What a condition report does
The entry condition report records how the home looked when you got the keys, room by room: clean or dirty, marked or not, working or broken. The exit version records the same things when you leave, and the gap between the two is what a claim is argued over.
State laws lean on it directly. Tasmania's Act measures the finish against the condition report. Victoria says a rental provider's bond claim evidence must not conflict with a statement in one. NSW says it can be used as evidence in a dispute about damage or missing items.
The Northern Territory goes furthest. If no entry report was accepted there, the home is taken to have started in the same condition it finished in. South Australia calls the document an inspection sheet, and WA calls it a property condition report.
Condition report deadlines, state by state
| Returning your entry copy | At the end | |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Within 5 business days of moving in | Exit part completed within 10 days after the agreement ends |
| New South Wales | Within seven days of moving in | Filled in again, ideally with both of you present |
| Queensland | Within seven days of moving in | You hand in the exit report with the keys, and a completed copy is sent to you within three business days of the vacate inspection |
| Western Australia | Within 7 days of receiving it | Final report within 14 days after the tenancy ends |
| South Australia | No time limit found (Law Handbook) | Checked again for damage and cleanliness |
| ACT | Within 2 weeks of receiving it | Final inspection done together, then a signed report |
| Tasmania | Within 2 days | The Act measures the finish against the report |
| Northern Territory | Within 5 business days of receiving it | Exit report may be done within 3 business days of vacant possession |
How to fill in an entry condition report
Read it the day you get it
Go room by room with the report in one hand and your phone in the other, before your furniture hides anything.
Mark what you disagree with
Write it on the report in plain words: the stain on the carpet in the second bedroom, grease in the rangehood, a cracked tile. Specific notes are harder to argue with than a general comment.
Take your own photos
Photograph everything you've noted, plus each room from the doorway, and keep the files somewhere you'll still have them when the lease ends.
Send it back on time
Return the signed copy inside your state's window and keep a copy. In Victoria, say what you disagree with on the copy you return. In the ACT and the NT, missing the deadline means you're taken to accept the report.
Bring it out for the last clean
Walk the home with it before you clean, and give a copy to anyone cleaning for you. Queensland's RTA recommends checking the report, including photos or video, as you go.
Be there for the exit inspection
Victoria, NSW, WA and the ACT all give you a reasonable chance to attend. Take your entry copy and your final photos.
Your own checks, from entry to exit condition report
Worth doing yourself
- Compare the report with every room before a single box comes in.
- Note marks, stains and dirt with the room and the spot.
- Repeat your entry photos from the same angles on your last day.
- Keep the report, the photos and any cleaning receipt in one folder.
Where a cleaning business earns its keep
- Working through a whole home against the report when your last week has run out.
- An oven, rangehood or shower screen that the report shows was clean at the start.
- Carpet steam cleaning, where a lawful pet condition asks for it.
Our condition report advice: start on move-in day
Treat move-in day as the start of moving out. Fill in the entry report properly, add your own photos and send it back inside the deadline. When you leave, it's the document that sets what clean enough means, so a careful one takes the guesswork out of the last clean.