What Tasmania's new rental pet rules mean in practice

Tasmania shifted the ground beneath residential tenancies on 20 March 2026. The Residential Tenancy Amendment (Pets) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 27 November 2025 and commenced by proclamation on 20 March 2026, replaces a regime that allowed blanket "no pets" clauses with a structured consent process. The old provision, section 64B of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, has been repealed. In its place is a new Part 3C built around formal requests, a hard 14-day response window, and the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal as the decision-maker for contested cases.

For Hobart landlords and tenants, this is not a minor update. Here is what the legislation actually says.

The 14-day window and how it works

A tenant who wants to keep a pet must submit a written request to the owner using an approved form. The request must identify the animal and note whether it is a dangerous or restricted breed dog under the Dog Control Act 2000.

From the date the owner receives that request, they have 14 days to respond.

To refuse, the owner must give written reasons and lodge an application with TASCAT within that same window. If neither step is completed within 14 days, the owner is taken by law to have consented. There is no grace period and no informal option.

Conditional consent is available. An owner may say yes with conditions attached, provided those conditions are reasonable, relate only to the specific pet, and are agreed to by the tenant. The Act is explicit that conditions cannot require any increase in rent or bond. Tasmania has no "pet bond" mechanism. The standard rental bond, capped at four weeks' rent under the existing Act, is the only security an owner can hold. Damage beyond reasonable wear and tear remains the tenant's responsibility under the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, as it does in any tenancy.

Any conditions worth setting, such as professional cleaning at the end of a lease or garden restoration, need to be agreed in writing within the same 14-day window.

What owners can still refuse, and on what grounds

The new framework is not unconditional approval. Owners retain grounds to refuse, though for most animals that refusal requires a TASCAT application.

TASCAT may consider whether keeping the pet would cause a nuisance on the premises or to nearby properties, cause damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, pose a safety risk to any person or animal, or be inconsistent with a conservation covenant on the property. It may also take into account any other grounds it considers reasonable.

One refusal does not require TASCAT: an owner may decline consent to a dangerous dog in writing under the Dog Control Act 2000 without lodging a tribunal application.

Strata and body corporate by-laws are also preserved. Where a by-law under the Strata Titles Act 1998 or a local government by-law restricts pets, that by-law is not overridden by the new legislation. Owners and tenants in strata buildings will want to confirm what their building's by-laws permit.

The Act also extends to the application stage. An owner must not unreasonably reject a rental application on the basis that the applicant has indicated they intend to request a pet.

What changes for existing arrangements

Two transitional points matter for anyone with a lease already in place.

Any clause in an existing tenancy agreement that prohibits all pets is no longer enforceable. Section 64B, which underpinned those clauses, has been repealed. A clause of this kind in a current lease carries no legal force.

Tenants who had consent to keep a pet before 20 March 2026, whether that consent was verbal or in writing, now hold that consent under the new Act. An owner who wants to revisit such an arrangement cannot do so by issuing a new lease clause. Withdrawal of consent requires a TASCAT order and written notice to the tenant.

One category sits entirely outside this framework: "ineligible animals." Dogs over six months old that are not registered under the Dog Control Act 2000, and cats over six months old that are neither microchipped nor certificated under the Cat Management Act 2009, are not "pets" under the Act. The consent process and the protections it provides do not apply to them. Tenants with dogs or cats will want to confirm those requirements are met before lodging a request.

If you manage a rental property in Hobart and would like to talk through what this framework means for your current arrangements, our property management team is happy to have that conversation.