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Tab 2 · Entry · Victoria

When your SDA provider can come in

In Victoria, your SDA provider can come in with the required notice between 8 am and 6 pm on any day except public holidays, or at another time by agreement. How much notice depends on the reason: section 498U of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 sets at least 48 hours, 24 hours or 7 days, each tied to purposes listed in section 498V.

General information about Victorian law, not legal advice. The official place to check is Consumer Affairs Victoria’s page on entry into your SDA room or property.

Section 498U

Three notice periods, each with its reasons

The Act does not set one notice period for every visit. It sets three, and each covers its own purposes. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s entry page gives everyday examples, a few of which are shown here.

Entry on notice is between 8 am and 6 pm on any day except a public holiday, with notice given under section 498X. The examples column is a selection.
NoticeWhen the Act uses itAn example from Consumer Affairs Victoria
At least 48 hoursFor the purposes in section 498V(1)(a) or (b). Showing the home to people interested in buying it, when it is for sale. You get half a day’s rent back for each inspection.
At least 24 hoursFor the purposes in section 498V(1)(c) or (f). Listed on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s entry page.
At least 7 daysFor the purposes in section 498V(1)(d) or (e). To value the property.

Consumer Affairs Victoria also says your provider can inspect the property every six months.

The paper itself

What a notice of entry has to carry

In most cases, written notice comes before your provider enters your room or the property. What that means in practice:

  • It can be a letter handed to you or posted, or an email if you have agreed to receive emails from your provider.
  • It must give the date, the time, and the reason for entry.
  • If you share the home with other residents, every one of you must get the same written notice.

Email only happens if you choose it. The law says notices and documents come to you in person or by mail, and you can choose to get them by email as well. You can change your mind whenever you like by telling your provider in writing, and if your email address changes, you need to give your provider the new one straight away.

Your say

Entry you agree to

The Act also gives your provider, or their agent, a right to come in at any time agreed with you, as long as your consent was given no more than 7 days before the visit. Where several residents share the dwelling, all of them must have consented within that window.

Consumer Affairs Victoria puts the same idea plainly. Among the times your provider can enter without written notice is when you agree, and if you live with other residents, everyone must agree before your provider comes in.

When the provider does enter under this right, the Act lets them bring along whoever is needed to carry out the purpose of the visit.

Plain questions

Questions a family might bring to this tab

Can the provider come on a weekend?

With notice, yes. The Act’s window for entry on notice is 8 am to 6 pm on any day except a public holiday, so a Saturday or a Sunday is inside it and a public holiday is not.

What about early in the morning or in the evening?

Notice on its own does not stretch past 8 am to 6 pm. A visit at another hour can be arranged by agreement with you, as long as your consent was given no more than 7 days before.

I share the home. Do I get my own notice?

Yes. Where residents share a home, each of them must get the same written notice.

A sale

If the home is being sold

If your provider is selling the property, they must give you a notice of intention to sell. Showing the home to people interested in buying it is one of the reasons Consumer Affairs Victoria gives for 48 hours’ notice, and you get half a day’s rent back for each of those inspections.

An illustration

One visit, checked against the rules

Illustration only, not a real case. A provider wants to have a shared SDA home valued on a Thursday morning. Valuation is one of the reasons Consumer Affairs Victoria gives for 7 days’ notice, so the written notice reaches each resident at least 7 days before that Thursday, and the visit falls between 8 am and 6 pm. The notice gives the date, the time and the reason, and every resident in the home gets the same one.

Behind this tab

Keeping track of visits

This tab is a natural place to keep each notice of entry as it arrives, with a note of the day it came and whether it came by hand, by post or by email. Because every notice has to state its date, time and reason, a short stack of them shows a resident or a family member how often the provider has been in, and why, without relying on memory.

If a visit raises a repair, the repairs tab sets out what happens next; if a notice is about the agreement ending, the notices tab does.

The other tabs in the folder