What if the tenant refuses you access?

As a landlord, one of your key responsibilities is to conduct a routine inspection in your property. And as we all know, it is not as simple as it seems. Every routine inspection is done with a significant amount of planning, which also includes making sure that the process is in line with legislations specifying the provisions of entry.

Just as long as you or your agent provides the prescribed Form 9 Entry Notice and has met the requirements under the RTRA Act section 195 (sets out the date and time of the inspection) and 192 (sets out the grounds that you or your agent may inspect), then you may gain access to the property to conduct a routine inspection.

But what if the tenant refuses you access to the property? In cases where all of the entry provisions have been met, the tenant does not have a choice than to allow access to the property. Should they fail to comply, the landlord can take further action against the tenant.

Here are the three possible outcomes:

OUTCOME # 1:

The landlord or the agent will attempt to negotiate with the tenant to discover the reason why the tenant is refusing access to the property. If there is no response from the tenant, or if they still do not permit entry, the landlord/agent may proceed with lodging a Form 16 for dispute resolution.

OUTCOME # 2:

It is stated under the RTRA Act that the landlord/agent may apply to the QCAT for an order to be made to grant access to the property:

OUTCOME # 3:

A Notice to Remedy Breach Form 11 may be issued by the landlord to the tenant in situations where there is reason to believe that illegal activities are being held or performed within the rental property. This will then be followed by a Form 12 Notice to Leave. If the tenant still has not vacated the property, then an Urgent Application to the QCAT for section 293 for failure to leave would be the landlord’s/agent’s next step.

More often than not, a talk between the tenant and the landlord can often resolve the issue.