RTA's free dispute resolution first. QCAT tenancy dispute process
Coming next: what we’re writing now
Listed so you know what’s planned. Nothing here is linked until it’s written and checked.
Find and inspect. Inspection red flags, and minimum housing standards to check at an inspection · Rental scam checks before you pay anyone anything · Interstate and virtual inspections · Search-area and commute trade-offs
Apply. Self-employed, casual and gig income · Centrelink income and savings · Students and guarantors · Group and share-house applications · Interstate and overseas applicants · Tenancy databases and how to check yours · Discrimination, and where to get help · Application Rescue: a guided check of a pack that keeps missing
Sign and move in. What happens after approval, and the proposed agreement before payment · Holding deposits · Special terms worth reading twice · Entry condition report (Form 1a) and photographic evidence · Water meter reading and keys · Smoke alarms and minimum housing standards
Live and renew. Repairs and mould pathfinder: emergency vs routine, Form 11, repair orders · Minimum housing standards · Routine inspections, entry notices and quiet enjoyment · Rent increase checker · Rent ledgers and receipts · Water bill checker · Fixtures, co-tenants, subletting · What changes when the property is sold
Leave and recover the bond. Bond back planner: the evidence pack, step by step · Notice and end-date checker (Form 13 and the minimum periods) · Fixed vs periodic: what changes when you leave · Exit condition report and fair wear and tear · Cleaning, carpet and pest-control: what's actually required · Final water charges, keys and handover · Bond claims, RTA conciliation and preparing for QCAT
Urgent and specialist help. Help Me Now finder: the right service for your situation, in one screen · Cyclones, flooding and a home that isn't liveable · Rooming accommodation and student accommodation · Share houses and head tenants · Disability, accessibility and NDIS specialist disability accommodation (Forms 22b and R22b) · Low-income rental assistance, explained
Every page linked from here carries its own last-checked date and sources. What we’re writing next is listed under “Coming next” above.