Can my landlord evict me without a reason?

New South Wales ended no-grounds terminations on 19 May 2025. A landlord must now choose a ground from the list NSW Fair Trading publishes — actual or proposed sale, significant renovation, demolition, change of use, the landlord or a family member moving in, or a tenant breach — and attach the supporting document that goes with it, such as a contract for sale, an agency agreement or a signed statement. Several grounds then bar the landlord from re-letting the property for four weeks, six months or twelve months, and penalties apply where the ground was never genuine.

Victoria banned no-fault notices to vacate from 25 November 2025. Consumer Affairs Victoria states it plainly: a rental provider cannot issue a notice to vacate at the end of a fixed-term agreement without a valid reason, so the agreement rolls into a periodic one instead. Most end-of-agreement notices now carry 90 days. Queensland removed the without-grounds option for lessors too, but note the shape of it — 'ending of a fixed term agreement' still sits on the Residential Tenancies Authority's list of reasons only a property manager or owner may use, provided the correct notice has been given. Our reading is that this is weaker protection than the phrase 'no grounds banned' suggests, and the RTA does not characterise it either way.

South Australia has required a prescribed reason since 1 July 2024. At the end of a fixed term the landlord must give at least 60 days' notice on a ground listed in the regulations; for a periodic tenancy it is at least 90 days. Where the ground is demolition, renovation, occupation by the landlord or their immediate family, or sale, evidence must accompany the notice and the premises cannot be re-let as a residence for six months without SACAT's consent. The ACT is blunter than any of them: a landlord must give a reason recognised under the law, and the ACT Government spells out that a landlord cannot end a tenancy because they want to increase the rent and the tenant does not agree. Beyond tenant breach and an ACAT hardship order, the ACT grounds for a periodic tenancy are sale, rebuilding or major repairs, a lawful use other than as a home, or the landlord or someone close to them moving in.

Three jurisdictions still allow it. In Western Australia a lessor may end a periodic tenancy with 60 days' notice and no grounds at all, or a fixed-term tenancy with 30 days, using a Notice of termination (Form 1C) — though Consumer Protection is clear that a landlord cannot end an agreement because you did something you are legally allowed to do, such as ask for repairs or challenge a rent increase. The Northern Territory kept its no-cause provisions and, in the amendments commencing 2 January 2024, increased and aligned the notice periods in sections 89 and 90 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 to 60 days for both periodic and fixed-term tenancies. Tasmania sits in between: an owner can serve a Notice to Vacate at least 42 days — but not more than 60 days — before a fixed-term lease ends without giving a reason, while ending a non-fixed-term lease needs a listed ground such as sale, renovation, occupation by a family member or use for a purpose other than rental.

Wherever you rent, a notice is only the first step. If you do not leave by the date on it, the landlord has to apply to the tribunal or court that hears tenancy matters where you live — NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, SACAT, ACAT and NTCAT in the states and territories that use a tribunal, and the Magistrates Court in Tasmania, where CBOS confirms an owner must apply for an Order to Vacate. Only an order, enforced by a bailiff, sheriff or police, can put you out. Changing the locks, removing your belongings or cutting the power is unlawful everywhere. Read the notice hard before you pack: the wrong date, the wrong ground, missing evidence, or a notice that arrived days after you asked for repairs are all things a tribunal will look at.