How to Document and Report Landlord Harassment in Australia

Landlord harassment typically involves conduct that interferes with your right to quiet enjoyment of the property. It includes:

Note that a landlord issuing a valid termination notice after proper process is not harassment, even if unwelcome.

• Unlawful entry without proper notice (or repeated entry despite complaints)
• Repeated, excessive, or threatening contact about rent, inspections, or other matters
• Threats related to your tenancy — including veiled threats through repeated complaints or inspection notices
• Deliberately interfering with services (turning off utilities)
• Showing up at the property without notice and outside of legitimate inspections
• Making threats about your bond, your reference, or your tenancy database record
• Retaliatory behaviour after you exercise a legal right (requesting repairs, making a complaint)

Without documentation, harassment complaints are very difficult to substantiate. Create a record from the moment you recognise a pattern:

A three-entry log is a complaint. A twelve-entry log with dates, times, and descriptions is evidence.

• Keep a written log: date, time, what happened, what was said or done, and any witnesses
• Save every email, text message, or written communication — do not delete anything
• If calls are involved, follow up each one with an email: 'As discussed by phone on [date], you said...' This creates a written record of verbal conversations
• Photograph any physical interference with the property (locks changed, utilities tampered with)
• Note how the conduct has affected you — disrupted sleep, inability to work from home, anxiety

Once you have documented a clear pattern, write a formal letter to the landlord or agent:

This letter creates an additional piece of evidence, puts the landlord on formal notice, and sometimes resolves the issue without further action.

• Identify each specific incident by date
• Cite the specific right being violated (quiet enjoyment, proper entry notice, etc.)
• State that you consider the conduct to be harassment and in breach of the tenancy agreement
• Request that the conduct cease immediately
• State that you will apply to the tribunal and report to the relevant regulator if it continues

Every state has a government body that can investigate landlord and agent conduct:

A formal complaint creates an official record and can trigger an investigation. Real estate agents are licensed and can face disciplinary action for misconduct.

• NSW: NSW Fair Trading (13 32 20)
• VIC: Consumer Affairs Victoria (1300 558 181)
• QLD: RTA and Office of Fair Trading (13 74 68)
• WA: Consumer Protection (1300 304 054)

Your state tenancy tribunal can issue orders:

Bring your full documentation log, any correspondence, and any other witnesses or evidence. Tribunals take interference with quiet enjoyment seriously — particularly when there is a clear pattern.

• Requiring the landlord to stop specific conduct
• Awarding you compensation for loss caused by the harassment
• Reducing your rent for the period your quiet enjoyment was interfered with
• In severe cases, terminating the tenancy early without penalty to you