Property Condition Report Templates Australia: State-by-State Guide (2026)

When Australian property managers search for a property condition report template, the top results are usually generic document platforms — pdfFiller, DocHub, JotForm, and various template aggregators offering downloadable Word or PDF files. These can look professional and cover all the right rooms, but using one from a generic source carries a compliance risk that many agents don't realise until they're in a bond dispute.

The issue isn't that these generic templates are poorly designed. The issue is that most Australian states prescribe a specific form under their residential tenancy legislation. In Victoria, for example, a court or tribunal treats a signed condition report as conclusive evidence of the property's condition — but only if it's the prescribed Form 4. A generic inspection template that covers similar ground but doesn't match the prescribed format doesn't carry that same statutory weight.

Not every state prescribes a specific form to the same degree. But in those that do, using the wrong template doesn't just create a procedural problem — it can actively weaken your position at tribunal if a tenant disputes the condition at the end of the tenancy. This guide explains which template each state requires, how to complete it properly, and when a digital inspection tool is the more practical alternative to paper.

Each Australian state and territory sets its own condition report obligations under its residential tenancy legislation. Here's what's required in each jurisdiction:

NSW — The Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW) and Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 require the prescribed Schedule 2 form. The agent must complete and sign the report and give the tenant two copies (or one electronic copy) before or at the time the tenant signs the tenancy agreement. The tenant has 7 days after taking possession to complete their section and return one copy. NSW Fair Trading is the regulator and publishes the current Schedule 2 form.

Victoria — Under Section 35 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic), the rental provider must give the renter two signed copies of the condition report using the prescribed Form 4 of the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021, before the renter enters occupation. The renter has 5 business days from move-in to complete and return their section. Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes Form 4 as a downloadable document. A signed Form 4 condition report is conclusive evidence of the property's condition at entry, making accuracy critical.

Queensland — Queensland uses Form 1a for entry condition reports and Form 14a for exit condition reports, both prescribed under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. The agent completes and signs the entry report, gives it to the tenant on or before the day they move in, and the tenant returns their signed copy within 7 days. The Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) publishes both forms. Condition reports in QLD are not lodged with the RTA — only the bond is.

Western Australia — The Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA), section 27C, requires a property condition report for every residential tenancy. The standard form published by Consumer Protection WA (operating under DEMIRS) is informally known as the Property Condition Report or Form 1. Two signed copies must be provided to the tenant within 7 days of possession; the tenant then has 7 days to return one copy. Failure to provide the report within 7 days attracts a $5,000 fine under the Act.

South Australia — The Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA) requires a condition report before or at the time the tenant takes possession, but SA does not prescribe a specific form in the same way NSW or Victoria do. Consumer and Business Services (CBS) publishes a recommended template that most agencies use.

Tasmania — The Residential Tenancy Act 1997 (Tas) requires a condition report when a bond is taken. Two signed copies must be given to the tenant, who has 2 days to return one copy — the shortest return window of any Australian state. Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) provides a recommended template. There is no legislatively prescribed form.

ACT — Under Section 29 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT), the lessor must give the tenant two signed copies of the condition report no later than the day after the tenant takes possession. The tenant has 14 days to return one copy — the longest review window in Australia. The ACT Government publishes a recommended form through Access Canberra.

NT — Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT), the landlord must complete a condition report and give it to the tenant within 3 business days of the tenant taking possession. Under Section 112 of the Act, a landlord cannot keep any part of the security deposit for damage, cleaning, or repairs unless the entry condition report was accepted by the tenant. The tenant may make modifications; the landlord then has 5 business days to accept or dispute them.

Despite the state-specific differences in form name and legal status, the substantive content of a condition report template is broadly consistent across Australia. Understanding what your template must cover helps you complete it defensibly, regardless of which state you operate in.

Property details — Full address, landlord or property manager name and contact details, tenant name(s), and the inspection date. Some templates also record whether the property is furnished and list inclusions (appliances, air conditioning units, curtains, blinds) that form part of the tenancy agreement.

Room-by-room assessment — The main body of the template is a structured walkthrough of every room and area. Typical sections include: entry hall, lounge or living area, dining room, kitchen, each bedroom listed individually, each bathroom and ensuite listed separately, laundry, and any study or additional rooms. For each room, the template records the condition of walls, ceiling, floor covering, windows and blinds, doors, and any fixed fittings or appliances specific to that area.

Outdoor areas — A standard template also covers the garage or carport, garden and lawns, fencing and gates, driveway and paths, letterbox, and any external structures such as a pergola or garden shed.

Condition rating and comments — Each item typically carries a condition rating (options vary by state form but usually cover clean, undamaged, and in working order as the baseline) alongside a free-text comments field. The comments field is where most agents underinvest — and where most bond claims are won or lost.

Photo sections — Modern condition report templates include fields for attaching photographs to specific items. In practice, photographs tied to specific items are now expected by every Australian tenancy tribunal, regardless of whether the form explicitly requires them.

Signature sections — The template closes with signature sections for the landlord or agent (signed before the report is given to the tenant) and the tenant (returned within the legislatively prescribed period for each state).

The most common weakness in Australian condition reports is not the choice of template — it's how the template is completed. Vague, incomplete descriptions are the primary reason bond claims fail at tribunal, even when the underlying damage is real and significant.

Step 1: Inspect the property before the tenant takes possession. The condition report must record the property in its pre-tenancy state — after cleaning and any maintenance, but before any of the tenant's belongings are present. An inspection conducted after the tenant has partially moved in cannot accurately establish the baseline.

Step 2: Work through the template item by item. Don't skip rooms because they look fine. A wall marked as "good" is an explicit record that it was in good condition at entry. Tribunals look for gaps in a condition report — a room with no entry may be treated as unrecorded rather than undamaged.

Step 3: Write specific descriptions, not status labels. This is the most important step. "Carpet — good" tells you nothing useful at exit. "Carpet, mid-grey, short pile, clean and undamaged, small existing bleach mark near centre of west wall approximately 30mm diameter" establishes a precise baseline. At exit, any deterioration beyond that specific pre-existing mark is clearly new damage. Describe colour, material, size, and location for anything that needs context.

Step 4: Document every pre-existing defect. Many agents hesitate to note pre-existing damage, worrying it reflects badly on the property. It doesn't — it protects both parties. A pre-existing mark that isn't recorded becomes a claim against the tenant at exit that can't be sustained, and tribunals take a dim view of agents who appear to be claiming new damage that was present at entry.

Step 5: Photograph every room and every noted item. Take a photo of each room from the doorway for context, then close-up photos of any pre-existing marks, stains, damage, or wear noted in the comments. Ensure your photographs are date-stamped — either through the device's metadata or through inspection software that records this automatically.

Step 6: Sign and provide the report within your state's required timeframe. NSW and QLD require the report at or before possession. WA allows 7 days from possession but fines $5,000 for non-compliance. NT allows 3 business days. Always provide copies to the tenant and retain a signed copy with all attached photographs.

A condition report template isn't just for the start of a tenancy. It is the first half of a two-part evidence chain that either supports or undermines your bond claim at the end.

The exit condition report compares the property's condition at the end of the tenancy against the documented baseline established at entry. For this comparison to work, the entry report must be precise enough that a reasonable person — including a tribunal member — can determine whether a given item deteriorated beyond fair wear and tear during the tenancy.

If the entry report records "carpet — clean and undamaged" and the exit report identifies carpet staining in the main bedroom, the bond claim for carpet cleaning is supported. If the entry report records "carpet — good", that's not enough. "Good" doesn't definitively establish that the carpet was clean and undamaged at entry — it establishes that the agent considered it to be in generally acceptable order, which is a weaker evidential position.

In Victoria, this link is explicit in the legislation: Form 4 is used for both entry and exit, with separate sections completed at each stage and then compared during the bond process. In other states, agencies typically maintain separate documents for entry and exit inspections but cross-reference them during the bond process.

The practical implication is that the investment in completing a thorough entry condition report pays dividends at the end of every tenancy that involves any bond claim or dispute. An hour spent completing the entry report precisely is worth far more than the time spent arguing at tribunal months later. See our guide on winning bond disputes for how tribunals weigh condition report evidence.

Australian property tribunals see the same condition report problems repeatedly. These are the most common errors, each with a practical fix:

Using a generic template instead of the state-prescribed form. In NSW and Victoria especially, using a template from a document site instead of the prescribed Schedule 2 or Form 4 may limit its statutory weight as evidence. Always obtain the template from the relevant state regulator's website.

Vague condition descriptions. "Walls — good" is not a condition description. "Walls — white painted, no marks or damage" is. Every condition comment should be specific enough that you could use it to prove what the item looked like on inspection day.

Completing the report after the tenant moves in. Once the tenant's belongings are in place, you cannot accurately record the baseline condition of the property. The entry report must be completed on the vacant property, signed, and then given to the tenant.

Not attaching photographs to the form. Unattached photos filed separately are not effectively part of the condition report for tribunal purposes. Photographs need to be tied to specific items either in the form itself or in a numbered photo schedule that explicitly references the form.

Providing the report outside the statutory deadline. Each state has its own timeframe. In WA, exceeding 7 days from possession attracts a $5,000 statutory fine. Tracking delivery deadlines for each tenancy is non-negotiable.

Not following up with tenants to return the signed report. An unsigned report is a weaker document. Some states have deemed acceptance provisions if the tenant doesn't return the form within the statutory period, but the strongest evidential position is always a co-signed report with any disagreements noted by the tenant.

For each Australian state, the official condition report template — or the recommended template in states that don't prescribe a specific form — should be downloaded from the relevant state government regulator, not from a third-party document site. Third-party sites often host outdated versions that pre-date recent legislative amendments, and an outdated form is a compliance risk.

Here's where to find the current template in each state:

NSW — NSW Fair Trading publishes the current Schedule 2 prescribed form on fairtrading.nsw.gov.au.

Victoria — Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes the current Form 4 as a downloadable document on consumer.vic.gov.au.

Queensland — The Residential Tenancies Authority publishes Form 1a (entry) and Form 14a (exit) on rta.qld.gov.au.

Western Australia — Consumer Protection WA publishes the standard Property Condition Report on consumerprotection.wa.gov.au.

South Australia — Consumer and Business Services publishes a recommended condition report template on cbs.sa.gov.au.

Tasmania — Consumer, Building and Occupational Services provides a recommended template on cbos.tas.gov.au.

ACT — Access Canberra (the ACT Government tenancy services portal) publishes the condition report form on accesscanberra.act.gov.au.

NT — The NT Government provides guidance on condition reports under the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 on nt.gov.au.

If you are using a form that was downloaded more than 12 months ago, check the regulator's website to confirm it is still the current version. Several states have updated their prescribed forms following legislative changes — Victoria updated Form 4 with the 2021 amendments, and WA updated its condition report framework with the March 2026 reforms.

Paper condition report templates remain the right choice for a significant portion of the Australian market. If you are a self-managing landlord with one or two properties, a paper template from your state regulator costs nothing, is immediately available, and works without technology dependencies. There is no reason to move away from this if your volume is low and your process is disciplined.

The case for digital inspection software strengthens as volume increases, as your portfolio spans multiple states, or as your team grows beyond a single inspector.

Where paper templates fall short in practice:

At higher inspection volumes, the discipline required to consistently attach photographs, complete all fields, store documents reliably, and get signatures returned within statutory deadlines becomes difficult to maintain consistently. The most common problems at Australian tribunals — vague descriptions, missing photographs, incomplete sections, late delivery — are all problems of volume and process discipline, not of the template design itself.

What digital inspection software adds:

AI-generated condition descriptions write the room comments from photographs and short notes, which dramatically reduces completion time without reducing specificity. Structured photo capture ties images to specific items rather than creating a separate photo dump. Digital signatures capture the tenant's acknowledgement with a timestamp and a delivery record. Cloud storage preserves the complete report with photos indefinitely, accessible from any device. Instant PDF delivery to the tenant and landlord creates an automatic delivery record and starts the statutory return clock immediately.

For agencies doing more than ten inspections per month, the time saved per inspection typically makes inspection software cost-effective at any pricing tier currently available in Australia. For self-managing landlords with one or two properties, the prescribed state form from the regulator's website remains the most practical starting point. For a comparison of the inspection software options available in Australia, see our property inspection software guide.