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Dual Key

Guide 3 of 3

Renting one side: locks, keys and the owner next door

When one side of a dual-key home is rented, the tenancy runs under that state’s or territory’s own tenancy law. No regulator’s page drawn on here has a rule written for dual-key homes, so the general rules apply, and the ones on locks, keys and entry matter most when only a foyer separates the two households.

A drawn butt hinge: two leaves with three screw holes each, turning on one pin through five knuckles
  • The pin. The lockable door between: who holds the key, and when it may be used.
  • One leaf. The rented side.
  • The other. The owner’s side, or another household.
The pin picked out: the one part both leaves turn on, as both households pass through the shared foyer. Drawn for this guide; it is not a plan of any home.

General information. This page describes each place’s tenancy rules in general terms, not legal advice about any tenancy, lock or notice. The regulators are the places to check: Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority, Consumer Protection WA, SA.GOV.AU for South Australia, the ACT Government and ACAT, and Consumer Affairs Tasmania.

Renting out one side of a dual-key home makes it a rented home under the local tenancy law, and that law is different in every state and territory. On the questions a shared foyer raises (locks, keys, the owner’s entry and how a tenancy ends) the regulators set out general rules, and the pages drawn on here have no separate rule for a home that shares its entrance.

Each place’s own law

The law has a different name in each place. Victoria’s is the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, and Queensland’s the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. South Australia’s is the Residential Tenancies Act 1995, the ACT’s the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and Tasmania’s the Residential Tenancy Act 1997. Western Australia’s rules here are taken from Consumer Protection WA’s pages.

New South Wales and the Northern Territory are not covered on this page.

Locks

A dual-key layout is a home of doors. Each regulator below has a rule that touches locks or security, and each is set out here as that regulator puts it.

A close-up of an old metal slide bolt on a pair of orange-brown wooden doors, its bolt pushed across the gap into a keeper on the other door.
A slide bolt across the gap between two doors. Photo by dcschaef on Pixabay

Victoria

Under the minimum standards for rental properties, the external entry doors must have working deadlocks, which Consumer Affairs Victoria defines as a deadlatch with at least one cylinder, or locks that open with a key from outside and without one from inside. The page lists exceptions, among them a door that cannot be reached because another security barrier stands in front of it, such as the locked door of an apartment building. The standards apply to agreements that started on or after 29 March 2021, or that became periodic on or after that date.

Queensland

To meet the minimum housing standards, every external window and door needs a working lock or latch.

South Australia

The landlord has to keep the property secure and fix problems such as a sticking lock. A lock is changed or removed only if tenant and landlord agree, and neither may refuse without good reason. The tenant can collect a spare key from the landlord when that is reasonable, and no fee can be charged for borrowing it.

The ACT

Either the landlord or the tenant can change the locks if the other consents, and whoever changes them pays, unless they agree to split the cost.

Western Australia

Consumer Protection WA says a rented home has to meet basic standards of security, safety and health.

Only Victoria’s exception speaks to a door behind another locked door, and none of these pages names a door between two homes inside one building. The regulator is the place to ask about a particular layout.

Entry: a key is not permission

An owner living on the other side of the foyer may hold a key to the rented side. Holding a key does not change the entry rules, and each regulator sets its own:

  • Victoria. A rental provider or agent must give the renter written notice of an entry, stating the reason. Entering counts as coming onto the property as a whole, which can include the garden or the outside, not only the rooms.
  • Queensland. The owner or property manager may enter only for a valid reason and after giving the correct notice on an Entry notice (Form 9). They may come in without notice if the tenant agrees, but only at the time the tenant agrees to.
  • South Australia. Most of the time the landlord can enter only between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm, on a day that is not a Sunday or a public holiday.
  • The ACT. A tenant is entitled to peace, comfort and privacy at home, and the ACT Government says this means the landlord cannot go to the rental property without giving notice. The Renting Book adds that a landlord is not entitled to use their own copy of the keys to get in if the tenant disagrees about a suitable time.

Ending a tenancy, never by changing the locks

A changed lock is not a way to end a tenancy. Three regulators say so in plain terms:

  • Western Australia. Consumer Protection WA says that without a court order, a landlord may not push a tenant out or change the locks.
  • Tasmania. Consumer Affairs Tasmania says it is an offence for an owner to take back possession, by going in and changing the locks or by keeping the tenant from living there, unless the tenant hands it over, a court orders it or the property has been abandoned.
  • The ACT. If a tenant stays on after a notice to vacate, the landlord may not simply change the locks or take the tenant’s belongings out; the way forward is an application to ACAT for an order ending the tenancy.

Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority says ending a tenancy lawfully needs a valid reason under its Act. In the ACT, a landlord can end a periodic tenancy when they, or someone close to them, want to live in the home, with 8 weeks’ notice and proof such as a statutory declaration.

The neighbours across the foyer

Two households off one foyer live as neighbours, and two regulators speak to that. Consumer Affairs Tasmania says its Rental Services cannot step into disputes between neighbours, because neighbours are not parties to the same lease, but that a tenant must respect the neighbours’ right to peace, comfort and privacy. In the ACT, a landlord can end a tenancy for a breach of the agreement, and the ACT Government lists bothering neighbours among the breaches, beside unpaid rent and damage.