Free guide · Queensland · checked 5 September 2026

Renting with a pet: which approval do you actually need?

There are three different pet approvals in Queensland, and they run on different clocks. Most of the stress comes from mixing them up.

General information, not legal advice. Body corporate and tenancy rules change. The official pages are linked at every step.

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The short answer: if you're applying with a pet, the owner is simply choosing between applicants and there is no formal approval clock. Your job is to make the pet easy to say yes to. If you're already a tenant and want to add a pet, you ask on the RTA's Form 21 and the owner has 14 days to respond. If the property is in a body corporate, that's a separate approval the owner requests, usually decided by the committee within 21 days, though with a different timetable if it has to go to a general meeting.

Diagram: timelines for the three pet approvals. Applying (no clock), Form 21 (14 days), body corporate committee (21 days), general meeting (21 days to call plus 6 weeks)THREE APPROVALS, THREE CLOCKSHow long each pet decision can take in QueenslandApplying with a petNo formal clockThe owner is choosing betweenapplicants. Your pet profile does thework.no statutory timetableAdding a pet as a tenantForm 21 · owner has 14 daysNo written response in 14 days =approved.14 daysBody corporate · committeeForm 31 · committee has 21 daysNo decision in 21 days = approved.21 daysIf it goes to a generalmeeting (less common)21 days to call + 6 weeks to decideMeeting not called in 21 days, or nodecision within 6 weeks of thenotice = approved.21 days6 weeksday 0day 14day 21day 42day 63= deemed approved if nobody answers in time. Never applies to an application.Diagram: timelines for the three pet approvals. Applying (no clock), Form 21 (14 days), body corporate committee (21 days), general meeting (21 days to call plus 6 weeks)THREE APPROVALS, THREE CLOCKSHow long each pet decision can takein QueenslandApplying with a petNo formal clockno statutory timetableThe owner is choosing between applicants. Your petprofile does the work.Adding a pet as a tenantForm 21 · owner has 14 days14 daysday 14No written response in 14 days = approved.Body corporate · committeeForm 31 · committee has 21 days21 daysday 21No decision in 21 days = approved.Less common: a general meeting21 days to call + 6 weeks to decide21 days6 weeksday 63Meeting not called in 21 days, or no decision within 6weeks of the notice = approved.= deemed approved if nobody answers in time.Never applies to an application.
Three different approvals, three different clocks. Deemed approval only applies to the tenant's Form 21 request and the body corporate's timetable, never to an application.

1 · Declaring a pet when you apply

An application is a choice between households, and a pet is one of the things being weighed. No law obliges an owner to accept a pet-owning applicant over another, and the 14-day and 21-day clocks below don't apply yet, because there's no tenancy to attach a request to.

What works is removing every doubt in advance: a one-page pet profile (photo, breed, age, size, desexed, council registration, vaccination and microchip records, vet letter), a pet reference from a previous agent if you have one, and a plain line in your cover letter or bio saying you have a pet and the profile is attached. Nobody should discover the pet halfway through processing. The pet pack section of the checklist lists the documents; one page, photo at the top, is the whole template.

Be honest about the timing

If the property is in a body corporate, the owner knows that choosing you means starting an approval process and possibly waiting. An owner holding an equally good pet-free application may not wait. That isn't unlawful. It's a preference between applicants. Having your pack ready on day one is how you shorten the wait you're asking them to accept.

2 · Adding a pet once you're a tenant (Form 21)

If you already rent the property and want a pet, you make a written request on the RTA's Request for approval to keep a pet in rental property (Form 21). The owner must respond in writing within 14 days. They can approve, approve with reasonable conditions, or refuse, but only on the grounds the legislation allows, and they have to say which one. If they don't respond in 14 days (or the response doesn't meet the legislative requirements), the pet is taken to be approved. Reasonable conditions can be attached (the RTA gives carpet cleaning or pest treatment at the end of the tenancy as examples of special terms); a separate "pet bond" on top of the four-week bond cap isn't one of them, because the cap applies to all bonds combined.

Being in a body corporate is one of the grounds an owner can rely on. If the body corporate's by-laws don't allow the animal, the owner can refuse. That's why the third approval matters. RTA: Form 21 · RTA: pets in rental properties

3 · Body corporate approval (units, townhouses, most strata)

A body corporate can't ban animals outright (a blanket "no pets" by-law is invalid), but it can require approval and attach reasonable conditions. The request goes in writing to the body corporate (the secretary, the body corporate manager or the chairperson), usually on the optional BCCM animal request form (Form 31). Both owners and tenants can apply; as a tenant you need the owner's approval as well, so in practice the owner usually lodges it or you lodge it with their support.

How long the body corporate has

The short version: 21 days. In most schemes the committee decides, and it has 21 days, the timeframe on the Queensland Government's renting in a body corporate page. The six weeks below only applies if your scheme's by-laws send pet approvals to a general meeting of owners.

Committee decision (the usual path): the committee must decide within 21 days of receiving the request. If it doesn't, the animal is taken to be approved.

General meeting decision (less common): some schemes treat animal approvals as a "restricted issue" that only owners at a general meeting can decide. Then the animal is taken to be approved if a general meeting isn't called within 21 days of the request, or if the body corporate doesn't decide within six weeks after the meeting notice goes out. That can mean a longer wait than 21 days, so ask early which path your scheme uses.

A refusal has to rest on limited grounds: the animal poses a risk that conditions can't manage, keeping it would break another law, it's a regulated dog, it would unreasonably interfere with other residents or native wildlife, or you've refused reasonable conditions. The formal response comes on BCCM Form 32. Assistance dogs don't need body corporate approval. Queensland Government: animals in a body corporate

Watch: the Queensland Government's short video (about two minutes) on the pet rules for renters and how they work with body corporate by-laws. It's on the animal by-laws page.

Putting it in order

Applying, house or unit: pet profile in the pack, pet declared on the form, honest line in the cover letter. For a unit, add that you're happy for the owner to seek body corporate approval and will supply whatever the committee needs.

Approved for a unit with a pet: ask the agent, in writing, whether body corporate approval has been obtained or when the Form 31 request is going in, and whether the scheme decides by committee or general meeting. Don't move the pet in on the assumption.

Already a tenant, adding a pet: Form 21 to the owner (14 days). If it's a body corporate, expect the owner to run the Form 31 request in parallel; offer to fill in the pet details.

Refused: the refusal must give a permitted reason. If it doesn't, or the reason doesn't fit, the RTA's dispute resolution service is free for tenancy questions, and the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management handles body corporate disputes. Tenants Queensland can tell you which one you need.

Related: the pet pack checklist · can they ask for that? (a "pet bond" is a no) · move-in costs.

Applying with a pet?

The free checklist covers the pet profile and the vet letter. If the pet is the complication, a person can read the whole pack and tell you how it lands: Application Assist, from $199.

Get my application reviewed (from $199) Use the free checklist