Selling a house with tenants in Australia: notice periods by state, open homes and photos, and capital gains tax on an investment property

An investment property can be sold two ways: with the tenant staying on, so the buyer becomes the landlord on settlement, or with vacant possession, which means the tenancy has to end first. Which one is open to you depends on the lease, on your state's tenancy law, which changed in most states between 2024 and 2026, and on who your likely buyer is. Get that decision right before the campaign and the rest is an ordinary sale with a few extra courtesies. Get it wrong and you are selling a property you cannot show properly to buyers you cannot settle with on the date they need.

This guide covers the choice, then the rules that constrain it in each state and territory, each read from the current Act: ending a tenancy because of a sale, entering to show buyers, open homes and advertising photos, and the notice you owe the tenant. It then covers what happens to the lease and bond when you sell with the tenant in place, and finishes with the tax: capital gains tax on an investment property, the six-year rule if the property was once your home, and the clearance certificate every Australian seller now needs at settlement. Figures are as at September 2026 and the sources are listed at the end. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.

First: the lease decides what is possible

Every state and territory draws the same line. A fixed-term lease cannot be ended early because you want to sell. The most you can do is serve notice so that it ends on the last day of the term, and in several states even that needs a sale-related ground. A periodic lease, one that has rolled on past its fixed term, can be ended for a sale on the notice your state prescribes, which now ranges from 30 days to 90 days and, everywhere except the Northern Territory, requires a genuine sale-related reason and usually evidence of it.

So the first question is simply: when does the lease end? If it has nine months to run, an owner-occupier buyer cannot move in before then, and the realistic buyers are investors who want the tenant, or people prepared to wait. If it is periodic, you can market with a tenant in place and give notice once you have a buyer who needs vacant possession, or give notice first and sell empty. If it ends within the campaign period, you can time the two together.

Two more things shape the choice. Presentation: a tenanted property is shown on the tenant's terms, with their furniture, at limited times, which usually costs something at the price line. Rent: an empty property earns nothing during a campaign and settlement, typically two to four months, which on a $650-a-week rental is $5,600 to $11,000 forgone. Investors buying with a tenant in place value the income from day one; owner-occupiers usually pay more but need the keys.

Ending a tenancy because of a sale: the rules by state

The notice periods below are minimums from the current legislation. All of them run from when the notice is given, and most now carry a penalty for a notice on a ground that is not genuine and a ban on re-letting the property for a period afterwards if the sale does not proceed. Your property manager should serve the notice on the prescribed form with the required evidence attached.

New South Wales

Since 19 May 2025 a landlord needs a reason. Two apply to a sale. Actual sale (section 87D of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010): once a contract requiring vacant possession has been entered into, at least 30 days' notice, and for a fixed term the termination date must also be on or after the end of the term. Proposed sale (section 87E), where the property will be offered for sale with vacant possession: at least 90 days for a periodic agreement, 60 days at the end of a short fixed term, 90 days at the end of any other fixed term, and the landlord needs the Secretary's approval to re-let within six months of the termination date unless the property sells. Supporting documents are required (section 85), and a notice on a ground that is not genuine carries a penalty of up to 100 penalty units (section 86).

Victoria

A rental provider may give a notice to vacate if the premises are to be sold or offered for sale with vacant possession immediately after the termination date; where a contract exists, the notice must be given within 14 days of the contract being signed or of its last condition being satisfied. The notice period is now 90 days (section 91ZZB(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, as amended in 2025). Consumer Affairs Victoria requires documentary evidence with the notice, a signed contract, an agency authority or a solicitor's confirmation that a contract is being prepared, states that a fixed term cannot be shortened, and notes the six-month ban on re-letting without VCAT approval if the sale falls through.

Queensland

A lessor may give a notice to leave for sale contract either because they are preparing to sell and the preparation requires the premises to be vacant, or because they have entered into a contract to sell with vacant possession (section 286 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008). The notice period is 2 months, and for a fixed term the handover day cannot be before the end of the term. Section 365B prohibits offering the premises for rent for six months after the handover day, with a penalty of 50 penalty units.

Western Australia

Once a contract of sale requiring vacant possession has been entered into, a lessor may give at least 30 days' notice (section 63 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987), but not during a fixed term. WA still allows a periodic tenancy to be ended without grounds on 60 days' notice (section 64), which is how most WA landlords clear a periodic tenancy before listing, and a fixed term ends only if either party gives at least 30 days' notice before the expiry day (section 70A). A knowingly false sale notice carries a $10,000 fine.

South Australia

Since the 2024 reforms a periodic tenancy can be ended for a sale on two grounds: the landlord has entered into a contract requiring vacant possession, or the property is being sold under a sales agency agreement with a registered agent (section 81 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 and regulation 23 of the 2025 Regulations). The notice is at least 60 days or one rental period, whichever is longer. A fixed term can be ended on the same grounds only at its end, on at least 60 days' notice (section 83A and regulation 25). Falsely stating the ground carries a maximum penalty of $50,000, and the landlord must not re-let within six months of the notice without the Tribunal's consent.

Tasmania

A non-fixed-term tenancy can be ended because the premises are to be sold on at least 42 days' notice (sections 42(1)(b) and 43(1)(ba) of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997), and the notice has no effect unless proof of an agreement to sell is served with it (section 43(3A)). A fixed term is ended by notice that the agreement is due to expire, served at least 42 days before the expiry date.

Australian Capital Territory

For a periodic tenancy, a lessor who genuinely intends to sell may give 8 weeks' notice to vacate, accompanied by written evidence such as a statutory declaration or agency agreement (clause 96 of the standard residential tenancy terms in Schedule 1 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997). No-cause terminations were abolished in 2023.

Northern Territory

The Territory is the outlier: a landlord may end a periodic tenancy without specifying a ground on 60 days' notice (section 89 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1999), and a fixed term by notice of intention to terminate at least 60 days before its end (section 90). No sale-specific ground is needed.

Showing the property to buyers

Every jurisdiction lets you bring buyers through a tenanted property, and every one wraps the right in notice, frequency and courtesy rules. The tenant's cooperation is worth more than any of them, and the rules are the floor, not the plan.

• NSW: written notice of intention to sell at least 14 days before the first inspection; all reasonable efforts to agree days and times; the tenant need not agree to more than two inspections a week (section 53). Interior photos or video showing the tenant's possessions cannot be published without their written consent, which they cannot unreasonably withhold (section 55A).
• Victoria: notice of intention to sell on the approved form at least 14 days before entry; reasonable efforts to agree times; up to twice a week for no more than an hour; and the renter is entitled to compensation for every sales inspection, currently half a day's rent or $30, whichever is more (section 86(2A) and (2B); Consumer Affairs Victoria). Advertising images need a reasonable attempt to agree a time, the renter can object to images showing identifying or valuable possessions and can require a review before they are published (section 89A).
• Queensland: a notice of intention to sell on the approved form before or with the first entry notice; each entry needs an Entry notice (Form 9) at least 48 hours ahead, up from 24 hours on 1 May 2025 (sections 193 and 198); the buyer must be accompanied unless the tenant agrees otherwise; entry is between 8am and 6pm and not on Sundays or public holidays unless the tenant agrees; open homes need the tenant's written agreement; once a notice to leave is in effect, no more than two entries in seven days; and photos showing the tenant's belongings need written consent (section 203).
• Western Australia: reasonable written notice, a reasonable number of occasions, at a reasonable time, which the Act defines as 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays unless otherwise agreed; the tenant is entitled to be present (section 46(2)(g) and (6)).
• South Australia: written notice of intention to sell within 14 days of signing the agency agreement, and no advertising or inspections until 14 days after that notice (section 71A); inspections on no more than two occasions in any seven days, at times agreed with the tenant, who must not unreasonably refuse, or as the Tribunal orders (section 72(1)(g)); and once a contract is signed, the tenant must be told the purchaser's name and the date rent becomes payable to them at least 14 days before settlement (section 71A(2)).
• Tasmania: 48 hours' written notice, one prospective purchaser (and their party) per entry, no more than once a day and five days a week, between 8am and 6pm (section 56(4B)); an open home requires the tenant's prior written approval (section 56(4C)); photos showing objects that could identify the tenant need written consent (section 55A).
• ACT: 48 hours' notice, only after the lessor has notified the tenant in writing of the intention to sell (clause 81); the tenant may not unreasonably refuse but need not agree to more than two inspections a week (clause 81A).
• Northern Territory: 24 hours' notice, written or oral, between 7am and 9pm, on a reasonable number of occasions (section 74).

The practical translation is the same everywhere: private inspections by appointment, twice a week at most, at times the tenant has agreed, with the photographs taken after the tenant has had a chance to tidy or remove anything personal. An open-home campaign with a tenant in place is possible only where the tenant agrees, and in Queensland and Tasmania the law says so expressly.

Keeping the tenant onside

A cooperative tenant presents the property, lets buyers in on short notice and tells them how much they like living there. A resentful one does the opposite, lawfully. The tools that work are simple: tell them before the agent's board goes up, not after; offer a rent reduction for the campaign weeks or pay for a professional clean before photography; agree a schedule of inspection days in writing and stick to it; and if you need vacant possession before the lease ends, negotiate an early surrender with a written agreement and compensation rather than hoping they will leave. Retaliatory notices and pressure to leave are offences in most states, and a tenant who complains to the tribunal mid-campaign is a story every buyer's conveyancer will hear.

Consider offering the property to the tenant first. A sitting tenant who buys saves you the marketing and much of the commission, needs no inspections and no vacancy, and already knows the property's faults. Price it on an independent valuation or a written appraisal so neither side later claims it was sold cheap, and run it through a conveyancer like any other sale.

Selling with the tenant in place

If the buyer takes the property tenanted, the lease continues unchanged and the buyer becomes the landlord on settlement. In practice:

• the contract discloses the tenancy: the lease, the rent, the bond, any arrears and the condition report go to the buyer's conveyancer, and the contract is expressed as subject to the existing tenancy rather than vacant possession;
• rent is apportioned at settlement in the same way as rates, so the seller keeps rent to the settlement date and the buyer takes it from then;
• the bond stays lodged with the state bond authority and is transferred to the new landlord's name, by the outgoing agent or the parties, on the authority's form;
• the tenant is told in writing who the new landlord is and where to pay rent. South Australia writes this into every agreement with a 14-day deadline; elsewhere it is the buyer's obligation on settlement and good practice for the seller's manager before it;
• the property manager's agreement usually terminates with the sale, and the buyer appoints their own or keeps the incumbent.

Two traps. A buyer who intends to move in but signs a contract subject to a fixed-term tenancy cannot give notice until the term ends, and in most states cannot then use the "sale" ground at all, because they are not selling. And a seller who gives a notice to leave for a sale that then settles subject to the tenancy has given a notice the buyer may not want; talk to the buyer before the notice goes out.

Capital gains tax on an investment property

A rental property is a CGT asset. When you sell it, the difference between the cost base and the sale proceeds is a capital gain or loss, and three timing rules matter before any arithmetic.

• The CGT event is the contract date, not settlement. The ATO is explicit: "the time of the event (the time at which you make a capital gain or loss) is when you enter into the contract, not when you settle". A contract signed in June with settlement in August lands the gain in the earlier financial year.
• The 50% discount applies if you owned the property for at least twelve months. For gains accruing after 1 July 2027 the discount is replaced with indexation of the cost base and a minimum rate; our explainer on the negative gearing and CGT changes now law covers the transition. A sale contracted before that date is under today's rules.
• Co-owners each report their share. Joint tenants split the gain equally; tenants in common in their ownership proportions.

Working out the cost base

The ATO's own formula for a rental property is: purchase price, plus the costs of purchase (stamp duty, conveyancing, title searches, valuation fees, initial repairs to make it rentable), plus capital improvements, plus the costs of sale (agent's commission, marketing, conveyancing), minus capital works deductions claimed, minus decline-in-value deductions claimed. Every dollar of building depreciation you claimed over the years comes back off the cost base now, which is why a depreciation schedule cuts both ways and why the records matter; our depreciation guide and negative gearing guide cover the deductions side. Expenses you deducted as you went, such as interest, repairs and management fees, cannot be added to the cost base. A net capital loss cannot be deducted from wages, but carries forward against future capital gains. Existing residential premises are input taxed, so there is no GST on the sale. Our CGT calculator runs the numbers.

If the property was once your home: the six-year rule

If you lived in the property before renting it out, part or all of the gain may be exempt. Under the ATO's absence rule you can continue to treat a former home as your main residence for up to six years while it is rented, and indefinitely if it earns no income, provided you do not treat another property as your main residence at the same time. The six years applies afresh to each period of absence that follows a period of living there, and broken periods of renting are added together. Choose the treatment in the return for the year of sale. Where the exemption is partial, the home first used to produce income rule resets the cost base to the property's market value on the day you first rented it out, if you acquired it after 20 September 1985, first rented it after 20 August 1996, and would have been fully exempt just before; the ATO's advice is to get a valuation at that time, and a retrospective one if you did not. Foreign residents are generally not entitled to the main residence exemption at all.

The clearance certificate every seller now needs

Since 1 January 2025 foreign resident capital gains withholding applies to every Australian property sale at 15% of the price, with no threshold. In the ATO's words, "All Australian residents (for tax purposes) selling or disposing of Australian real property must have a clearance certificate and give it to the purchaser at, or before settlement. Without a clearance certificate, the purchaser must withhold up to 15% of the sale proceeds". Each owner on the title needs their own certificate, they take time to issue, and a seller who arrives at settlement without one waits for the money until their tax return is processed. Apply when you list, not when you exchange.

The deceased estate guide covers the different CGT rules for an inherited rental, where the two-year clock runs from settlement rather than contract.

Timing the sale

Three clocks run at once: the lease, the market and the tax year. If the lease is periodic and the market is good, list with the tenant in place and give notice when a buyer needs vacant possession. If the lease has months to run and your likely buyer is an owner-occupier, either wait, sell to an investor, or negotiate an early surrender. If a large gain is coming, the contract date decides which year it falls in, and the 2027 transition makes that decision more than a cash-flow question. Rents and yields in the suburb, and how long comparable properties are taking to sell, are on our rental yield calculator and suburb pages; the best time to sell guide covers the seasonal pattern.

The mistakes that cost landlords money

• Serving a sale notice on a fixed term. It is invalid in every state, and in several it is an offence if the ground is not genuine.
• Advertising before the notice of intention to sell. In NSW, Victoria and SA the 14 days run before the first inspection or advertisement, not before exchange.
• Publishing photos of the tenant's things. Written consent, everywhere it is required, before the listing goes live.
• Booking open homes without asking. In Queensland and Tasmania the tenant's written agreement is the law; elsewhere it is the difference between a cooperative campaign and a two-a-week appointment schedule.
• Giving notice and then selling to an investor. Check what the buyer wants before the notice goes out, and remember the re-letting bans if the sale falls through.
• Forgetting the depreciation clawback. Capital works and plant deductions claimed reduce the cost base; budget for the tax on them.
• Applying for the clearance certificate late. Fifteen percent of the price held back at settlement is the most expensive avoidable mistake in this guide.

Where this fits

Once the tenancy question is settled, the campaign is an ordinary sale. Our guide to how to sell a house in Australia covers it end to end, auction versus private treaty covers the method, and the cost of selling covers what to budget. The tenant's side of each state's rules is in our renters' rights guides for NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA and SA. If you want an agent who sells tenanted property in your suburb to give you a figure and a plan for the tenant first, request a free appraisal.

Sources

• Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW), sections 53, 55A, 85, 86, 87D and 87E, current version: legislation.nsw.gov.au; NSW Government, Landlord ending a tenancy (evidence requirements).
• Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic), sections 86, 89A and 91ZZB (as amended by Act No. 6/2025): legislation.vic.gov.au; Consumer Affairs Victoria, Notice to vacate in rental properties (90 days, evidence, re-letting, sales inspection compensation).
• Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld), sections 193, 198, 203, 286 and 365B and the notice-period table, current as at 17 August 2026: legislation.qld.gov.au; Residential Tenancies Authority, Open houses and viewings.
• Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA), sections 46, 63, 64 and 70A, version 06-u0-00: legislation.wa.gov.au.
• Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA), sections 71A, 72, 81, 83, 83A and 91A, and Residential Tenancies Regulations 2025 (SA), regulations 23, 25 and 33: legislation.sa.gov.au.
• Residential Tenancy Act 1997 (Tas), sections 42, 43, 55A and 56: legislation.tas.gov.au.
• Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT), Schedule 1 standard residential tenancy terms, clauses 81, 81A and 96, republication effective 26 November 2025: legislation.act.gov.au.
• Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT), sections 74, 89 and 90: legislation.nt.gov.au.
• Australian Taxation Office: Capital gains tax when selling your rental property (contract-date rule and cost base formula, quoted), Treating former home as main residence, Using your home for rental or business (all updated 22 June 2026), and Australian residents and clearance certificates (12 August 2026, quoted).
• Campaign lengths, forgone-rent examples and the practical advice on tenant relations are conventions and general practice, not rules.