Under the Residential Tenancies Act the Lessor or their agent must take reasonable steps to ensure that as the tenant you have peace, comfort and privacy in your rental premises.

The Act also sets out limited situations in which the lessor or their agent can enter your home and these situations are covered in the Act by the Rules of Entry.

Unless you have agreed to the entry or it is an emergency situation the lessor or their agent must provide you with written Entry Notice form 9 for the proposed entry, stating the reason for the entry and the proposed time of entry.

The proposed time of entry must be reasonable and must respect your rights to privacy as the tenant. In general tenancies the lessor or agent must give you at least 24 hours notice of a proposed entry. In the case of inspections these can only be carried out once in a 3 month period and the Entry Notice must give you 7 days notice of the inspection.

If you dispute an Entry Notice contact the lessor or agent straight away and folllow this up with a written notice. If the lessor has breached your rights to privacy you can issue them with a Notice to Remedy Breach form 11. If you and the lessor or agent have a dispute about entry you can apply to the RTA Dispute Resolution Service for conciliation. If the matter cannot be resolved you can apply the Small Claims Tribunal for a tenacy hearing where a Referee can make a decision about the dispute.

Tenants also have rights to privacy in relation to their personal information. These are covered under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, National Privacy Principles. In Queensland the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act Code of Conduct also requires that real estate agents ensure confidentiality of your personal information.

Form more information about Access and Privacy see the Fast Fact on Tenancy

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