Your invoices are not your compliance records
In short
From 13 October 2026, a Victorian rental provider or their agent must keep records showing the property met the minimum rental standards before it was advertised, offered, or the renter moved in, and must give those records to Consumer Affairs Victoria if asked. A sufficient record answers four questions per standard: what was checked, by whom, when, and how it looked. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists 15 categories of minimum standards (checked 30 September 2026), so the file covers all 15, not only the ones a tradesperson invoiced for. Trade invoices and safety certificates belong in that file but do not complete it: an invoice shows a job was done, not that a standard was met before the property was let. Thirteen days to 13 October.
What records do you need to keep from 13 October 2026?
Consumer Affairs Victoria states: "Rental providers or their agents must keep records that show the property met the minimum rental standards before the property was advertised, offered, or the renter moved in." The page adds the records "must be given to CAV if they are asked" (Consumer Affairs Victoria, New changes to the rental laws, checked 30 September 2026).
Two words in that sentence do the work. Show: a record that asserts compliance is not a record that shows it. Before: the test is the state of the property when it was advertised, offered or moved into, so a record made afterwards is evidence of a later date, not of that one.
Is a tradesperson's invoice a compliance record?
It is part of one, not the whole thing.
An invoice proves a tradesperson attended and billed for it. It rarely says which standard the work related to, or whether that standard was met when the work finished. A smoke alarm invoice says nothing about the locks, the heating, the windows or the window covering anchors.
Gas and electrical are the exception: a rule already exists there. Only a licensed or registered electrician or gasfitter can do those checks, every two years, and Energy Safe Victoria states the record "must be shown upon request from a tenant or resident" (Energy Safe Victoria, Residential property safety checks, checked 30 September 2026). From 13 October you keep that habit for all 15 categories.
What does a sufficient record look like for each minimum standard?
The categories below are the 15 Consumer Affairs Victoria lists (checked 30 September 2026). What each standard requires is on that page. The right-hand column is the evidence habit, not the standard.
Minimum standard categoryWhat a sufficient record looks likeBathroomsDated photograph of the basin and shower or bath, noting hot and cold water ranElectrical safetyCertificate from the licensed electrician, dated, with their licence numberHeatingDated photograph of the fixed heater in place, showing make and modelKitchenDated photograph of the sink, cooktop and oven, noting each workedLaundryDated photograph of the connections and the tapsLightingDated note of each room tested and the resultLocksDated photograph of every external door and window lock, engagedMould and dampDated photographs of every wet area and external wall, clear ones includedStructural soundnessDated photographs of walls, ceilings, floors and steps, noting anything watchedToiletsDated photograph, noting it flushed and did not leakVentilationDated note of the fan or openable window in each wet areaVermin proof binsDated photograph of the bin with its lid closedWindowsDated note of each window opened, closed and latchedWindow coveringsDated photograph of each covering in placeWindow covering anchorsDated close photograph of each anchor fixed to wall or frame
A date, a thing, a person. If a record cannot tell someone who was not there what the property was like the day you let it, it is not doing the job.
Who has to keep the records, the rental provider or the agent?
Consumer Affairs Victoria names both: rental providers or their agents. If an agent manages the property, ask what they will hold from 13 October, and in what form. If you self-manage, nobody else is building it.
What does getting the records in order cost?
Photographing the property yourself, room by room, with your phone's date stamp on, costs nothing and is a legitimate record. If you would rather one person walked it and wrote it up, that is what we charge for.
A Safehaus report does not make a property compliant. Compliance is the state of the property. The report is part of what shows it, and if the property fails I write down that it failed. Safehaus issues no certificates. Gas, electrical and smoke alarm certificates come from licensed trades, and we take no commission from any trade.
Get one property documented
Rental Readiness Report — $295, one property, fixed price. Every category walked, photographed and written up as a record you can hand over. Book a Rental Readiness Report
Written by Keith Palermo, a former auditor who manages more than 50 rental properties across Melbourne.
Sources
Consumer Affairs Victoria, New changes to the rental laws, checked 30 September 2026 — the 13 October 2026 record-keeping obligation, and giving records to CAV on request.
Consumer Affairs Victoria, Minimum standards for rental properties, checked 30 September 2026 — the 15 categories, and when a property must meet them.
Energy Safe Victoria, Residential property safety checks, checked 30 September 2026 — only a licensed or registered electrician or gasfitter may do the checks, every two years, and the record must be shown to a tenant on request.
