9 April 2020 

The Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) has today published a suite of new forms for customers to document any agreements made when negotiating temporary changes to their rental arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new forms available for download from the RTA website include:

• General tenancy COVID-19 variation agreement (Form 18d)
• Rooming accommodation tenancy COVID-19 variation agreement (Form 18e)
• Moveable dwelling COVID-19 variation agreement (Form 18f).

We encourage tenants and property managers/owners to keep each other updated on their changing circumstances and situations during COVID-19. Shared decisions and agreed timeframes for any temporary COVID-19 related rental or tenancy arrangements can be documented using these new variation agreement forms.

Agreed arrangements and COVID-19 special terms could include, but are not limited to:

• rent variations
• terms of entry
• variations to an agreement end date
• who is/isn’t permitted to live in the property
• next steps at the end of the rent variation period. 

Tenants and property owners are encouraged to work together to find solutions during the pandemic. You can read our top tips for effective conversations and resolving tenancy issues here.

If you are unable to reach an agreement, conciliation through the RTA will be a mandatory process, subject to proposed legislative amendments. 

All tenants and property managers/owners have a shared responsibility to keep a copy of the signed form for reference and to ensure a smooth transition following the pandemic. 

It is important to note that these new variation agreement forms complement and do not replace current tenancy agreements already in place. All other terms in the existing tenancy agreements remain the same and legally binding.

For more information and support relating to COVID-19 for Queensland residential tenancies, please see our COVID-19 response page.

For more information on the Queensland Government’s COVID-19 response, please visit covid19.qld.gov.au/the-hub.  

Update: Since the time of publication, the RTA has released several new forms and resources for COVID-19 impacted tenancies. Read more.