Some states count the landlord’s visits; others space them

Four shapes a limit takes

Read down the tally column of the drawing and the eight jurisdictions do not differ by a number. They differ by kind. Every row measures the return of the same thing, a property inspection; what changes at the border is how the law counts it. Two states count the visits a year; four space them by the calendar; the ACT layers a first, a pair and a final; and for New South Wales, check the official page. A reader who compares one state’s “four a year” with another’s “four a year” is comparing two of the eight, and missing what the rest answer.

Counted: the west and the south

Western Australia puts a number on the year. It is a term of every residential tenancy agreement in the state that the lessor may enter the premises for the purpose of inspecting them not more than 4 times in any 12 month period. The state’s consumer body puts the same right plainly: a landlord may conduct inspections.

South Australia counts almost identically. In that state it is a term of a residential tenancy agreement that the landlord, or an agent of the landlord, may enter the premises to inspect them: not more than 4 times in a year. The Tribunal can lift the number on the landlord’s application, when it is satisfied an order is necessary because of the state of the premises or another prescribed circumstance. That is the difference between a count and a spacing: the section counts visits in a year and, in the words quoted here, sets no gap between them.

From Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA), Consumer Protection WA: rent inspections and privacy rights, Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA).

Spaced: Queensland’s 3 months, Victoria’s 6, Tasmania’s 3 and the Northern Territory’s 3 or longer

Queensland does not count; it spaces. Routine inspections there cannot be carried out more than once every 3 months, unless the tenant agrees in writing, and the state’s tenancy authority adds that owner and tenant may also agree to less frequent inspections. The Act behind the page reads the same way: unless the tenant otherwise agrees, an entry to inspect the premises may not be made less than 3 months after a previous one.

Victoria spaces too, with a barred stretch in front. A general inspection may only be made after the first 3 months of the rental agreement, and they can be done every 6 months at the most. In the Act the first rule is drawn as a limit on the first agreement between that provider and that renter: the right to inspect can be used only once the first 3 months of the tenancy have passed. The spacing is also a right: a Victorian renter can refuse entry when the rental provider wants to do a general inspection but one has already been done in the last 6 months.

The Northern Territory spaces as well, and lets the agreement stretch the gap. An inspection there is not made within 3 months of the last inspection, or a longer gap your agreement sets.

From RTA Queensland: routine inspections, Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld), Consumer Affairs Victoria: when a rental provider can enter a property, Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic), Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT).

Layered: the ACT’s first, twice and final

The ACT stacks its limits rather than repeating one. Landlords there can do an inspection during the first month of the tenancy, twice in each 12 month period from when the tenancy begins, and during the final month of the tenancy. In a periodic tenancy, after the first year, the landlord may conduct inspections twice a year. Even the ends of a lease are covered: entering a consecutive tenancy agreement, the landlord and tenant do not have to do an inspection for the tenancy that is ending.

From ACT Government: during a tenancy, ACT Government: the Renting Book, January 2026 (PDF).

Where to check the count yourself

New South Wales: the state’s page sets out that there are limits to when a landlord, agent or authorised person can enter the property without the tenant’s consent. For the count of inspections a year, check that page, linked below.

Tasmania’s Residential Tenancy Act 1997, linked below, lets an owner enter for routine inspections once every 3 months, or once a month in boarding premises, on at least 24 hours’ notice.

From NSW Fair Trading: landlord access and entry, Residential Tenancy Act 1997 (Tas).

When the lease is ending, Queensland counts twice a week

One more sluice sits across the Queensland rules. If a property manager or owner serves a Notice to leave, or a tenant gives a Notice of intention to leave, the owner or manager cannot enter the property more than two times within a 7-day period, and that holds even where the notice was issued at the beginning of the tenancy. The Act states the same cap: the lessor or the lessor’s agent must not enter the premises more than twice in a 7-day period. It is a limit within a limit: the quarterly spacing above still applies, and the cap of two entries in any 7 days sits over it.

From RTA Queensland: rules of entry, general tenancies, RTA Queensland: entry to the property, Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld).

A limit is not the visit itself

None of the figures above says what may happen while the person is inside, or how the house should be left for the day. Queensland’s authority is explicit that a routine inspection is not a housework inspection: the person inspecting the property should appreciate that people are living there, and the point of the visit is to see the home is looked after well, and to find anything needing repair or maintenance, or any health and safety issue. The tally tells you how often the knock may come; what happens inside the visit tells you what the knock may do, and the day and its hours are drawn beside it in the device above, so the two limits can be read together.