What Happens If There's No Exit Condition Report?

The tenancy has ended. The tenant has vacated. You are at the property with keys in hand, and you discover one of two things: either no exit condition report was completed, or the tenant left without filling in their section and the property is in worse condition than you expected.

This is one of the most stressful moments in property management. You have an obligation to the landlord to document what happened, pursue legitimate bond claims where warranted, and close out the tenancy cleanly. But without a completed exit condition report, your evidentiary position is weak.

The consequences vary significantly by state. In some jurisdictions, a missing exit report is a breach of the landlord's statutory obligations. In others, it simply creates a significant evidentiary gap that makes a bond claim very hard to win. In all cases, a missing or inadequate exit condition report is a problem that is far easier to prevent than to fix after the fact.

This guide covers what the law requires in each Australian state and territory, what happens when those requirements are not met, and what property managers can do to recover the situation when an exit report was not completed correctly.

The entry condition report establishes the starting baseline. The exit condition report establishes the ending baseline. Together, they define what changed during the tenancy — and that comparison is the foundation of every legitimate bond claim.

Without the entry report, you cannot show what the property looked like before the tenant moved in, which means you cannot attribute damage to the tenancy. This is covered in the companion guide on what happens with no entry condition report.

Without the exit report, you cannot prove what the property looked like when the tenant left. Even if you have a perfect entry condition report with timestamped photos, you have no admissible evidence of ending condition. A tenant's defence at tribunal will simply be: "You have no proof of what the property looked like when I left. The damage may have happened after I vacated." That defence is hard to beat without direct exit documentation.

There is also a specific wrinkle in some states: responsibility for completing the exit report is split differently from the entry report. In Queensland, it is primarily the tenant who is supposed to initiate and complete the exit condition report. In Victoria and Western Australia, it is the landlord or agent who must complete the exit report within a specific statutory timeframe. Understanding which obligation applies in your state is essential.

The obligations around exit condition reports vary across Australia. Here is what the legislation requires in each jurisdiction.

Queensland: Under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, it is the tenant who is issued the exit condition report form (Form 14a) at the start of the tenancy and who is primarily responsible for completing it when they leave. The form should ideally be completed by both the tenant and the property manager together on or about the handover day. After the tenant vacates, the property manager must return a signed copy of the exit report to the tenant within 3 business days. If the tenant does not complete the exit report, the property manager can and should complete one themselves — this is critical given that Queensland's bond evidence requirements (introduced in stages from 30 September 2024, applying to all bonds from 30 September 2025) require documentary evidence to be provided to the tenant within 14 days of lodging a bond claim.

New South Wales: The Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (s29) requires both the landlord or agent and the tenant to complete the condition report together at the end of the tenancy, ideally in each other's presence. If one party has been given a reasonable opportunity to attend and does not, the report can be completed by the other party alone. When making a bond claim, the landlord must provide the tenant with a copy of the completed exit condition report within 7 days of making the claim. From 1 July 2025, landlords and agents must also complete a mandatory end-of-tenancy survey in Rental Bonds Online within 14 days of making a bond claim.

Victoria: The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) requires the rental provider (landlord or agent) to complete a condition report at the end of the tenancy using the prescribed Consumer Affairs Victoria template. The rental provider has 10 business days from the end of the tenancy to complete the exit report. Critically, this same 10-business-day window applies to lodging any bond claim with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA). If the agent misses the 10-business-day deadline for completing the exit report, the legal window for making a bond claim through the RTBA also closes. This makes Victoria's exit condition report one of the most time-critical obligations in Australia.

Western Australia: Under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA), the lessor or property manager must conduct a final inspection and complete a Property Condition Report (PCR, exit version of Form 1) as soon as practicable after the tenancy ends, and in any event within 14 days. A copy must be provided to the tenant within those 14 days. Failure to comply is a breach of the lessor's statutory obligations under the Act.

South Australia: South Australia's Residential Tenancies Act 1995 requires both the landlord and tenant to inspect the premises at the end of the tenancy and complete an exit inspection sheet (the SA equivalent of a condition report). The exit inspection sheet should be completed as soon as practicable after the tenant vacates. There is no hard statutory deadline equivalent to Victoria's 10-business-day rule, but the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) expects parties to act promptly, and unexplained delays in completing exit documentation are viewed unfavourably.

ACT: The Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (ACT), Section 30A, requires the lessor and tenant to complete and sign a condition report based on a final inspection at the end of the tenancy. The report must be completed together, or in the absence of one party if that party was given a reasonable opportunity to be present. The ACT legislation does not specify an exact number of business days, but the final inspection and report must be completed at or around the time of handover.

Northern Territory: The Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT) requires a condition report to be completed at both the start and end of a tenancy. Both parties should participate, though there is no prescribed standard form — unlike most other states, the NT does not mandate a specific exit condition report template. The landlord has 7 business days from the end of the tenancy to either reimburse the bond or serve a formal Notice of Intention to Retain, making prompt exit inspection essential.

Tasmania: Tasmania's Residential Tenancy Act 1997 does not prescribe a specific exit condition report form. The Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS) provides a template that is widely used by property managers but is not legally mandatory. However, the critical deadline in Tasmania is not the condition report itself — it is the bond claim window. Under Section 28 of the Act, the property owner must serve a signed bond claim on the tenant within 3 working days of the tenancy ending, and lodge that claim in the Rental Deposit Authority's MyBond portal within the same 3-working-day window. Miss this deadline and the tenant can apply under Section 29B to have the full bond returned without deduction. This means that in Tasmania, the post-vacancy window for both conducting an exit inspection and initiating a claim is extremely tight.

Queensland has the most distinctive exit condition report structure in Australia. Because the RTA issues the Form 14a (exit condition report) to the tenant as part of the tenancy documentation at the start of the lease, the tenant is the party primarily responsible for initiating and completing it at exit.

In practice, many tenants hand over their keys without completing the exit report, or complete it incompletely. When this happens, the property manager must not wait for the tenant to come back and complete it — the property manager should complete the exit condition report themselves, walking through the property against the entry condition report with photos dated and timestamped at the time of the exit inspection.

The property manager must then return a signed copy of the completed exit condition report to the tenant within 3 business days. The tenant then has the opportunity to dispute the exit report if they disagree with the property manager's assessment.

Given Queensland's bond evidence requirements that came into full effect from 30 September 2025, the exit condition report now sits at the centre of any bond claim. When a property manager lodges a bond claim, they must provide the tenant with documentary evidence supporting each claimed item within 14 days. An exit condition report completed by the property manager, with timestamped photos cross-referenced against the entry report, is the primary form of that evidence. Without it, the bond claim will almost certainly fail at QCAT.

The practical takeaway for Queensland property managers: do not wait for the tenant to hand you a completed Form 14a. Walk the property yourself immediately after the tenant vacates, complete the exit report systematically against the entry report, photograph every relevant area with date and time visible, and send the signed copy to the tenant within 3 business days.

Victoria and Western Australia have something Queensland, NSW, and South Australia do not: hard statutory deadlines for completing the exit condition report, with direct consequences for bond claims if those deadlines are missed.

In Victoria, the 10-business-day rule functions as a dual deadline. The rental provider must complete the exit condition report within 10 business days of the tenancy ending. The rental provider must also lodge any bond claim with the RTBA within 10 business days of the tenancy ending. These are not two separate clocks — missing either one affects the other.

If a Victorian agent completes the exit condition report on day 12 instead of day 9, the agent has breached the legislative requirement. More critically, if the agent also misses the 10-business-day bond claim window — even because they were waiting to complete the exit report first — the agent loses the ability to make a bond claim through the RTBA. Consumer Affairs Victoria takes these obligations seriously. Property managers need to build the exit condition report into their checkout process as a same-day or next-day task, not something to schedule for later in the week.

In Western Australia, the 14-day rule is similar: the lessor or agent must conduct the final inspection and complete the exit PCR within 14 days of the tenancy ending, and must provide a copy to the tenant within those 14 days. This is a direct obligation under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA). An agent who completes the exit report on day 17 has breached the Act, regardless of whether the property condition turned out to be acceptable. Consumer Protection WA can take action against a landlord or agent who repeatedly fails to meet this obligation.

For both states, the takeaway is the same: the exit condition report must be completed as part of the vacancy process, not after. Schedule the exit inspection the day the tenant vacates or the next morning. Do not treat it as administrative paperwork to catch up on at the end of the week.

When a property manager finds themselves in the situation of having no exit condition report — or an inadequate one — there are some forms of alternative evidence that tribunals will consider, though none is a substitute.

Time-stamped photographs taken immediately after the tenant vacates, even if they were not part of a formal exit condition report, can be introduced as evidence of the property's condition at vacancy. The photograph metadata (date, time, sometimes GPS coordinates) is part of what makes them useful. Photos taken several days after the tenant vacated are weaker, because the period between vacation and the photos creates an evidentiary gap a tenant's representative will exploit.

Invoices and quotes from tradespersons who attend the property promptly after the tenant vacates can establish what condition the property was in. A cleaning receipt dated the day after vacation, with a detailed scope of work, tells a partial story. A plumber called to clear a drain the day after vacation creates a contemporaneous record. Neither is as strong as a proper condition report, but they are better than nothing.

Communication records can also help. Text messages or emails from the tenant acknowledging that the oven was heavily soiled, or that they had a pet despite a no-pet clause, or that the carpet in the main bedroom was stained — if any of this exists, it is admissible evidence. Property managers should preserve all tenant communications throughout the tenancy for this reason.

Routine inspection reports from throughout the tenancy provide a documented history of the property's condition. If the second routine inspection noted that the bathroom tiles were undamaged and the exit inspection (even an informal one) shows cracked tiles, the progression is documented even without a formal exit condition report.

None of this alternative evidence is equivalent to a properly completed, signed exit condition report. Tribunals across Australia consistently award bond claims where entry and exit condition reports are produced in proper form, and consistently question or reduce claims where they are not. Alternative evidence is a fallback, not a strategy.

Every Australian tenancy tribunal has considered cases where one or both condition reports were missing or inadequate. The pattern is consistent across jurisdictions, even though the specific rules differ.

At QCAT in Queensland, the absence of an exit condition report or documentary evidence that meets the evidence requirements means the bond claim will typically fail unless the property manager can establish property condition through alternative means. QCAT has consistently held that bond claims must be supported by documentary evidence — photographs, reports, quotes, and receipts.

At NCAT in New South Wales, the absence of an exit condition report is not automatically fatal to a bond claim, but it significantly shifts the evidentiary burden. The landlord must prove not just that damage exists but that it was caused during the tenancy, which is very hard to do without an exit report to anchor the timeline. NCAT routinely dismisses or reduces claims where the exit report was not completed or not provided.

At VCAT in Victoria, the strict 10-business-day obligation means that an exit report completed late may be challenged on procedural grounds, independently of whether the substantive claim is meritorious. VCAT expects landlords and agents to comply with their statutory obligations. A properly evidenced claim supported by a late exit report is in a weaker position than the same claim supported by a timely one.

At SACAT in South Australia, the absence of an exit condition report is a significant factual gap. SACAT members will consider all available evidence, but the expectation is that responsible landlords and agents complete exit documentation promptly, and a party that fails to do so takes the evidentiary risk.

In all jurisdictions, the principle is the same: tribunals are not sympathetic to parties who failed to follow a straightforward compliance step that would have prevented the dispute. A bond claim supported by a complete entry condition report, a complete exit condition report, photographs, and supporting documentation will succeed far more reliably than one based on reconstruction after the fact.

If you find yourself in a situation where the tenancy has ended and there is no completed exit condition report, your options depend on how much time has passed and what other evidence is available.

If the property has not yet been re-let and is still in the condition it was in when the tenant left, conduct the exit inspection immediately. Even if you are past the statutory deadline in your state, a documented exit inspection is better than none. Take comprehensive timestamped photographs, work through the property systematically against the entry condition report, and complete the exit report fully. Note in writing that the report was completed on the specified date and why the inspection was delayed.

If the property has already been re-let or repaired, you are in a more difficult position. Gather every piece of contemporaneous evidence from around the time of the vacancy: photographs taken by any party, invoices, quotes, communications with the tenant, and any notes or records from maintenance providers. These will need to be presented to the tribunal as the best available evidence of ending condition.

Contact the tenant in writing to request they complete their section of the exit condition report if they have not done so. This creates a record of the attempt and may result in the tenant acknowledging the property's condition.

Speaking with your professional indemnity insurer early in the process is also worth considering in serious cases. Property managers have professional obligations around exit condition reports, and an insurer should know if a claims situation has arisen from a process failure. In cases involving significant disputed amounts, engaging a tenancy specialist to advise on the strength of your position before lodging a claim is prudent.

None of these steps are a substitute for having completed the exit condition report correctly at the time. They are the recovery options available once the problem has already occurred.

The most effective response to the risks described in this guide is a checkout process that makes a completed exit condition report automatic, not optional.

Confirm the exit inspection date and time with the tenant in writing at least a week before the vacate date. This doubles as a record that the tenant was given an opportunity to be present. Send a reminder the day before. If the tenant confirms they will attend, great. If they do not attend, proceed and complete the exit report in their absence, noting in the report that they were given the opportunity but did not attend.

Conduct the exit inspection on the day the keys are returned, or as early as possible on the following business day. Do not let days pass between key handover and the exit inspection — this creates a gap in the evidence trail that can be exploited in disputes. In Victoria, every day you wait reduces the window available to complete the report and lodge a bond claim within the 10-business-day deadline.

Use an inspection platform that guides you through a structured checklist, cross-references the entry condition report, and requires photos for flagged items. A platform built for Australian property management will have state-specific templates and will generate a timestamped, documented report that can be exported and served on the tenant without further formatting. This is not just a convenience — the structured, auditable report is a fundamentally more defensible document than a hastily completed paper form.

Build the exit condition report completion into your property management software as a task that must be marked complete before the bond lodgement process can proceed. This creates a workflow forcing function: the agent cannot move forward with the bond refund or bond claim without first completing the exit documentation.

Retain the completed exit condition report, with all photographs, for the duration of any bond claim process and for a reasonable period after. Bond disputes can be raised well after the tenancy concludes — a clean documentation trail from entry to exit is what protects you, the landlord, and the tenancy record.

The entry and exit condition reports only have meaning together. The entry report is the starting point; the exit report is the endpoint. The comparison between them is the evidence.

A perfect exit condition report has limited value without a complete entry report to compare it against. Similarly, a perfect entry condition report does not protect the landlord at exit if the exit report is missing. The two documents are a pair — and a property management system that treats them as equally important, from the same workflow, is the one that produces outcomes that hold up at tribunal.

Property managers who prioritise the entry condition report — because it is legally required before the tenancy starts and is therefore harder to overlook — sometimes treat the exit condition report as a lower priority at a busy time. This is the wrong prioritisation. The exit condition report is where the bond claim evidence is made or broken. An entry report without an exit report is only half a claim.

If your agency has had any bond disputes in the past where the exit condition report was raised as a gap, that is a process signal: the exit checkpoint in your workflow is not reliable. Fix the process at the point where it fails, whether that is staff training, workflow software, or a clearer accountability chain for vacancy management.

For the broader picture of how entry and exit condition reports interact with bond claim evidence, see the entry vs exit condition report guide and the winning bond disputes guide.