How to effectively manage rental minimum standards in Victoria in 2026?

The Rental Minimum Standards (MS) are essential for ensuring every rental property is safe, secure, and habitable.

But the question for property managers is: How do you manage this mountain of responsibility efficiently and without drowning in admin?

What’s the Latest with The Victorian Rental Minimum Standards?

The Victorian Minimum Standards (MS) were first rolled out in 2021, and we’ve seen a few additions along the way.

The most recent addition is the 15th category: Corded internal window coverings which became required on December 1st 2025.

But the real game-changer that has agencies asking “What now?” is the rule that a property must meet all 15 minimum standards before it can be advertised for rent.

The Agency Reality Check

This simple rule forces a big decision. Suddenly, property managers are facing two massive hurdles:

• Where to store the documents? You need a safe place for all your minimum standards records, ideally the same place as your other safety checks. Juggling multiple supplier dashboards or spreadsheets just adds to the chaos.
• The Internal vs. External Debate: Do you manage minimum standards internally with your PM team, or do you engage a third-party supplier for all your properties?

Properteasy is an option for simplifying all of this.

Outsource or Manage Minimum Standards In-House? (The ‘Reasonable Belief’ Dilemma)

The Minimum Standards checks are not mandatory to be done by a third-party on every rental property.

Instead, real estate agencies need to have a reasonable belief that the property meets all 15 standards before advertising it.

What is ‘Reasonable Belief’?

Reasonable belief can mean different things to different people. In practical terms, it usually means having documented proof that you took sensible steps to ensure the property is safe and habitable (like checking locks, heating, and safety switches and all the other MS categories) before renting it out.

This documented proof can be any of these things:

• disclosure statements, owners instructions
• inspection reports
• third party supplier reports
• checklists in your CRM (or, even better, in a dedicated compliance platform like Properteasy).

Before you engage an external supplier for a blanket inspections across your entire portfolio, you should pause and ask these crucial questions:

• Do all our properties genuinely need this paid, third-party check?
• Do we know which properties should actually get minimum standards check done by a third-party?
• Do we know which specific properties might have issues related to the minimum standards that need fixing?

Until the legislation is completely black and white that a third-party supplier must conduct MS checks, the interpretation and the responsibility is yours.

Should we hire a compliance manager?

Let’s be honest: by now, many agencies have done absolutely nothing about managing minimum standards internally: no records, no notes, and definitely no standardised checklists.

The new before advertising rule was the trigger that got most agencies thinking, “what are we actually going to do?“.

Some have gone for the quick fix, forcing all rental providers to sign a declaration that their property meets all standards. Others engage third-party suppliers, but only for the properties where the owner opts in for the service.

The Compliance Manager Question

With all these growing requirements, a lot of agencies are now seriously thinking about hiring a dedicated Compliance Manager or Champion (whether full-time, part-time, or even a virtual assistant).

We believe this is a smart move, especially for agencies with large portfolios, as a dedicated person can focus solely on risk management and keeping the agency protected.

But here is the truth: If you don’t start keeping track of minimum standards internally within your current CRM or with a dedicated tool like Properteasy, you will have a massive job ahead when additional categories are added to the Minimum Standards in the future (think cooling, ceiling insulation, draughtproofing, and water heaters).

The key is to start today, start simple, and fill the gaps as needed.

How Does Properteasy Make Compliance Crystal Clear?

This is where the right tool comes in to cut through the confusion. Properteasy offers a better way to manage this internally with clarity:

• Interactive Checklists: Our application has interactive checklists built in for all currently required standards, not just the basics.
• AI-Powered Processing: We use AI to process your compliance reports, automatically suggesting new expiry dates and extracting failed items.
• Instant Issue Highlighting: Your team can track any changes in the property’s condition, which immediately highlights properties that have minimum standards issues.
• Rectification Made Easy: With one click, you can create work orders through your CRM to rectify any deficiencies that are spotted, or use the one-click task creation from AI-extracted failed items.
• Total Clarity: In one clear view, you can see exactly which properties meet the minimum standards, which ones don’t, and which ones have rectification work in progress.

Clarity is king, and Properteasy is clarity.

Do PMs Need to Be Tradies to Handle the Minimum Standards Checks?

If you decide to manage minimum standards internally, or even just to validate reports from a third party, you need a skilled team.

The great news? Your property managers don’t have to be professional builders, plumbers, or electricians to handle the majority of the checks.

• The Power of Training: Have your property managers skilled enough to identify most issues: it’s not that hard, and there is plenty of PM training available, especially in Victoria.
• Engage the Experts When Needed: For more specific or complex issues (like mould or a deep structural question), engage a professional in that specific field.
• Check the Experts You Hire: If you are outsourcing full minimum standards checks to a third party, make sure you know how qualified their inspectors are. In some cases, they might know exactly what your senior PMs already know and simply fail anything they aren’t 100% sure about.

Final Thoughts

The key takeaway here is that compliance doesn’t have to be a nightmare of spreadsheets and scattered documents across multiple systems.

By leveraging the right technology, you can turn a potential headache into a simple, documented workflow.

Stop guessing, stop using outdated methods, and get ahead of future regulatory changes.

Ready to bring clarity and control to your portfolio?

Simplify, secure, and streamline your property compliance today with Properteasy!

Book a demo today.