If you own an investment property in Queensland, or you are about to buy one, the rental rules it will run under have changed in two waves. The QLD rental law changes landlords need to track in 2026 cover how often you can raise the rent, how you schedule access to the property, and what you have to show before claiming on a bond. The once-every-12-months limit on rent increases took effect for all new and existing tenancies on 1 July 2023. Then Parliament passed the 2024 changes to Queensland's rental laws, a package that bans all forms of rent bidding, holds rent increases to once per year, and reworks the day-to-day rules on entry, applications, payments and bonds.
This guide works through each change from the owner's side: what it requires of you, what your tenant gains, and what it means for the property itself. It covers the residential rules; the Property Law Act 2023 changes for commercial leases, which took effect on 1 August 2025, are a separate track. It does not cover ending a tenancy early.
What the 2024 amendments changed
The package went through Queensland's Parliament as the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. Two of its changes land on the money side. All forms of rent bidding are banned. And a property's rent can only be increased once per year; how that clock works is the next section.
The rest of the package passed with its commencement left to proclamation rather than a fixed date in the Bill. These are the day-to-day changes, and each one moves something on your side of the tenancy:
- Entry takes 48 hours' notice, so access is something you schedule rather than improvise.
- Rental applications run on a prescribed form, and any information collected through one has to be handled securely.
- Renters get a fee-free option to pay rent, and a choice about how they apply for a property.
- A claim on the bond has to be supported by evidence, so what you can show at the end of a tenancy is what carries the claim.
- Reletting costs are limited based on how long is left on a fixed-term lease, so what you can claim when a tenant leaves early scales with the remaining term.
The Bill also provides for three pieces to be developed: a framework for owners and renters to agree on installing modifications, a Code of Conduct for the rental sector, and a Portable Bond Scheme.
How the rent increase rules work
The limit has applied to all new and existing tenancies since 1 July 2023. Increasing the rent more often than that is an offence under Queensland's Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, and any clause written into an agreement before 1 July 2023 that allowed more frequent increases no longer applies.
During a fixed-term agreement, an increase only works if the agreement itself says the rent will be increased and states the new amount or how it will be worked out. It also has to be at least 12 months since the tenancy started or since the last increase, and the tenant gets at least two months' written notice for a general tenancy, or four weeks for rooming accommodation.
Two details decide how the clock runs in practice. Selling the property does not reset it: the 12-month limit applies even after a sale, as long as at least one of the previous tenants stays on. If you are buying a property with a sitting tenant, the clock comes with it. And a renewal with the same tenant keeps the clock running; the only reset is a brand-new agreement where none of the tenants are the same as the previous ones.
On size: the Act sets no dollar cap on an increase. What the law limits is how often you can raise the rent and how much notice you give, not the amount. A tenant who thinks an increase is excessive can raise it with you first, and once the new agreement is signed, take it to free dispute resolution. If that does not settle it, either party can apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a decision. The free dispute resolution service resolved 76.3 per cent of the disputes where both parties volunteered to take part in the 2021-22 financial year.
Where PropSpotter fits
The rules above are the environment your property runs in once you own it. The decisions that shape how well it does are made earlier: which suburb, which property, and whether the numbers hold. That is the work PropSpotter is built for, and it is built for people who have never bought an investment property before.
The system runs in three stages. The research stage produces an institutional-grade, data-backed suburb brief, and a coach walks through it with you so you understand why each suburb was selected and how to read the signals yourself next time. The sourcing stage runs a proprietary listing system that monitors your target suburbs 24/7 and notifies you before other investors know a property exists, because the best-priced listings don't sit on Domain or realestate.com.au for weeks. The coaching stage is one-on-one property investment coaching from an active investor, on WhatsApp, so you are never making a decision alone. It covers deal assessment (comparable sales, rental yield projections, risk factors, negotiation positioning), your negotiation strategy before you make an offer, and a post-purchase debrief after settlement. The goal is to make you self-sufficient.
PropSpotter does not buy the property for you. You stay in control of every decision, and the point is to build genuine capability as an investor rather than a dependency on someone else. The system covers all Australian states, so it works the same whether you are in Sydney looking at Brisbane or in Melbourne exploring Perth. It is a fixed $4,990 with no commissions, no percentage of the purchase price and no hidden fees, and no per-session billing, no upsells and no 50-module course.
If you want a read on a suburb or a specific property before you commit, the entry point is a free 30-minute strategy call with no obligation. Book the free strategy call when you are ready.