The ACT Unit Title Rental Certificate — What Canberra Landlords Must Do Before Renting a Unit or Apartment
Since January 2025, ACT landlords renting a unit or apartment must provide a Unit Title Rental Certificate. Jaira Properties explains what it is, who needs one, and how to get it.
If you own a unit, apartment, or townhouse in a body corporate scheme in Canberra and you are renting it out, there is a relatively new compliance requirement you need to know about. Since 9 January 2025, landlords in the ACT must provide a Unit Title Rental Certificate to tenants at the start of any new or renewed tenancy.
Missing this requirement is not a minor administrative oversight — it can affect the validity of your tenancy agreement and expose you to complaints at ACAT. Here is everything you need to know.
What is a Unit Title Rental Certificate?
A Unit Title Rental Certificate is a document that provides a tenant with key information about the owners corporation (body corporate) before they sign a lease. It discloses important details about the building and the owners corporation that a tenant has a right to know before committing to a tenancy.
The certificate must be provided by the landlord or their agent before or at the time the residential tenancy agreement is entered into.
What information does it contain?
The certificate includes details such as the current owners corporation rules that apply to the lot, any special levies or significant financial matters affecting the owners corporation, details of any by-laws that restrict how the tenant can use the property (such as pet restrictions, parking rules, or noise policies), and contact details for the owners corporation manager.
This means that if your body corporate has a no-pets rule, or specific rules about balcony use, rubbish disposal, or short-term letting, your tenant must be informed of these before signing the lease.
Who needs to provide it?
Any landlord who owns a lot within a units plan — this includes apartments, units, and townhouses that are part of a strata or community title scheme — must provide the certificate when entering into a new residential tenancy agreement or renewing an existing one after 9 January 2025.
If your property is a freestanding house on its own title with no owners corporation, this requirement does not apply to you.
How do you obtain the certificate?
The certificate is obtained from your owners corporation or its managing agent. You or your property manager requests it from the body corporate manager, who issues it based on the current records of the owners corporation. There may be a fee involved depending on your owners corporation.
Allow sufficient lead time before your tenancy starts — some owners corporation managers take several days to process the request.
What happens if you do not provide it?
Failure to provide the certificate as required is a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. A tenant who does not receive the certificate may have grounds to terminate the tenancy in certain circumstances, and the matter could be referred to ACAT or Access Canberra.
How Jaira Properties handles this for our landlords
For every property we manage that sits within a units plan, we obtain the Unit Title Rental Certificate as part of our standard tenancy setup process. We liaise directly with the owners corporation manager, ensure the certificate is obtained and provided to the tenant before the agreement is signed, and retain a copy in the tenancy file.
This is the kind of compliance detail that self-managing landlords and busy agencies often miss — and it is exactly the reason why having a specialist property manager matters in the ACT.
Thinking about switching to a property manager who stays on top of ACT compliance?
Get in touch with Jaira Properties for a free rental appraisal and a no-obligation chat about how we manage your compliance obligations from day one.
Jaira Properties — Canberra's property management specialists. ACT Licence No. 18404216.
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Legislation is subject to change — always verify current requirements with Access Canberra or a licensed property manager.